Three Centuries of Tirso de Molina [Reprint 2016 ed.] 9781512815009

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TIRSO DE MOLINA

TIRSO DE MOLINA

THREE

CENTURIES

OF

Tirso de Molina By ALICE HUNTINGTON BUSHEE Professor of Spanish Emeritus WeUesley College Member of Hispanic Society of America

Philadelphia UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA PRESS London: Humphrey Milford: Oxford University Press 1939

Copyright 1939 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

PRESS

Manufactured in the United States of America by the Lancaster Press, Inc., Lancaster, Pa.

To the Memory of DR. W I N F R E D R O B E R T

MARTIN

Librarian of the Hispanic Society of America, 1907-1915, whose words of advice and encouragement will ever be remembered with gratitude.

PREFACE his book is the result of an endeavor to study the history of the comedias of Tirso de Molina during the three centuries following his death in 1648—references to him, editions of his plays, criticisms, and an analysis of the two periods when his popularity was at its zenith. It consists mainly of five articles already published in different Spanish reviews, in large part revised, together with new material in regard to editions which Cotarelo discusses in the important bibliography forming the Introduction to the second volume of Comedias de Tirso de Molina. A list of the editions in my own library has been added for the aid of those who might wish to consult them. I wish here to express my gratitude to the officials of the numerous public libraries who, by their unfailing kindness and courtesy, made possible the collecting of these data. Among the libraries of Europe special mention is due to the Biblioteca Nacional and the Biblioteca del Palacio in Madrid, the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, the British Museum, London, the Staatsbibliothek, Berlin, the National Bibliothek, Vienna, and the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vatican City; and, in America, to the Hispanic Society of America, the New York City Library, and above all to the Ticknor Collection at the Boston Public Library where for twenty years the facilities offered for research have made the work on this study one of genuine enjoyment. At the same time I should like to express my deep gratitude to Miss Ada M. Coe of Wellesley College for allowing me to use the material she gathered from the Madrid periodicals even before her own book was published, and to Mr. G. E. Johnston of Boston for the collating of several comedias and the reading of the manuscript and the proofs.

T

ALICE vii

H.

BUSHEE

CONTENTS Chapter

Page

Preface I. II.

Tirso de Molina, 1648-1848

1

Bibliography of La prudencia en la mujer

29

III.

The " Greatest" Spanish Dramatists

45

IV.

The Five Partes of Tirso de Molina

54

V.

The Guzmân Edition of Tirso de Molina's Comedias

VI.

70

Notes on Various Editions

90

Appendix: Editions of the Comedias in the Author's 102 Library Plates

113

ix

List of libraries to which reference is made with the abbreviated form usually employed in this book. Berlin Bodleian Bologna British Museum Brussels Congressional Filosofia Freiburg Hispanic Soc. Modena Municipal Nacional New York Palacio Paris Ticknor Vatican Vienna Wolfenbüttel

Preussische Staatsbibliothek Bodleian Library, Oxford R. Biblioteca Universitaria British Museum, London Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique Congressional Library, Washington Biblioteca de Filosofia y Letras, Madrid Universitäts-Bibliothek Library of the Hispanic Society of America, New York Biblioteca Estense Biblioteca Municipal, Madrid Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid New York Public Library, New York Biblioteca del Palacio Nacional, Madrid Bibliothèque Nationale Ticknor Collection, Boston Public Library Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana National-Bibliothek, Vienna Herzog August-Bibliothek

