BENGOECHEA DE CARMENA, Soledad

Soledad Bengoechea de Carmena was a Spanish pianist and composer born in Madrid. She studied piano and harmony with Juan Ambrosio Arriola and Jesús de Monasterio and later studied instrumentation with Nicolás Ledesma in Bilbao. Her family’s musical salon brought her into contact with leading musicians of the period and provided opportunities for her to perform and present her compositions.

Bengoechea wrote piano music, songs, sacred and orchestral works, and three zarzuelas. Her compositions include the overture Sybille, Gran vals de concierto, Capricho-Scherzo, Marcha triunfal, the romance Les Larmes, and a Mass for four voices and orchestra, which she conducted in Madrid in 1867. Her zarzuela Flor de los cielos was premiered at Madrid’s Teatro de la Zarzuela in 1874. Several of her scores have been lost.