[Ilustración: _JUAN EUGENIO HARTZENBUSCH_]
Heath's Modern Language Series
LOS AMANTES DE TERUEL
POR
JUAN EUGENIO HARTZENBUSCH
_WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND VOCABULARY_
BY
G.W. UMPHREY, PH.D.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ROMANCE LANGUAGES
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
1920.
PREFACE
The importance of Hartzenbusch in the history of the Spanish drama and
the enduring popularity in Spain of _Los Amantes de Teruel_, his
masterpiece, have assured this play a definite place in the work of
advanced students of Spanish literature in our universities. For such
students the many editions published in Spain and elsewhere have been
perhaps sufficient, but for the much larger number who never reach the
advanced literary classes an annotated edition is needed. That this play
offers excellent material for the work of more elementary courses in the
schools and colleges has long been the opinion of the present editor;
and that it has not already found a place among the Spanish texts
published in this country is difficult to understand. The old legend of
Teruel, the embodiment of pure and constant love, is one that might well
be expected to make a strong appeal to the youth of any country; the
simple and direct presentation given to the legend by Hartzenbusch and
the comparative freedom from textual difficulties, as the result of the
careful revisions of the play by its scholarly author, bring it within
the range of the understanding and appreciation of students who have
studied Spanish one year in college or two years in high school, if it
is put before them in a properly prepared edition.
The editor has kept in mind this class of students in the preparation of
the Introduction, Notes, and Vocabulary. To those who consider the
Introduction disproportionately long, the excuse is given that this will
be the first Romantic play read by many students, and that if they are
to understand it and appreciate its fine literary qualities, they must
be enabled to view it in its proper historical perspective. It is to be
hoped that this edition may serve as a safe approach to the systematic
study, of the Romantic Movement in Spanish literature.
The text of the play is that of the annotated edition of Dr. Adolf
Kressner, Leipsic, 1887 (_Bibliothek Spanischer Schriftsteller_), and is
the same as the one contained in the definitive collection of the plays
of Hartzenbusch, _Teatro_, Madrid, 1888-1892, Vol. I, pages 7-130
(_Colección de Escritores Castellanos_).
The indebtedness of the editor to Professor E.C. Hills of Indiana
University for many helpful suggestions is gratefully acknowledged.
G.W. UMPHREY
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
I. The Legend
II. Authenticity of the Legend
III. The Legend in Spanish Literature
IV. Life of Hartzenbusch
V. Hartzenbusch's Treatment of the Legend
VI. Romanticism
VII. Romanticism in _Los Amantes_
VIII. Versification
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
TEXT
NOTES
VOCABULARY
INTRODUCTION
#I. The Legend#. Constancy in love has inspired many writers and has
given undying fame to many legends and traditions. Among the famous
lovers that have passed into legend and that stand as the embodiment of
constant love in different ages and in different countries,--Pyramus and
Thisbe, Hero and Leander, Tristam and Isolde, Romeo and Juliet,--are to
be found Marsilla and Isabel. These _Lovers of Teruel_, as constant as
any of the others, are especially notable because of the purity of their
love and because of the absence of violence in their sudden departure
from this life. Disappointed love, desperate grief at separation, was
the only cause of their death.
The old city of Teruel, founded by the Aragonese in the latter half of
the twelfth century at the junction of the Guadalaviar and the Alfambra
as a stronghold in the territory recently recovered from the Moors, was
the fitting scene for the action of the legend.... The pioneer life of
the city, the depth of sentiment and singleness of purpose of its
Aragonese inhabitants, the crusading spirit that carried to victory the
armies of Peter II of Aragón and his more famous son, James the
Conqueror, lend probability to a legend that would ordinarily be
considered highly improbable from the point of view of historical
authenticity. Stripped of the fantastic details that have gathered about
it in the many literary treatments given to it by Spanish writers, the
legend may be briefly told. In Teruel, at the beginning of the
thirteenth century, lived Juan Diego Martínez Garcés de Marsilla and
Isabel de Segura. They had loved each other from childhood, but when it
became a question of marriage, Isabel's father opposed the union
because of the young man's lack of material resources and because a
wealthy suitor, Rodrigo de Azagra, had presented himself for the hand of
his daughter. All that the entreaties of the lovers could gain from him
was the promise that if Marsilla went to the wars, gained fame and
riches, and returned before a certain day, he would receive Isabel in
marriage. This Marsilla did; but unfortunately he was unable to return
until just after the expiration of the time set. When he reached Teruel,
he found Isabel married to the wealthy rival. Disappointed in their
hopes after so many years of constant love and continual struggle
against adversity, Marsilla died of grief, and Isabel soon followed him;
separated in life by cruel fate, they were united in death. Buried in
the same tomb, they were later disinterred, and their mummified remains
may now be seen in the old church of San Pedro in Teruel.
