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Born 1896 inSegovia, where his family were wealthy carpet manufacturers,Carreño was amongst the most prolific and successfulzarzueleros of his day. The few libretti he wrote unaided have notremained in the repertoire, although at least one -Sorozábal'sSol en la cumbre(1934) is certainly worthy of revival. Carreño died in Madrid on 16thMay 1952.

Many of his best remembered theatre pieces were put together incollaboration withLuis Fernández deSevilla, although he wrote in partnership with other writers as well.Amongst their first works together wasLa vaquerita (Rosillo,1924). Many successes followed, includingLa prisionera (Serrano andBalaguer, 1927); theevergreenLa del soto del Parral (Soutullo andVert, 1927);La mejor del puerto (Alonso, 1928); andLa Cautiva (Guridi, 1931).

Their epochalLosClaveles (Serrano, 1929) stands somewhat apart. This was the first ofan unofficialmadrileño trilogy which make up a colourful andrevealing picture of the capital in the frantic years before the Spanish CivilWar, though Carreño went on to bring out the other two -La del manojo de rosas (Sorozábal,1934) andMe llaman la Presumida(Alonso, 1935) - with another popular comic writer,Francisco Ramos de Castro. With Ramos de Castro,Carreño also wroteLa boda del Señor Bringas(Torroba, 1936), and amongst the latercollaborations with de SevillaDonManolito (Sorozábal, 1943) stands out as perhaps the lastperfect flowering of thesainete madrileño tradition.

It isdifficult to speak with any degree of certainty, but Carreño is notcredited with the lion's share of the writing with de Sevilla, or for thatmatter with Ramos de Castro. His most significant contribution would seem tolie in his bold and even innovative theatrical imagination. For example,Ascención'sromanza inLa del manojo de rosas actsbrilliantly as a bridge between two distinct scenes, starting in one locationand ending in another. Although this is now a commonplace of the musicaltheatre, Carreño seems to be the first writer to have attempted thetrick. At all events, many of the robust libretti he wrote with de Sevilla andRamos Castro have stood the test of time admirably.