X

I TIRSO DE MOLINA

1648-1848 1

F

ray Gabriel Téllez, Mercenarian monk, died in 1648, but his work as the dramatic poet " T i r s o de M o l i n a " was practically finished twenty years previously, and two hundred years more were to pass before he would be granted his place as one of the four great Spanish dramatists. His death occurred during the period (1646-1649) when the theatres were closed and, on their reopening, the old order had passed away—Lope de Vega and his contemporaries were no longer the leaders, and the stage for 150 years belonged to Calderón and his followers. I t is true that there are many references to Lope, especially after the publication of Luzán's Poética in 1737, but they are usually in the form of bitter opposition to him as the "Corruptor del teatro" 2 by the neo-classicists or of Apologias written by friends whose opinions were held in little esteem by the critics of the day. On the other hand, the name of Tirso de Molina was almost forgotten by both friends and enemies (with the exception of Teresa de Guzmán), and his works are now among the rare books of Spanish literature. The reasons 1 Originally printed in the Revue Hispanique, vol. L X X X I , dedicated to the memory of R. Foulché-Delbosc. Revised and reprinted here by permission. 1 "Este Virues, y principalmente el mismo Lope de Vega, fueron los que en tiempo de Cervantes empezaron á corrumper el teatro; corrupción que despues fué cada dia tomando mas cuerpo."—Luis Josef Velázquez, Orígenes de la poesía castellana, Madrid, 1754, p. 90. "Cervantes trabajó para detener el desordenado y caliente genio del que hoy se llama por los críticos corruptor del teatro."—Manuel García de Villanueva, Origen, épocas y progresos del teatro español, . . . Madrid, 1802, p. 278. However, in the second edition of the Poética, published in 1789, we find the following taken from Luzán's notes: "Lope de Vega no fue el corruptor de nuestro teatro. Este jamás tuvo reglas, ni obras que se debiesen tener por arregladas; y asi ¿cómo pudo Lope corromper ni desarreglar lo que nunca estuvo ordenado ni arreglado?" II, 64.

1

2

TIRSO DE MOLINA

for this must be looked for in events that took place many years before his death. Even during the sixteenth century the Church had begun to oppose the theatre, and owing to the fact that Tirso was a member of an important religious order and that the language and action in many of his most popular plays were far from desirable on the stage, it is not strange that he became the special target for this opposition. Under the date of 1625 has been found the following Acuerdo de la Junta de reformación del Consejo de Castilla. Tratóse del escandalo que causa un fraile mercenario que se llama M° Tellez por otro nombre Tirso, con comedias que hace profanas y de malos incentivos y exemplos y por ser caso notorio se acordó que se consulte a Su Magestad mande que el P e confesor diga al Nuncio le eche de aqui a uno de los Monasterios mas remotos de su Religion y le imponga excomunión latae sententiae para que no haga comedias ni otro ningún genero de versos profanos y que esto sea luego.3 This sentence seems to have been carried out, and the most witty dramatist of the Spanish stage again became Fr. Gabriel Téllez and devoted his time to writing religious books. In one of these, Deleytar aprovechando, he says in the dedication: "Costóme un año entero de desvelos, sin divertir la pluma á otros, en que la inclinación me executaba." According to Cotarelo 4 only three new plays can be attributed to the last twenty years of Tirso's life, and apparently very few were represented after the above Acuerdo went into effect. In 1628 Juan J. Almella, autor de comedias, took his company to Valencia with a repertoire of seventy-two comedias, among which appear the names of four of Tirso's, all attributed to other authors. 6 Between * Cristóbal Pérez Pastor, " Nuevos datos acerca del histrionismo español en los siglos XVI y XVII," segunda serie, Bulletin Hispanique, 1908, X, 250. 4 E. Cotarelo y Mori, Tirso de Molina, Investigaciones bio-bibliográficas, Madrid, 1893, pp. 164-166. Compare Comedias de Tirso de Molina, II, p. XXII, number 38. 'Henri Mérimée, "El ayo de su hijo," Bulletin Hispanique, 1906, VIII, 378.

TIRSO DE MOLINA

3

1627 and 1636 he published five Partes, containing fiftynine plays, including several of joint authorship. Persecution followed these also, so that now only two perfect sets are known. 8 And yet there was something in Tirso's plays that would not let them die. Even in the most barren periods of the next two hundred years, many of his plots lived on, borrowed by the dramatists of Spain and of other countries and applauded by those who never knew whose mind had given them birth. These "barren periods," when absolutely no reference is found to him or to his works, are much shorter and more infrequent than has been supposed. Even the longest of perhaps twenty-five years, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, was broken at some point by Zamora's No hay plaza que no acaba based on Tirso's El burlador de Sevilla, and twice—once in the eighteenth century and once in the nineteenth, one hundred years apart his name was the best known among the Spanish dramatists of the Siglo de Oro. It is the object of this study to gather together the references to the dramatist and his works during the two hundred years following his death in 1648. According to Durán an edition of the third Parte was brought out in 1652 7 and seven plays were published in the Gran colección de comedias escogidas (one u n d e r t h e n a m e