#II. Authenticity of the Legend#. The earliest references that have
yet been found to the legend belong to the middle of the sixteenth
century, that is, more than three centuries after the supposed death of
the lovers. In 1555, when the church of San Pedro in Teruel was
undergoing some repairs, two bodies, supposedly those of Marsilla and
Isabel, were discovered in one tomb in a remarkably good state of
preservation. They were reburied at the foot of the altar in the chapel
of Saints Cosme and Damian, and the story of the unfortunate lovers
began to spread far and wide. By the end of the century it was
apparently widely known and attracted considerable attention to the old
city of Teruel. When Philip III of Spain was journeying to Valencia in
1599 he was induced to turn aside to visit the church of San Pedro. In
the official account of his journey, "Jornada de Su Majestad Felipe III
y Alteza la Infanta Doña Isabel, desde Madrid, a casarse el Rey con la
Reyna Doña Margarita, y su Alteza con el Archiduque Alberto," the story
of the legend as then generally accepted is related so succinctly that
it may well be quoted here: "En la iglesia de San Pedro, en la capilla
de San Cosme y San Damián, de la dicha ciudad, está la sepultura de los
Amantes que llaman de Teruel; y dicen eran un mancebo y una doncella que
se querían mucho, ella rica y él al contrario; y como él pidiese por
mujer la doncella y por ser pobre no se la diesen, se determinó a ir por
el mundo a adquerir hacienda y ella aguardarle ciertos años, al cabo de
los cuales y dos o tres días más, volvió rico y halló que aquella noche
se casaba la doncella. Tuvo trazas de meterse debajo de su cama y a
media noche le pidió un abrazo, dándose a conocer; ella le dijo que no
podía por no ser ya suya, y él murió luego al punto. Lleváronle a
enterrar, y ella fué al entierro, y cuando le querían echar en la
sepultura, se arrimó a la ataúd y quedó allí muerta; y así los
enterraron juntos en una sepultura, sabido el caso."
Seventeen years later a long epic poem by the secretary of the city
council of Teruel, Juan Yagüe de Salas, aroused much discussion as to
the authenticity of the legend. In 1619 the bodies were again exhumed
and in the coffin of one of them were found written the words "Éste es
Don Diego Juan Martínez de Marsilla"; also a document, "papel de letra
muy antigua," giving the story in detail. This document disappeared, but
the copy that Juan Yagüe claimed to have made may be seen in the
archives of the church of San Pedro or in the transcription published in
the _Semanario Pintoresco_ for the week ending Feb. 5, 1837 (Vol. II,
pages 45-47). The genuineness of the document and its copy is very
doubtful. The first paragraph shows some linguistic peculiarities of old
Aragonese; but these gradually disappear, until there is little left in
the language to differentiate it from that of the good notary public and
poet, Juan Yagüe, who was so anxious to prove authenticity for the
legend treated in his poem. Although there is no reliable evidence that
the bodies exhumed in 1555 and again in 1619 were those of Marsilla and
Isabel, the church of San Pedro has held them in special reverence.
They attract many admirers to the old city on the Guadalaviar and the
tourist who expresses incredulity when shown the remains of the lovers
becomes thereby _persona non grata_ in Teruel.
For three centuries the controversy has continued and has resulted in
the spilling of much ink. The most complete and authoritative study of
the sources and growth of the legend is that of the eminent scholar
Cotarelo y Mori _(Sobre el origen y desarrollo de la leyenda de Los
Amantes de Teruel_, 2d edition, 1907). His conclusions support the
theory that the legend is the result of the localization in Teruel of
the story of the unfortunate Florentine lovers, Girolamo and Salvestra,
as related by Boccaccio in his _Decameron_, Book IV, Novel 8. He refutes
the arguments advanced by the supporters of the authenticity of the
legend, calls attention to the suspicious nature of all the documents,
and maintains the thesis that Boccaccio's story found its way into Spain
toward the end of the fourteenth century and took the form of the legend
of the _Lovers of Teruel_ about the middle of the sixteenth century, at
which time it first appeared definitely in Spanish literature. The
majority of literary critics and historians accept Cotarelo y Mori's
conclusions; others, however, refuse to give up the historic basis of
the legend. They cannot deny, of course, the evident similarity of the
stories; they explain it by saying that the story of the constant lovers
who died in Teruel in 1217 was carried to Italy by Aragonese soldiers or
merchants, was heard by the Italian novelist, and used by him as the
basis for his story of Girolamo and Salvestra.
#III. The Legend in Spanish Literature.# Very few of the famous
legends of the world rest upon documentary evidence, and the fact that
the legend of the _Lovers of Teruel_ lacks historic proof has had little
influence upon its popularity. It has been productive of much
literature, the extent of which is indicated by the two hundred or more
titles contained in the bibliography[l] published by Domingo Gascón y
Guimbao in 1907. Of the many poems, plays, and novels inspired by the
legend only the most noteworthy can be mentioned here. The oldest
literary treatment is apparently that of Pedro de Alventosa, written
about the middle of the sixteenth century, _Historia lastimosa y sentida
de los tiernos amantes Marcilla y Segura_. This was followed in 1566 by
a Latin poem of about five hundred lines by Antonio de Serón, published
in 1907 by Gascón y Guimbao, with a Spanish translation and an excellent
bibliography. In 1581 the legend was given dramatic treatment by Rey de
Artieda, who followed the story in its essential elements but modernized
the action by placing it in the time of Charles V, only forty-six years
earlier than the publication of the play. It has little literary value,
but is important because of its influence on later dramatists. Passing
over various treatments of the theme that serve merely to indicate its
growing popularity, we come to the pretentious epic poem of Juan Yagüe
de Salas in twenty-six cantos, _Los Amantes de Teruel, Epopeya trágica_,
in which, besides adding many fantastic details to the legend, the
author presented much extraneous matter bearing upon the general history
of Teruel. Because of this widely known poem and the growing popularity
of the _Lovers_, two dramatists of the Golden Age, Tirso de Molina and
Pérez de Montalbán, gave it their attention. _Los Amantes de Teruel_ of
the great Tirso de Molina, published in 1635, is disappointing,
considering the dramatic ability of the author; it contains passages of
dramatic effectiveness but is weak in construction. As in Rey de
Artieda's play, the action is placed in the sixteenth century; Marsilla
takes part in the famous expedition of Charles V against the Moors in
Tunis, saves the Emperor's life, and, richly rewarded, returns, too
late, to claim the promised bride. It is a better play than that of
Artieda, but is itself surpassed by Montalbán's play of three years
later. Although he was far from possessing the dramatic genius of Tirso,
Montalbán succeeded in giving the story the form that it was to maintain
on the stage for two centuries. Frequent performances and many editions
of his play, as well as many other literary treatments and references
that might be cited, attest the continued popularity of the legend.
