Zarzuela composer and musicologist. 

Barbieri studied at the Conservatory in Madrid. His professors were Pedro Albéniz, Baltasar Saldoni and Ramón Carnicer. He played the clarinet.

He attempted to create a Spanish national opera and founded the Zarzuela Artistic Society and the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid, along with Joaquín Gaztambide, José Ynzenga, Rafael Hernando, Cristóbal Oudrid, Emilio Arrieta, Luis de Olona and Francisco Salas. Both the society and theatre helped in the development of a lyric theater in Spanish.

He composed more tan 70 zarzuelas. Among his most famous are: Jugar con fuego (1851), Los diamantes de la corona (1854), Pan y toros (1864), El barberillo de Lavapiés (1874).

He founded a musical newspaper, La España musical in Madrid, and published many musicological articles and studies.

Barbieri was a member of the Academia de Bellas Artes and of the Real Academia Española.