of Rojas) in the years 1654, 1666, 1667 (two), 1669, 1670, and 1671.8 It is impossible to determine the number of sueltas published during the century. Only a few are to be found at the present time, but it may be inferred from the manuscript copies now in existence and from Medel's Indice 9 « See Table III, p. 62. 7 Talía española, Madrid, 1834, p. 6: but see pages 55 and 57 of this book. • All references to the publication of which I have not seen the originals have been duly credited. • Indice general alfabético de iodos los títulos de comedias que se han escrito por varios autores, antiguos, y modernos, y délos autos sacramentales y alegóricos, assi de Don Pedro Calderón de la Barca, como de otros autores clasicos. Madrid, 1735. See reprint published by Dr. John M. Hill in the Revue Hispanique, 1929, LXXV.

4

TIRSO DE MOLINA

that others were printed, although it is quite possible that Medel knew them only in manuscript form. There are at least six references to Tirso made by the writers of biography or criticism during the last half of the seventeenth century. The first of these, Fray Pedro de San Cecilio, comendador del Orden de la Merced, wrote a Catálogo of the leading men of this order in 1659, including the Padre Presentado Fray Gabriel Téllez. The only book he refers to is the Deleytar aprovechando, noting especially the "novela . . . el Vandolero, cuyo sugeto es San Pedro Armengol," and he remarks: " N o es esta obra la que mas acredita á nuestro glorioso mártir . . . pero al fin él pretendió servir al santo con el genio y talento que Dios le dió." 10 Some time during the reign of Carlos II, a "certain author" wrote "una defensa de ellas" (las comedias) and makes the following statements: Aunque don Pedro Calderón era reputado por el principal Autor de Autos Sacramentales . . . también los escribieron y escribian Lope de Vega . . . Tirso de Molina. . . . Entre la multitud de poetas comicos de varios estados se contaba . . . el Mercenario Tellez, 6 Tirso de Molina.11 In 1672, Nicolás Antonio lists F. Gabriel Téllez in his Bibliotheca hisp. nova and gives as his works: Comedias de Tyrso de Molina [with the titles of the twelve plays] Matriti in 4. Segunda Parte de las Comedias, ibidem in 4. Tercera Parte de las Comedias recogidas por D. Francisco Lucas de Avila, Dertusae 1634 in 4. . . . Los Cigarrales de Toledo, Deleytar aprovechando. Cessit e vivis circa annum MDCL.12 In 1690, Bances Candamo writing of the plots and language of Lope de Vega said: " . . . me cansara en vano 10 See letter written by D. Juan Colón y Colón to D. Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch, Oct. 1, 1839, and published by the latter in Teatro escogido de Fray Gabriel Tellez, Yenes, 1839, IV, Advertencia. u "A la Magestad Católica de Carlos II. nuestro Señor, rendida consagra á sus Reales Pies estas vasallas voces desde su Retiro la Comedia" quoted by Casiano Pellicer in Tratado histórica sobre el origen y progresos de la comedia y del histrionismo en España, Parte primera, Madrid, 1804, p. 277. u I, 510.

TIRSO DE MOLINA

5

si trajera ejemplares de los argumentos y versos primeros de Lope, muy poco limados y reparados en todo en aquella primera ruda infancia del tablado"; and then added: "El mesmo gusto de la gente fué adelantando cada día la lima en la censura y escribieron después el doctor Mira de Mescua, el doctor Phelipe de Godínez y el Maestro Tirso de Molina, que sabían harto teología y no cometerían un tan ignorante pecado á saber que pudiese serlo." 18 During the last decade of the century Padre José Alcázar wrote the Arte de escribir comedias, from which Gallardo copied the following: Los antiguos ignoraron el arte de escribir comedias: el primero que la inventó fué Lope de Vega, y ya todos le siguen. Tirso de Molina en Los Cigarrales de Toledo, desde la página 68, dice que las comedias que se representan ahora hacen mucha ventaja á las antiguas.14 About the same time or a little later Fr. Ambrosia de Harda wrote his Biblioteca de escritores mercenarios, also inedited. 16 As far as the comedias are concerned, he followed Nicolás Antonio quite closely, listing the titles of the plays in the first Parte and referring to the second and third, but he makes an important correction in the date of the friar's death, placing it in February 1648. Farinelli, in an article on Spanish literature in its relation to German criticism, says that the Germans of the seventeenth century were acquainted with the play La celosa de sí misma under the name of Die Eifernde mit sich selbst oder die betrügliche Maske.16 u Francisco de Bances Candamo, Theatro de los theairos de los pasados y presentes siglos. Ms. in the Bib. Nac. Madrid. See Bibliografía de las controversias sobre la licitud del teatro en España. Emilio Cotarelo, Madrid, 1904, pp. 73 and 76. " Observaciones varias, Arte de escribir comedias. See Ensayo de una biblioteca española de libros raros y curiosos, Bartolomé José Gallardo, Madrid, 1863,1, pp. 110 and 118. " Emilio Cotarelo y Mori, Comedias de Tirso de Molina, Madrid, N.B.A.E., I (1906), p. ix. 11 Arturo Farinelli, "Spanien und die spanische Literatur im lichte der Deutschen Kritik und Poesie," Zeitschrift für vergleichende Literaturgeschichte, Neue Folge, Berlin, 1892, V. 195.

