acknowledged as “músico eminente”. During a few strings in Casa Lezama-Leguizamón at the Bilbao Gran Vía he hosted cultural institutions related and unrelated to music, like Teatro de la Cámara Amarilla and Teatro del Submarino. Traditionalist As Lezama's paternal grandfather was a militant Liberal who vehemently opposed the Carlists, and Lezama's father did not engage in politics, it is unclear how Luis and Manuel got involved in the movement. Hagiographic obituaries claimed Luis had been “attracted to Traditionalism in his youth”, but there is no confirmation of access until 1892, when the brothers visited Carlos VII in Venice. There is sporadic evidence of Lezama's Carlist engagements during the following few decades. In 1903 Luis hosted the Carlist theorist Vázquez de Mella in Bilbao; later he mixed with Carlists in Catholic organizations. In 1907 he accompanied Don Jaime in Spain; in 1909 together with de Mella they attended the funeral Carlos VII. In the 1910s Lezama was moderately engaged in party propaganda; in 1911 he took part in a banquette to honor Traditionalist deputies, in 1913 both brothers travelled to Paris to pay homage to Don Jaime, and in few cases he appeared on closed-doors Jaimista feasts, e.g. in 1917 in Azcoitia with infanta Beatriz. At the time Luis remained in the shadow of his brother, who headed the Jaimist organisation in Biscay. During the maturing disagreement between de Mella and Don Jaime both Lezama brothers sided with the former and supported the promellista concept of broader alliances. When the conflict erupted in the climax of 1919, the Lezamas joined the rebel Mellistas; though they counted among their most eminent personalities, in Biscay the dissenters were led by José Joaquín Ampuero and Ignacio Gardeazábal. In the early 1920s Luis and Manuel supported the Mellistas in their struggle to set up a separate organisation; in 1922 Luis covered huge part of massive debt, accumulated by the Mellista daily El Pensamiento Español. The party failed to materialize before the Primo coup. In 1924 both brothers co-signed a manifesto, which pledged support to the dictator; though they declared that no Traditionalist could accept the 1876 constitution as basis for further action, they nevertheless recommended entering Union Patriótica. However, there is little evidence of Luis’ active engagement in primoderiverista structures; the exception is his membership in the 1928 homage committee to Marqués de Estella. Following the fall of the monarchy Lezama, at the time together