MUSIC, ART, AND THE DRAMA
One is apt to forget how much the history of music owes to Spain. The
country was for so long considered to be in a state of chronic political
disturbance that few foreigners took up their abode there, except such
as had business interests, and for the rest the mere traveller never
became acquainted with the real life of the people, or entered into
their intellectual amusements. It is quite a common thing to find the
tourist entering in his valuable notes on a country which he has not the
knowledge of the world to understand: "The Spaniards are not a musical
people," and remaining quite satisfied with his own dictum. Yet Albert
Soubies, in his _Histoire de la Musique_, says, in the volume devoted to
Spain: "Spain is the country where, in modern times, musical art has
been cultivated with the greatest distinction and originality. In
particular, the school of religious music in Spain, thanks to Morales,
Guerrero, and Victoria, will bear comparison with all that has been
produced elsewhere of the highest and most cultivated description. The
national genius has also shown itself in another direction, in works
which, like the ancient _eglogas_--the contemporary _zarzuelas_ of Lope
de Vega and Calderon--and the _torradillas_ of the last century shine
brilliantly by the verve, the gaiety, the strength, and delicacy of
their comic sentiment.... The works of this class are happily inspired
by popular art, which in this country abounds in characteristic
elements. One notes how much the rhythm and melody display native
colour, charm, and energy. In many cases, along with vestiges of Basque
or of Celtic origin, they show something of an Oriental character, due
to the long sojourn of the Moors in this country."
As regards this pre-eminence, it is enough to remember that Spain was
anciently one of the regions most thoroughly penetrated by Roman
civilisation. It is not too much to say that this art has never sunk
into decadence in Spain. During the sixteenth century the archives of
the Pontifical chapel show the important place occupied by Spanish
composers in the musical history of the Vatican, and among the artists
who gained celebrity away from their own country were Escoledo, Morales,
Galvey, Tapia, and many others. To the end of the seventeenth century a
galaxy of brilliant names carried on the national history of Spanish
music, both on religious and secular lines; and though in the eighteenth
and part of the nineteenth centuries there was a passing invasion of
French and Italian fashion, the true and characteristic native music
has never died out, and at the present time there is a notable musical
renaissance in touch with the spirit and natural genius of the people.
A Royal Academy of Music has, within recent times, been added to the
other institutions of a like kind, and native talent is being developed
on native lines, not in imitations from countries wholly differing from
them in national characteristics. Spaniards are exacting critics, and
the best musicians of other countries are as well known and appreciated
as their own composers and executants. Wagner is now a household word
among them, where once Rossini was the object of fashionable admiration.
The national and characteristic songs of Spain have been already
referred to. They are perfectly distinct from those of any other nation.
There is about them a dainty grace and pathos, combined frequently with
a certain suspicion of sadness, which is full of charm, while those
which are frankly gay are full of life, audacity, and "go," that carry
away the listeners, even when the language is imperfectly understood.
The charming songs, with accompaniment for piano or guitar, of the
Master Yradier, are mostly written in the soft dialect of Andalucia,
which lends itself to the music, and is liquid as the notes of a bird.
The songs of Galicia are, in fact, the songs of Portugal; just as the
Galician language is Portuguese, or a dialect of that language, which
has less impress of the ancient Celt-Iberian and more of French than
its sister, Castilian, both being descendants of Latin, enriched with
words borrowed from the different nations which have at one time or
another inhabited or conquered their country.
The guitar is, of course, the national instrument, and the songs never
have the same charm with any other accompaniment; but the Spanish women
of to-day are prouder of being able to play the piano or violin than of
excelling in the instrument which suits them so much better. The
Spaniard is nervously anxious not to appear, or to be, behind any other
European nation in what we call "modernity," a word that signifies that
to be "up-to-date" is of paramount importance, leaving wholly out of the
question whether the change be for the better or infinitely towards the
lower end of the scale.
The records of Spain in art, as in literature, are so grand, so
European, in fact, that it is much if the artists of to-day come within
measurable distance of those who have made the glory of their country.
Nevertheless, the modern painters and sculptors of Spain hold their own
with those of any country. After the temporary eclipse which followed
the death of Velasquez, Ribera, and Murillo--the eighteenth century
produced no great Spanish painter, if we except Goya, who left no
pupils--Don José Madrazo, who studied at the same time as Ingres in the
studio of David, began the modern renaissance. He became Court painter,
and left many fine portraits; but, perhaps, as Comte Vasili says, "La
meilleure oeuvre de Don José fut son fils, Federico; de même que la
meilleure de celui-ci est son fils Raimundo."
Raimundo Madrazo and Fortuny the elder, who married Cecilia Madrazo,
Raimundo's sister, have always painted in Paris, and have become known
to Europe almost as French artists. Fortuny, by his _mariage Espagnol_,
became the head of the Spanish renaissance. Unfortunately, he has been
widely imitated by artists of all nations, who have not a tithe of his
genius, if any. Pradilla, F. Domingo, Gallegos, the three Beulluire
brothers, Bilbao, Gimenez, Aranda, Carbonero, are only a few of the
artists whose names are known to all art collectors, and who work in
Spain. Villegas has settled in Rome. The exhibition of modern Spanish
paintings in the London Guildhall last year (1901) was a revelation to
many English people, even to artists, of the work that is being done at
the present day by Spanish painters, both at home and in Paris and Rome.