6

TIRSO DE MOLINA

A few desultory references occur during the first part of the eighteenth century. Cotarelo, in his life of Tirso, mentions the "insignificantes y poco exactas frases del P. Manuel Mariano Ribera en su conocida historia de la Merced, impresa en 1726," 17 and notes that El burlador de Sevilla y Combidado de piedra was published at Seville in 1728 under the name of Tirso de Molina. 18 But in the fourth decade, about one hundred years after Tirso began publishing the Partes, there occurred a period of four or five years when attention was especially directed to this dramatist, even more so than to Lope or Calderón. In 1735 "los herederos de Francisco Medel" published a most valuable list of plays, usually known as the Indice de Medel,19 and containing 89 Títulos de Comedias for Fray Gabriel Téllez. Although not accurate, as in several cases there are two titles for the same work, some are omitted and others are not Tirso's, yet it shows that in some way the titles at least of most of his plays and probably the Partes had been found. During this period (1726-1739) the Royal Academy published in six volumes the first edition of the Dictionary, commonly known as the Diccionario de autoridades. The name of Tirso de Molina does not appear in any of the lists of "autores elegidos," and in the first volume (1726) a quotation from La prudencia en la muger is ascribed to Cervantes. But in the third and fourth volumes, under the heading Explicación de Abreviaturas, are found in the third (1732), "Molin. Com. . . . Tirso de Molina: Comedias," and in the fourth (1734), "Molin. Com. . . . Thyrso de Molina: Sus Comedias." There are a very few quotations from his plays, one of which is entitled: De [[sic] tanto es lo demás. But it is doña Teresa de Guzmán, bookseller in the Puerta del Sol, to whom is due the honor of giving M

Comedias, I, p. ix. " Ibid., II, p. vii. Cotarelo had in his possession copies of the same play published at Seville by Leefdael about 1735 and Padrino about 1740, and at Barcelona by Escuder 1750 (?), and by Suria 1769 and others of later date. " See note 9.

TIRSO D E

MOLINA

7

to the public the opportunity of reading thirty-three of his comedias. These were printed as sueltas, during the years 1733-1736, and then collected in three volumes, 1734, 1736, the last undated. For some unknown reason the Gaceta advertised all except two of these as soon as they appeared —a distinction accorded very few authors of the period and no others to this same degree. Although these sueltas closely follow the original, nevertheless the titles are sometimes changed and about half of them appear as Comedia sin Jama instead of the usual Comedia famosa. These differences cause some confusion, but at the same time often help in determining whether or not a later writer used the Partes or the Guzmdn edition, the latter being the only one easily accessible for nearly a century.20 If it had not been "for Luzan's Poetica published in 1737, and the works of the other neo-classicists which follow, Tirso might have come into his own much sooner, but even so his works were r as is proved by doña Teresa's "tercera impression" by the fact that the sueltas were used for seventy-five years by foreigners as well as Spaniards. In 1750 "un Ingenio de esta Corte" wrote a discourse 21 in which he attacked the ideas of Nasarre 22 concerning Lope and Calderón. He does not understand the reason that could have prompted Nasarre to write as he did and adds: . . . quedaré dudando siempre, si nó que aquella copla antigua me diga el por qué de esta quimera, como le dixo sobre un Victor que no debió de ser á gusto de todos, despues de haverse dado por las paredes. Víctor don Juan de Alar con, y el Frayle de la Merced. Por ensuciar la pared, y no por otra razón. » See pp. 80-83 of this book. u Discurso crítico sobre el origen, calidad, y estado presente de las comedias de España . . . escrito por un Ingenio de esta Corte, Madrid, MDCCL, pp. 3839. The Papel circular is signed Don Thomás de Erauso y Zavaleta. ** Comedias y entremeses de Miguel de Cenninles Saavedra, el autor del Don Quijote, divididos en dos lomos, con una dissertacion, o prologo sobre las comedias de España. Tomo I. Año 1749. En Madrid en la Imprenta de Antonio Marin.

