Vicenç Cuyàs

Vicente Cuyás (Palma de Mallorca, 6 February 1816 – Barcelona, 7 March 1839) was a Spanish composer known for his romantic opera La fattucchiera.

Vicente Cuyás was born to a Catalan family in Palma de Mallorca where his family had fled during the Peninsular War. Shortly thereafter, the family returned to Barcelona where Cuyás began studies in medicine, which he soon abandoned. At the age of 17 he began to study music with Ramón Vilanova, one of Barcelona's most prestigious teachers during the early nineteenth century, who in turn had trained in Milan with abbé Isidore Piantanida.

Cuyás' early works consist of some operatic music which was premiered widely in private salons, but it was at the Teatre de la Santa Creu where almost all of his works were produced. His First Symphony, written in 1835, although it is actually an extensive opera overture in a single movement — but it gained him some notice when it was dedicated to the actress Matilde Díez. although it is sung in Italian. In order to finish La fattuchiera "in record time", Cuyàs father had also died of tuberculosis during the rehearsals.

The opera is based on a novel by the Viscount of Arlincourt which had already been a success among the sentimental literature of the period. The action takes place in the twelfth century, after the Third Crusade, and in the plot, historical references are combined "into a story filled with magic, witchcraft, diabolic powers, and the redemptive power of romantic love."