Matilde Pretel

Pretel studied at the Conservatori Superior de Música Joaquín Rodrigo [Wikidata], Valencia.

Her musical qualities as well as her showmanship and her physical beauty made her a favorite of the public and composers.

Chapi wrote Mujer y reina (1895) and El estreno (1899) for Pretel.

She performed in works by Cristóbal Oudrid, Francisco Asenjo Barbieri, Emilio Arrieta, and Joaquín Gaztambide y Garbayo, among others.

She had her own zarzuela company with businessman Bonifacio Pinedo, but in 1909, she retired from performing, without stating her reasons, and settled permanently in Madrid.