Joaquín Abati


Joaquín Abatí y Díaz was a Spanish writer and Zarzuela Librettist.

Education and career

Joaquín Abatí was born to an Italian father and a Spanish mother. He studied law and, though licensed, he never practised. He published a book entitled Respuestas a los Temas de Derecho Administrativo, intended to help those who had to deal with these issues. Curiously, he never managed to practise any of the principles although the book was helpful to many of those who had used his book. For this reason he decided to leave the legal profession and devote himself to literature, that appealed to him more.

Artistic career

Abatí's first play was the comic sketch Entre doctores, which premiered at the Teatro Lara in 1892. This was followed by works from simple monologues, humorous in nature, such as El Conde Sisebuto and Las cien doncellas to pieces with three or more acts, some in collaboration with Carlos Arniches.
He was a prolific author and achieved successes and produced more than 120 titles, resulting in him being regarded as a writer of the highest rank in his time. His works include El debut de la chica, La conquista de México, Doña Juanita, Genio y figura, No te ofendas, Beatriz , España nueva, El Conde de Lavapies and La Viuda alegre.
He excelled in his role as author of operettas, a field in which he collaborated with other authors such as Carlos Arniches and Antonio Paso.
Several of his plays were intended as operetta booklets, such as Los amarillos, a one-act piece, La corte de Risalia in two acts, La mujer artificial, La mulata and his most famous work, El asombro de Damasco, which he wrote in collaboration with Antonio Cano Paso and to which Maestro Pablo Luna put music and premiered it in 1916.

Legal career

Abatí returned to practising law and became professor at the Real Academia de Jurisprudencia y Legislación.
Joaquín Abatí died in Madrid in 1936.

Operettas and lyrical works