[Footnote 1: _Los Amantes de Teruel, Bibliografía de los Amantes_.
Domingo Gascón y Guimbao, Madrid, 1907.]
Finally, in the early days of Romanticism, it assumed the dramatic form
that has remained most popular down to the present day. On the
nineteenth of January of the year 1837 the theatergoing people of Madrid
were moved to vociferous applause by a new treatment of the old theme,
and a new star of the literary firmament was recognized in the person of
Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch. In his dramatic masterpiece Hartzenbusch
eclipsed all the other plays that have dealt with the legend, and more
than twenty editions stand as proof of its continued popularity. Besides
these many editions of the play, numerous novels, poems, and operas have
appeared from time to time. For the most complete bibliography down to
1907 the reader is again referred to that of the official historian of
Teruel, Gascón y Guimbao. We must now turn our attention to the author
of the best dramatic treatment of the legend.
#IV. Life of Hartzenbusch#. Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch, born in 1806,
was the only son of a German cabinet-maker who had wandered to Spain
from his home near Cologne, married a Spanish girl, and opened up a shop
in Madrid. The son inherited from his German father and Spanish mother
traits of character that were exemplified later in his life and
writings. From his father he received a fondness for meditation,
conscientious industry in acquiring sound scholarship, and the patience
needed for the continual revision of his plays; from his mother came his
ardent imagination and love of literature. Childhood and youth were for
him a period of disappointment and struggle against adversity. Less than
two years old when his mother died after a short period of insanity
caused by the sight of bloodshed in the turbulent streets of Madrid in
1808, he was left to the care of a brooding father who had little
sympathy with his literary aspirations, but who did wish to give him the
best education he could afford. He received a common school education
and was permitted to spend the four years from 1818 to 1822 in the
College of San Isidro. As a result of the political troubles in Spain in
1823, the father's business, never very prosperous, fell away and the
son had to leave college to help in the workshop. He was thus compelled
to spend a large part of his time in making furniture, although his
inclination was toward literature.
His leisure was given to study and to the acquirement of a practical
knowledge of the dramatic art, gained for the most part from books,
because of his father's dislike of the theater and because of the lack
of money for any unnecessary expenditure. He translated several French
and Italian plays, adapted others to Spanish conditions, and recast
various _comedias_ of the _Siglo de Oro_, with a view to making them
more suitable for presentation. He tried his hand also at original
production and succeeded in getting some of his plays on the stage, only
to have them withdrawn almost immediately. Undiscouraged by repeated
failure, he continued studying and writing, more determined than ever to
become a successful dramatist and thus realize the ambition that was
kindled in him by the first dramatic performance that he had witnessed
when he had already reached manhood.
At the time of his marriage in 1830 he was still helping his ailing and
despondent father in the workshop; more interested undoubtedly in his
literary pursuits, but ever faithful to the call of duty. Until success
as a dramatist made it possible for him to gain a living for his family
by literature, he continued patiently his manual labor. At his father's
death he closed the workshop and for a short time became dependent for
a livelihood on stenography, with which he had already eked out the
slender returns from the labor of his hands.
Meanwhile, during these last years of apprenticeship in which
Hartzenbusch was gaining complete mastery of his art by continual study
and practice, the literary revolution known as Romanticism was making
rapid progress. The death of the despotic Ferdinand VII in 1833 removed
the restraint that had been imposed upon literature as well as upon
political ideas. The theories of the French and English Romanticists
were penetrating Spanish literary circles, to be taken up eagerly by the
younger dramatists; political exiles of high social and literary
prestige, such as Martínez de la Rosa and the Duque de Rivas, were
returning to Spain with plays and poems composed according to the new
theories; the natural reaction from the logical, unemotional ideals of
the Classicists was developing conditions favorable to the revolution.
The first year of the struggle between the two schools of literature,
1834, gave the Romanticists two important victories in the _Conjuración
de Venecia_ of Martinez de la Rosa, and the _Macías_ of José de Larra,
two plays that show clearly Romantic tendencies but that avoid an abrupt
break with the Classical theories. They served to prepare the way for
the thoroughly Romantic play of the Duque de Rivas, _Don Álvaro o la
fuerza del sino_, a magnificent, though disordered, drama that gained
for the Romanticists a decisive victory in 1835, a victory over
Classicism in Spain similar to that gained in Paris five years earlier
by the famous _Hernani_ of Victor Hugo, leader of the French
Romanticists. In 1836 the equally successful performance of _El
Trovador_, the Romantic play of García Gutiérrez, confirmed the victory
gained by the Romanticists with _Don Álvaro_, and gave clear indication
that the literary revolution was complete. The temper of the time was
decidedly Romantic, and the wholehearted applause that resounded through
the Teatro del Príncipe on the night of Jan. 19, 1837, at the first
performance of _Los Amantes de Teruel_ put an end to the long and
laborious apprenticeship of Hartzenbusch.
