Blas de Laserna

Blas de Laserna Nieva (Corella, Navarra, 1751 - Madrid, 1816) was a Spanish composer.
Laserna was one of the most prolific and popular songwriters of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century Spain.[1][2]

As an educator, he championed traditional Spanish musical forms, but as a theatrical impresario gave in to the public taste for Italian forms.

He composed several operas and concertos, as well as incidental music for several comedies in the popular Spanish theater. A prolific songwriter, his creative oeuvre contains more than five hundred songs (tonadillas), many with lyrics by Ramón de la Cruz.[3]

While Conductor of the orchestra of the Teatro de la Cruz, he premiered his operetta, La Gitanilla Por Amor (The Gypsy Girl For Love), in 1791.