Joaquín Abati

Joaquín Abatí y Díaz (29 June 1865, in Madrid – 30 July 1936) was a Spanish writer and Zarzuela Librettist.

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 (The girl's debut), La conquista de México (The Conquest of Mexico), Doña Juanita (written in collaboration with Francisco Flores Garcia), Genio y figura (1910), No te ofendas (No offense), Beatriz (1920) (both with Carlos Arniches), España nueva (New Spain), El Conde de Lavapies (The Count of Lavapies) and La Viuda alegre (The Merry Widow).

Several of his plays were intended as operetta booklets, such as Los amarillos (The yellow ones), a one-act piece, La corte de Risalia (The Risalia Court) in two acts, La mujer artificial (The artificial woman), La mulata (The mulatto woman) and his most famous work, El asombro de Damasco (The wonder of Damascus), which he wrote in collaboration with Antonio Cano Paso and to which Maestro Pablo Luna put music and premiered it in 1916.

Abatí returned to practising law and became professor at the Real Academia de Jurisprudencia y Legislación.