A few days later the warm reception given the play and its continued
popularity were justified in a remarkable piece of dramatic criticism by
the rival playwright and keen literary critic, José de Larra, known
better by his journalistic pen-name, Fígaro, and greatly feared by his
contemporaries for his mordant criticism and stinging satire. In the
opening words of his review of the play, we may see the highly favorable
attitude of the critic and realize the suddenness of the fame that came
to Hartzenbusch. "Venir a aumentar el número de los vivientes, ser un
hombre más donde hay tantos hombres, oír decir de sí: 'Es un tal
fulano,' es ser un árbol más en una alameda. Pero pasar cinco o seis
lustros oscuro y desconocido, y llegar una noche entre otras, convocar a
un pueblo, hacer tributaria su curiosidad, alzar una cortina, conmover
el corazón, subyugar el juicio, hacerse aplaudir y aclamar, y oír al día
siguiente de sí mismo al pasar por una calle o por el Prado: 'Aquél es
el escritor de la comedia aplaudida,' eso es algo; es nacer; es devolver
al autor de nuestros días por un apellido oscuro un nombre claro; es dar
alcurnia a sus ascendientes en vez de recibirla de ellos."[2] Other
contemporary reviews were just as favorable, and all expressed with
Fígaro great hopes in the career of a dramatist that had thus begun with
an acknowledged masterpiece. The _Semanario Pintoresco_, for example, a
literary magazine in its second year of publication, ended its review of
the play with these words: "El joven que, saliendo de la oscuridad del
taller de un artesano, se presenta en el mundo literario con los Amantes
de Teruel por primera prueba de su talento, hace concebir al teatro
español la fundada esperanza de futuros días de gloria, y de verse
elevado a la altura que un día ocupó en la admiración del mundo
civilizado." (Feb. 5, 1837.)
[Footnote 2: _Obras completas de Fígaro._ Paris, 1889. Vol. III, page
187.]
Thus encouraged by popular applause and by the enthusiastic praise of
literary critics, Hartzenbusch produced at varying intervals many
excellent plays, but none of them surpassed or even equaled his _Amantes
de Teruel_. Many of them, characterized by careful workmanship, dramatic
effectiveness, and fine literary finish, are well worth studying, and
deserve more attention than can be given them here. They offer all kinds
of drama: tragedies such as _Doña Mencía_, in which the exaggerations of
Romanticism are given free rein; historical plays, in which striking
incidents in Spanish history or legend are given dramatic treatment;
fantastic plays, such as _La redoma encantada_, in which magic plays an
important part; comedies of character and manners, such as _La coja y el
encogido_, in which contemporary life found humorous presentation. The
best of them may be read in the three volumes published in the
well-known series _Colección de Escritores Castellanos_. For literary
criticism the student is referred to the books mentioned later in the
bibliography.
The love of study grew stronger in Hartzenbusch as the opportunity to
devote himself to it became greater, so that after he had had several
plays presented with considerable success, scholarship began to absorb
more and more of his time and the intervals between plays began to
lengthen. Literary criticism, editorial work in connection with new
editions of the Spanish classics, his duties as assistant and, later,
chief librarian of the Biblioteca Nacional, these, with the production
from time to time of a new play, made him a well-known figure in the
literary life of Madrid. His was the quiet life of the modern man of
letters, to whom the incidents of greatest interest are of the
intellectual order: the production of a new play, the publication of a
new book of literary or scholarly value, the discovery of an old
manuscript or the announcement of a new theory, the admission of a new
member to the Spanish Academy. Serenely tolerant in his outlook upon
life, of gentle disposition and ready sympathy, unaffectedly modest,
indifferent to the accumulation of property beyond the needs of his
simple mode of living, conscientious in the performance of all his
duties, he retained to the end of his life the personal esteem of his
many friends. When death put an end in 1880 to the long illness that
saddened the last years of his life, his mortal remains were conducted
to the tomb with all due ceremony by the Spanish Academy, to which
membership had been granted him in 1847 as a recognition of his
excellent work as dramatist and scholar.
The productivity of Hartzenbusch, as well as his versatility, would be
remarkable in any country but Spain. The _Bibliografía de Hartzenbusch_,
prepared by his son and published in 1900,[3] stands as proof of the
great extent and diversity of his productions; four hundred pages are
needed for the bibliographical data connected with his many publications
and for a few extracts from his unpublished writings. Hundreds of titles
of dramas, poems, addresses, essays, literary criticism, scholarly
commentaries, indicate the versatility of his talent and his tireless
industry.
[Footnote 3: _Bibliografía de Hartzenbusch_. Eugenio Hartzenbusch.
Madrid, 1900.]
#V. Hartzenbusch's Treatment of the Legend.# Apparently Hartzenbusch
had given much study and thought to the famous legend of the _Lovers of
Teruel_. At first it was his intention to use it in an historical novel,
but only the first few pages of this have been preserved (_Bibliografía
de Hartzenbusch_). Believing that the legend could be better treated in
dramatic form, he applied himself enthusiastically to the construction
of the play in accordance with the new theories that were becoming
popular, and had it ready for production when a copy of José de Larra's
_Macías_ came into his hands. What was his astonishment to find that the
plot of his play was so similar to that of _Macías_ that no one would be
likely to accept the similarity as a mere coincidence. Patiently he
reconstructed it and had it published in 1836, if the date on the title
page of the oldest edition is to be accepted as accurate.[4] If
published in 1836, the author remained in obscurity until the first
performance of the play, January 19 of the following year, made him
famous.
[Footnote 4: _Los Amantes de Teruel_, drama en cinco actos en prosa y
verso por Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch. Madrid. Imprenta de D. José María
Repullés. 1836.]
Many difficulties beset the dramatist in the construction of the play.
