A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Rogel, Jose

ROGEL, Jose, Spanish conductor and composer, born at Orihuela, Alicante, Dec. 24, 1829; began music under Cascales and Gil, organist and conductor of the cathedral, and made great progress, till sent to Valencia by his father to study law. The six years which he spent there were however devoted much more to music than to law, under the guidance of Pascual Perez, a musician of ability, from whom he learned composition and other branches of practical music. After completing his legal course and taking his degree at Madrid, Rogel was able to indulge his taste, plunged into music without restraint and became, or at any rate acted as, conductor and composer to several theatres. The notice of him in M. Pougin's supplement to Fétis, from which this notice is taken, enumerates no less than 61 zarzuelas or dramatic pieces of his composition, 14 of them in three acts, 8 in two acts, and the remainder in one act, besides a dozen not yet brought out. The titles of the pieces are of all characters, ranging from 'Revista de un muerto' and 'Un Viage de mil demonios' to 'El General Bumbum.' No criticism is given on the merits of the music, but it must at least be popular.

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