Pablo Esteve

Pablo Esteve y Grimau (1730–1794) was a Spanish composer. Esteve was conductor and house-composer for the Teatro de la Cruz in Madrid^[1] during the peak of the popularity of the tonadilla genre.^[2] The risque nature of the tonadilla meant that Esteve was once briefly jailed for sarcastic references to a duchess in one of his compositions. The actress who sang the tonadilla on stage escaped jail by claiming she paid no attention to what she was given to sing.^[3]

References

1. Carol Mikkelsen – Spanish Theater Songs: Baroque and Classical Eras 1998 – Page 6 "Pablo Esteve y Grimau (1730–1794), conductor of the Teatro de la Cruz in Madrid, was one of the most successful and highly regarded composers of tonadillas."
2. Don Michael Randel The Harvard Concise Dictionary of Music and Musicians 1999 – Page 674 1766) were the first composers to cultivate the new genre enthusiastically around 1750. It reached its apogee in the compositions of Pablo Esteve y Grimau (ca. 1730–94) and Blas de Laserna (ca. 1751–1816). Its immense popularity lasted ..."
3. Elisabeth Le Guin Boccherini's Body: An Essay in Carnal Musicology 2005 Page 155 "Although she was highly esteemed for her passionate, impulsive stage persona, she became quite another creature during the 1779 scandal involving Pablo Esteve, the librettist and composer with whom she worked most closely. Esteve had ..."