The legend that served as plot was already known to all, so that the
element of suspense could not be used to any great extent. Moreover, the
climax was not in itself dramatic; the death of two lovers through grief
at separation, pathetic though it be, lacked the tragic element of other
similar stories in which death resulted from violence. The _dénouement_,
the probability of which would not be generally accepted, had to be
retained in the treatment of a legend so widely known, a legend in which
the essential originality consisted in this very improbability. Careful
preparation throughout the whole play was needed, then, for this
improbable _dénouement_, pathetic, rather than tragic; dramatic
incidents had to be supplied by the author's own inventiveness, the
characters had to be carefully delineated, the motivation carefully
considered. How successfully the author was able to overcome these
difficulties, with what dramatic skill he was able to succeed where
dramatists such as Tirso de Molina and Montalbán were only partially
successful, careful study of the play will reveal.
The play as given in this edition differs in many ways from the play as
first presented in 1837. More than once the author returned to it, and
the numerous editions needed to supply the popular and continuous demand
gave him the opportunity to revise it and give it the most artistic
finish of which he was capable. Changed literary conditions after
Romanticism had run its course are reflected in the more sober dress of
the revised play; there are reflected in it, too, the greater
restraint, the more scholarly and critical attention to character
delineation and literary finish befitting a man who had passed from the
warm impulsiveness of youth to the calm rationality of middle age. The
student who takes the trouble to compare the text of this edition with
that of the first will see many changes: the five acts are reduced to
four; some of the prose scenes are now in poetic form; the diction is
much improved generally and obscure passages are made clear; some
changes in motivation are to be noted, especially in the scenes leading
up to the voluntary marriage of Isabel with Azagra; the mother's
character is notably ennobled. On the whole, the play has gained by
these revisions; what it has lost in freshness and spontaneity has been
more than counterbalanced by the more careful delineation of character,
improved motivation of action, correctness of diction, and literary
finish. The play in its first form is undoubtedly a better example of
Romanticism in all its phases, its tendencies toward exaggeration, its
crudities of thought and expression, combined with qualities unsurpassed
in any other period of literature; in its revised form it is a more
artistic production, is still a Romantic play, and one of the best in
Spanish literature.
#VI. Romanticism.# Generally speaking, an author belongs to his own
age and country, is moved by the prevalent ideas and sentiments; his
outlook upon life is similar to that of the majority of his
contemporaries. Ordinarily then, a piece of literature of a past age is
understood and fully appreciated only by the student who is able to view
it in its proper historical perspective, to see it through the eyes of
those for whom it was written. Especially is this true of Romantic
literature, the production of ardent and youthful enthusiasts who found
themselves suddenly emancipated from the rigid rules and formalism of
French pseudo-Classicism of the eighteenth century. The tendency in
literature, as in political and social life, is to pass in a pendulum
swing from one extreme to the other, so that to appreciate the fine and
enduring qualities of Romantic literature and to make due allowance for
its exaggerations and other apparent faults, the student must know
something of the Romantic movement and of the Classicism that
immediately preceded it. Moreover, his purpose in reading a literary
masterpiece is not merely to understand and appreciate it in itself, but
also to gain through it some understanding of the age or literary
movement of which it is a representative. In order, then, that _Los
Amantes de Teruel_ may be more fully appreciated as a dramatic
masterpiece, and in order that through it the student may come to a
fuller understanding of Romanticism, his attention is now directed to
the essential characteristics of this important literary movement.
Romanticism in Spanish literature is the name given to the literary
revolt that began about 1830 against pseudo-Classicism. A similar revolt
had already freed the other literatures of Europe, so that the many
Spanish exiles who had been forced to seek refuge for political reasons
in England or on the Continent there became familiar with the new ideas
in literature. Ardent converts to the new literary ideals, these
political exiles, when permitted to return to Spain at the death of the
despotic Ferdinand VII in 1833, became the leaders in a literary
revolution that soon swept away all opposition. The logical reaction
from the rigid rules and formalism, new ideas in political and social
life weakened opposition so rapidly and effectively that the Romantic
poetry and plays of the Duque de Rivas, Espronceda, García Gutiérrez,
Hartzenbusch, and others found a ready and enthusiastic welcome.
In the comparison that is to be made of Romanticism and Classicism,
_romantic_ and _classic_ are to be used in their technical, literary
sense. As ordinarily used, _romantic_ means the extreme opposite of
prosaic or commonplace; in literary history, Romantic is used to
describe the movement known as Romanticism. Classic, in its oldest and
ordinary acceptation, means the best of its class or kind; in its
literary sense, _classic_, or _classical_, is usually applied to the
type of literature that harmonized so completely with eighteenth century
rationalism, the Classicism, or rather pseudo-Classicism, which,
enthroned in France, ruled all literary Europe until the closing years
of the century. In the following comparison, Classic, Classicist, and
Classicism are the opposites of Romantic, Romanticist, and Romanticism.
Romanticism, in its general application to all kinds of literature and
to the literatures of all countries where it made itself effectively
felt, shows the following characteristics:
1. _Subjectivity_, the introduction of the personal note, the expression
by the author of his own individual feelings and ideas. The Classicist,
aiming at universality and completeness, considered only the typical and
eternal as suitable material for literature and carefully excluded
whatever seemed peculiar to himself; his ideal was to give perfect
literary form to ideas and sentiments acceptable to mankind generally,
truths of universal application. Originality of idea or sentiment was
not of prime importance with him; his aim was rather to give finished
form to "what oft was said, but ne'er so well expressed." The aim of the
Romanticist, on the other hand, was to turn to literary uses his own
individual experiences, to give forceful and effective, rather than
elegant, expression to his own peculiar feelings and ideas. This
subjectivity led naturally to many abuses; it also led to the production
of some of the masterpieces of literature. Lyric poetry, that had almost
died of inanition during the period of Classicism, took on new and
vigorous life and became again one of the most important literary
genres. The mere mention of such famous poets as Byron, Shelley, Heine,
Musset, Leopardi, Espronceda, indicates the extent and importance of
lyric poetry in the first half of the nineteenth century.