In sculpture, also, Spain can boast many artists of the highest class.
The drama in Spain has in all times occupied an important place. The
traditions of the past names, such as Calderon, Lope de Vega, Tirso de
Molina, Moreto, and others, cannot exactly be said to be kept up, for
these are, most of them, of European fame; but in a country where the
theatre is the beloved entertainment of all classes, and perhaps
especially so of the poor or the working people, there are never wanting
dramatists who satisfy the needs of their auditors, and whose works are
sometimes translated into foreign languages, if not actually acted on an
alien stage. It would be impossible and useless to give a mere list of
the names of modern dramatists, but that of Ayala is perhaps best known
abroad, and his work most nearly approaches to that of his great
forerunners. His _Consuelo_, _El tejado de Vidrio_, and _Tanto por ciento_
show great power and extraordinary observation. His style, too, is
perfect. Señor Tamago, who persistently hides his name under the
pseudonym of "Joaquin Estebanez," may also be ranked amongst the leaders
of the modern Spanish drama, and his _Drama Nuevo_ is a masterpiece.
Echegaray belongs to the school of the old drama, whose characteristic
is that virtue is always rewarded and vice punished. His plays are very
popular because they touch an audience even to tears, and he has several
followers or imitators. The comedies of manners and satirical plays are
generally the work of Eusebio Blasco, Ramos Carrion, Echegaray the
younger, Estremada, Alverez, though there are others whose names are
legion. Echegaray is really a man of genius. A clever engineer and
professor of mathematics, he was Minister of Finance during the early
days of the Revolution. His first play took the world of Madrid by
surprise and even by storm. _La Esposa del Vengador_ had an
unprecedented success, and at least thirty subsequent dramas, in prose
and in verse, have made this mathematician, engineer, and financier one
of the most famous men of his day. His art and his methods are purely
Spanish. I have already referred to the phenomenal success of Perez
Galdós's _Electra_ within the last few months. It must, however, be
ascribed chiefly to the moment of its presentation rather than to any
superlative merit in the drama. It is well written, which is what may be
said of almost all Spanish plays, for the language is in itself so
dignified and so beautiful that, if it be only pure and not disfigured
by foreign slang, it is always sonorous and charming. To the state of
the popular temper, however, and the coincidence of the political events
already referred to must be ascribed the fact that a piece like
_Electra_ should cause the fall of a Government, and bring within
dangerous distance the collapse of the monarchy itself. The excitement
which it still produces, wherever played, is now in a great part due to
the foolish action of some of the bishops and the fact that individual
clerics use their pulpits to condemn it, and attempt to forbid its being
read or seen.
Spain is not particularly rich in great actors, although she has always
a goodly number who come up to a fair standard of excellence. The great
actors of the day in Madrid are María Guerrero and Fernando Diaz de
Mendoza. They obtained a perfect ovation during the last season in the
play, _El loco Dios_, of Echegaray--a work which gives every opportunity
for the display of first-class talent in both actors, and which led to a
fury of enthusiasm for the popular dramatist, which must have recalled
to him the early days of his great successes.
Since the beginning of the eighteenth century, Spain has had three great
Academies, which, even in the troublous times of her history, have done
good work in the domains of history, language, and the fine arts; but it
is since the Revolution that they have become of real importance in the
intellectual development of the nation, and other societies have been
added for the encouragement of scientific research and music. The
earliest of her academies was that of language, known as the Royal
Spanish Academy. It is exactly on the lines of the Académie Française.
Founded in 1713, its statutes were somewhat modified in 1847, and again
in 1859. There are only thirty-six members, about eighty corresponding
members in different provinces of Spain, and an unlimited, or at least
undetermined, number of foreign and honorary correspondents. Besides the
Central Society in Madrid, the Royal Spanish Academy has many
corresponding branches in South America, such as the Columbian, the
Equatorial, the Mexican, and those of Venezuela and San Salvador. The
existence of academies of language in the South American States does not
appear to effect much in the way of maintaining the purity of Castilian
among them, for South American Spanish, as spoken at least, is not much
more like the original language than the South American Spaniard is like
the inhabitant of the mother country. The dictionary of the Royal
Academy of Spain, like that of France, is not yet completed.
Philip V. founded the Royal Academy of History in 1738. Under its
auspices, especially of late years, much valuable work has been done in
publishing the original records of the country, to be found at Simancas
and other places; but the authentic history of Spain is still
incomplete. Up to the time of his assassination, Don Antonio Cánovas del
Castillo was its director, and Don Pedro de Madrazo its permanent
secretary. The society, now known as the Real Academia de San Fernando,
founded in 1752, under the title of Real Academia de las tres nobles
Artes, has now had a fourth added to it--that of music. The functions of
its separate sections are much the same as those of the English Academy
of Painting and the sister arts. A permanent gallery of the works of its
members exists in Madrid, and certificates, diplomas, honourable
mention, etc., are distributed by the directors to successful
competitors.
Later societies are the Academies of Exact Science, Physical and
Natural, of Moral and Political Science, of Jurisprudence and
Legislation, and last, but by no means least, the Royal Academy of
Medicine, under whose auspices medical science has of late years made
immense strides, and is probably now in line with that of the most
advanced of other countries.