2. _Emotional appeal_. Classicism made its appeal to the intellect;
Romanticism to the emotions. The aim of the Classicist being to give
perfect literary expression to the accumulated wisdom of mankind or to
reform social, moral, or political conditions by means of ridicule, he
accepted logic as his guide. The Romanticist, whose aim it was to
express his individual sentiments and ideas, rebelled against the
restraints of logic and common sense; his purpose was not to persuade
his reader or hearer by logical reasoning, but rather to carry him off
his feet by the onrush of his passions and sentiments. The Classicist
mistrusted the imagination for fear that it might lead him away from
common sense and moderation; the Romanticist turned to it eagerly as the
most effective means of conveying to reader or hearer his ardent
sentiments and vague aspirations. For the reason then that the
Classicist made his appeal to the intellect, mistrusted the imagination,
and usually avoided all strong passions except that of indignation,
Classicism tended to become more and more prosaic. Romanticism, because
of its appeal to the emotions and to the imagination, put new life and
power into literature, and immeasurably widened its range. On the other
hand the tendency on the part of writers of little ability and less
judgment to go to absurd extremes in their efforts to express strange
and original ideas and sentiments, to get as far away as possible from
the logical and commonplace, led to the production of much absurd
writing. This and the attempt of many of them to apply the extreme
principles of Romanticism to daily life as well as to literature
resulted in the derogatory sense that the word _romantic_ came to have
in its ordinary acceptation. The results of Romanticism in its
exaggerated form may be seen in the satirical article written in 1837 by
Mesonero Romanos, _El Romanticismo y los Románticos_. This article,
highly recommended in this connection, may easily be found in his
collected writings _Obras_, Madrid, 1881, or, better still, it may be
studied in the excellent edition of Professor G.T. Northup, _Selections
from Mesonero Romanos_.
3. _Spiritual awakening_. The latter half of the eighteenth century was
a materialistic age. The realities of life were limited to such as could
be understood by the five senses and the reasoning faculty. Life and
literature for the Classicist meant reasoned submission to things as
they were; achievement was the accepted basis of judgment for his life
or literature. The Romanticist rebelled against this materialistic view
of life; for him the real truths lay beyond the apparent realities; he
grasped at the impalpable and infinite, and wished to have his life and
literature judged by his aspirations, rather than by his achievements.
Hence, too, the vague longings, the gentle melancholy or violent revolt,
the spiritual uplift. The new sense of the wonder and glory of the
universe, as well as the spiritual reality behind the material, has
suggested as a definition of Romanticism the "Renascence of Wonder."
4. _Revival of the Middle Ages and national traditions_. The
Romanticists were inclined to turn away from the prosaic present and to
seek material for their writings in the Middle Ages, the time of
unrestrained feelings and emotions, of chivalrous adventure and romance,
of strong religious faith, of miracles and superstition. The historical
novel, in which the powerful imagination of a Walter Scott made the past
live again, became popular throughout Europe; innumerable dramas sought
their plots in medieval history and legend. Spain, with her rich
literature of popular ballads and drama, a storehouse of picturesque
legends and traditions, attracted the attention of Romanticists
everywhere, so that for Spaniards the movement came to have a patriotic
significance. The best Romanticists did not limit themselves to the
Middle Ages; they broadened their vision to include the whole past of
the human race, whereas the Classicists, fixing their eyes steadily upon
ancient Greece and Rome, whenever they were inclined to turn away from
the present, ignored entirely the medieval period and the early modern.
5. _Picturesqueness_. Seeking to give polished expression to the
probable and typical, the Classicist abhorred exaggeration and violent
contrasts. The Romanticist, on the other hand, was attracted to the
grotesque, mingled the ugly and the beautiful, the commonplace and the
fantastic; he delighted in striking antitheses.
6. _Love of inanimate nature_. The Classicist, instead of going directly
to Nature for individual inspiration, was content to repeat in new ways
the generally accepted ideas regarding natural scenery. His interest lay
almost wholly in mankind, so that inanimate Nature usually served as a
merely conventional background. The Romanticist loved Nature for its own
sake, and many masterpieces of lyric poetry were due to its inspiration.
He loved Nature in all her aspects and moods; if these were grandiose or
violent, the greater was his admiration.
7. _Freedom from rule and conventionality in literary forms and
technique._ The foregoing characteristics, concerned mainly with the
content of Romantic literature, would naturally mean a corresponding
revolution in literary form and technique. Rules and conventions had
kept accumulating about literature, until by the middle of the
eighteenth century, when French Classicism dominated literary Europe,
they were so rigid that only a few of the many men of letters were able
to produce literature that was not wholly artificial and uninspired.
Each kind of literature was supposed to be written in a certain way;
narrative poetry had a certain prescribed meter; lyric poetry another;
tragedy and comedy should be carefully kept apart. The Romanticist
proceeded at once to throw overboard all these rules and
conventionalities. Each literary production was to be judged upon its
own merits as literature, not upon the closeness of its adherence to any
set of rules, and each author was to be at liberty to get his results in
any way that he might choose. Hence we find the mingling of literary
genres, the neglect of the dramatic unities, the invention of new meters
and the revival of old ones.
8. _Richness of language_. Because of the continual elimination of words
considered unsuitable for literary expression, the language of the
Classicists was becoming more and more impoverished, diction was
becoming more and more stereotyped and artificial. The Romanticists,
with their revolutionary ideas as to content, rebelled against any rule
or convention that would restrict their choice of words or diction;
seeking complete and effective self-expression, they turned to literary
use all the resources of the language of their own time and of any other
age as well. The result was a great enrichment of language through the
effective use of highly colored, picturesque words and diction, as fresh
and bright as newly coined pieces of gold.
Such are the general characteristics of the movement that had such a
profound effect upon the literatures of western Europe in the closing
years of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth.
All of them may be observed in the literature produced in Spain during
the twenty years from 1830 to 1850, although, naturally, they do not all
have the same importance there as in other countries. In a general way
it may be said that the movement was not so revolutionary as in France,
for example, where Classicism had taken deeper root. Moreover, in Spain,
Romanticism meant the revival of some of the literary ideals of the
_Siglo de Oro_, and to this extent at least could hardly be considered
revolutionary. The most complete representative of Romanticism in
Spanish dramatic literature is the _Don Álvaro_ of Angel de Saavedra,
better known as the Duque de Rivas; in this play are to be found all the
above-mentioned characteristics, even those that have to do more
naturally with lyric poetry, subjectivity and love of nature. Not only
does it present Romanticism in its most effective form; it also shows
the pitfalls of exaggeration and improbability that even the greatest
Romanticists failed to avoid when the check of common sense was removed
and free rein was given to the imagination. But since we are here
concerned mainly with _Los Amantes de Teruel_, a play that demands for
its understanding and appreciation much less familiarity with the
Spanish language than that required by _Don Álvaro_, the extent to which
the masterpiece of Hartzenbusch is representative of Romanticism will
now be briefly noted.[5]
[Footnote 5: In order that the student may discover for himself the
essential differences between the two schools of drama, it is
recommended that he read a classical play such as Moratin's _El Sí de
las Niñas_ before reading _Los Amantes de Teruel_. In comparing the two
plays he should bear in mind that, for the reason that they are both
artistic masterpieces, they avoid the extremes of Classicism and
Romanticism, and that they do not illustrate entirely the opposite
characteristics of the less artistic examples of the two kinds of
drama.]
#VII. Romanticism in _Los Amantes de Teruel._# That the appeal is
mainly to the emotions and imagination is quite evident. The plot is
based on a legend that owes its chief interest to the unusual and even
improbable ending; and the exceptional and improbable, if they are to be
effectively treated in literature, must appeal to the imagination, must
so stir the sentiments of the reader or hearer that the reasoning
faculty may be kept from becoming too active. Not only is the
_dénouement_ itself improbable; the somewhat melodramatic figure of
Zulima and the important part she plays in keeping apart the lovers
until it is too late, would hardly be convincing if the main appeal of
the play were to the intellect. These improbabilities are willingly
ignored by the reader or spectator as he allows himself to be carried
along in the current of passion to the final scene of deep emotion and
intense pathos. Melodious verse and poetic imagery help to make
effective this emotional appeal.
The spiritual appeal of the play is apparent. To Marsilla and Isabel
love is so spiritualized that materialism can find in it no place. Their
love for each other is the "encarnación del cariño anticipado al nacer,"
life means for them "seguir con el cuerpo amando, como el espíritu amó."
Love is life itself; and when no longer permitted to love each other in
this life for the reason that Isabel, believing her lover to be dead and
wishing to sacrifice herself in order that her mother's good name may be
preserved, has become the wife of Rodrigo de Azagra, they willingly
return to the spiritual world from which together _they had come into
the world of materiality_.
The dramatization of a medieval legend is typical of the newly awakened
interest in the Middle Ages. Five years before the beginning of the
supposed action of the play, shortly after Marsilla had left home to
gain name and fortune in the wars against the infidels, was fought at
Navas de Tolosa one of the most decisive battles between Christianity
and Mohammedanism. The year after his departure from Teruel there
ascended the throne of Aragón the boy that was to be known to history as
_Jaime el Conquistador_ because of his reconquest of southeastern Spain
for Christianity. In the lull that preceded the approaching storm the
Christians and Moslems in the eastern part of the peninsula were at
peace, so that in the play they mingle freely, treating each other with
the chivalrous respect that was characteristic of the Middle Ages. The
numerous references to contemporary historic personages and events and
the careful attention to local color bring vividly before us the life of
that part of Aragón recently recovered from the Moors. The _dénouement_
is made less improbable by placing the action of the play in that age of
deep convictions, exalted idealism, chivalrous customs, and in that part
of Spain where tenacity of purpose has always been regarded as a
characteristic trait.
Picturesqueness, in its literary sense is not very apparent in the play
as we now have it. In the first version there were examples of striking
contrasts, a mingling of the tragic and comic, the noble and base, but
these were toned down or eliminated by the author in his revisions of
the play. For an example of exaggerated picturesqueness, with its
violent contrasts, mingling of the sublime and vulgar, the grotesque and
beautiful, the student is referred to _Don Álvaro_.
The classical conventionality that each kind of literature should have
its prescribed form and that the various literary genres should be kept
apart was disregarded by Hartzenbusch. In this play we see a mingling of
scenes in prose with those in verse, we find the versification varied
according to the nature of the scenes, a mingling of dramatic dialogue
and lyrical expression of sentiment and passion. The action of the play
in its first form was impeded by the excessive lyricism of some of the
scenes; although notably reduced, this lyric element is still quite
apparent in the scene between Marsilla and Zulima in the first act, for
example; or between Marsilla and Isabel in the last. In the first
version Mari-Gómez, later changed to Teresa with the suppression of most
of her garrulity, was made to serve as a _graciosa_ and thus relieve the
tenseness of the serious scenes.
As to the three dramatic unities so dear to the Classicists, those of
time and place are disregarded. The action shifts from Valencia to
Teruel; the time occupied covers the last six days of the _plazo_ given
Marsilla in which to gain name and fortune and return home to claim
Isabel for wife. The unity of action, the one essential unity in any
work of art, is carefully preserved. In the first version could be seen
something of the Romantic tendency to complicate the plot by the
introduction of an excessive number of characters and needless episodes,
but in its final form the plot is simple and nothing is permitted to
interfere with its dramatic development.
In the first version there was also some tendency to abuse the new
freedom from conventionality in language, a tendency to seek out unusual
words and phrases for the sake of their picturesqueness, rather than for
their artistic appropriateness. In the polishing and toning-down
process, such words and phrases were eliminated, so that the play in its
final form serves as a good illustration of the permanent enrichment of
the literary language by the Romanticists. Likewise, in its
versification, it offers a good example of the metrical variety found in
the Spanish dramatists of the Golden Age and revived by the
Romanticists.
#VIII. Versification.# Only the fundamental principles of Spanish
versification will be noted here. For a more adequate treatment the
student is referred to such works as Andrés Bello's _Ortología y
métrica_ (Vol. IV of _Obras completas_, Madrid, 1890), or the _Prosodia
castellana y versificación_ of E. Benot; or to the more easily
accessible notes on Spanish versification in Hills and Morley's _Modern
Spanish Lyrics_ or Ford's _Spanish Anthology_.
Some knowledge of two of the essential differences between Spanish and
English versification is needed for the appreciation of the poetry of
this play. Whereas in English poetry the number of feet to the line is
essential, in Spanish the basis of meter is the number of syllables;
moreover, in syllable-counting there are certain rules (too complicated
to be given here) regarding the treatment of contiguous vowels as one
syllable or more than one. Another difference that should be noted is
that in Spanish poetry there are two kinds of rime, consonantal rime and
assonance. Consonantal rime is the same as that used in English poetry,
identity of the last stressed vowel sound as well as all following vowel
or consonant sounds in two or more verses; as for example, in lines
127-130, Act I, _clemencia, Valencia: favor, mejor_. Assonance is
identity in a series of verses of the last stressed vowel and of a
following unstressed vowel, if there be one, but not of a consonant; in
other words, assonance is the correspondence of the vowels, but not of
the consonants, in the riming syllables. Thus, in the first 110 lines of
the play, all the even verses have the same vowel in the last stressed
syllables: _volver, administré, fiel, pie, Adel, partiré, el, rey_, etc.
Only the strong vowel in a diphthong is recognized, so that in these 110
lines the assonance of the alternate verses is in _e_. In the first 148
lines of Act IV all the even verses have one and the same vowel in the
last accented syllable and one and the same vowel in the unaccented
syllable: _pueblo, bandoleros, prenderlos, tiempo, vinieron, provecho_,
etc. The assonance is, therefore, _é-o_.
Of the many verse-forms, _i.e._, definite combinations of line and rime,
to be found in Spanish poetry, we find the following in this play:
_romance, romance heroico, redondilla, quintilla, décima, copla de arte
mayor_, and _silva_.
The _romance_, or ballad meter, is the most thoroughly national of all
Spanish meters and has always been very popular with the dramatists. It
has, regularly, eight syllables to the line, with a regular rhythmic
accent on the seventh, and has assonance in the alternate lines. The
seventh syllable may or may not be followed by one or two unstressed
syllables, but the line is called octosyllabic; one unstressed syllable
is counted whether it be present or not. The first 110 lines of Act I,
for example, are in _romance_. Note that the regular rhythmic stress of
each line is on the seventh syllable; that the odd lines have seven or
eight syllables; that all the even lines have seven metrical syllables
each, and have assonance in _e_. In the first 148 lines of Act IV, all
of the even lines have eight syllables each, for the reason that each
seventh syllable is followed by an unaccented syllable, the assonance
being _é-o._ This is the normal _romance_ line, eight-syllabled and in
assonance.
The _romance heroico_ or _real_ differs from the ordinary _romance_ in
that the lines are hendecasyllabic (eleven-syllabled). Lines 269-474,
Act IV, are in _romance heroico_, with assonance in _á-a_.
The _redondilla_ consists of four octosyllabic lines, with consonantal
rime, usually arranged thus: _abba_. In Act I, for example, lines
111-458 consist of 87 _redondillas_.
The _quintilla_ consists of five octosyllabic lines, with two
consonantal rimes, arranged so that no more than two may come together:
_ababa, abbab, abaab_, etc. In Act III lines 62-226 consist of 33
_quintillas_. The last one has a very unusual combination of rimes:
_abbba_.
The _décima_ consists of ten octosyllabic lines, with four consonantal
rimes usually arranged as in lines 761-770, or 771-780, Act II:
_abbaaccddc_. The _décima_ is not properly considered as two
_quintillas_, since there should be a pause at the end of the fourth
line of a _décima_.
The _copla_ (stanza) _de arte mayor_ contains eight lines with three
consonantal rimes arranged thus: _abbaacca_. Each line is divided into
two hemistitches, with rhythmic stress on the fifth syllable of each
hemistich. The sixth syllable of either hemistich or of both may be
lacking, so that there may be a total of 10, 11, or 12 syllables in a
line. Lines 179-282, Act II, are made up of thirteen _coplas de arte
mayor_. Most of the lines have 11 or 12 syllables; note that verses 187,
200, 215, etc., have only ten each.
The _silva_ is usually composed of eleven-syllabled lines, intermingled
with lines of seven syllables. There is consonantal rime, but without
regularity; and many lines are left unrimed. An example of the _silva_
may be found in lines 309-437, Act III.
SCHEME OF VERSIFICATION
Act I. 1-110 Romance (_e_)
111-458 Redondillas