8

TIRSO DE MOLINA

In October 1755 there was made a refundición of La mujer que manda en casa with the title Comedia nueva. La tirana de Israel. Del Maestro Tirso de Molina. The censor refera to the author as "el gran Tirso." 23 In 1762, Nicolás Fernández de Moratín mentioned Tirso twice, first in the Dissertación to La Petimetra, where he refers to the authors "cuyas tres Jornadas se representan en las tres Partes del Mundo," suggesting that America might be added, and then he says: "pero yá se acordó de ella el Maestro Tirso de Molina, que en las Hazañas de los Pizarros saltó desde Truxillo al Perú." 24 In El Desengaño III, discussing the Autos sacramentales, he says: Y es possible que haya quien aplauda, y defienda tal hato de disparates? . . . Haviendo llegado á tanto la extravagancia que el Rdo. que se disfrazó con el nombre de Maestro Tirso de Molina intituló un Auto suyo: El Colmenero Divino, y sale la Abeja vestida de Felpa, y hasta el Osso hace su papel.26

In 1764, "un anónimo" in an article entitled La nación española defendida wrote: He hecho cuatro viajes por . . . Europa . . . confieso que restituido á España, sentí . . . un regocijo . . . a ver nuestras comedias . . . se me agrió todo mi contento al oír decir que se las llamaba bárbaros á los españoles porque gustaban de las comedias inimitables de Lope de Vega, Calderón, Rojas, More to, Molina, Diamante, Candamo y otros muchos.2*

In the next year, 1765, Los Mercenarios del Convento de Madrid published the third edition of Deleytar aprovechando por el famoso Tirso de Molina. In the Prólogo to this edition Tirso is referred to as "Philosofo, y Theologo ina

Co tárelo, Comedias, II (1907), p. xxix. ** La Petimetra, comedia nueva, escrita con todo el rigor del arte por don Nicolás Fernández de Moratín, Madrid, 1762, p. 12. «Ibid., p. 71. * "Salió en su defensa [del teatro español] un anónimo con dos discursos que tituló La nación española defendida de los insultos del 'Pensador' y sus sequaees . . . dalos al público D. Francisco Mariano Nipho, Madrid, 1764," quoted by Bóhl de Faber in the second part of El pasatiempo crítico, Cádiz, 1818, pp. 48-50.

TIRSO DE MOLINA

9

signe; Historiador grande: y para ser célebre en todo, hasta sus'diversiones fueron con estremo ingeniosas." After the publication of Los cigarrales de Toledo the editor continues: . . . ocuparon la Imprenta algunas de las muchas Comedias, que havia escrito. Reflexionó después: y pareciendole mejor, no exercitar en esto el discurso, dobló el papel, y aplicó á otros assuntos la pluma. Si bien ansiosos de sus discreciones, no faltaron algunos, que imprimieron varias Comedias suyas: y otros, que por interessarse con ellas, repitieron las impressiones: y aun le prohijaron algunas, que en su Phisonomía están diciendo, que ó son retales, ó postizas. In 1768 there appeared a curious book defending the Spanish stage in which the following list is given: Yá murieron los Lucanos, los Horneros, los Virgilios, los Pindaros, los Marciales, los Horacios, los Ovidios, Montalvanes, Calderones, Solises, Mendozas, Tirsos, y un Lope de Vega, cifra de los Heroes referidos.27 In 1766 a new element came into the history, for Tirso is recognized by a foreign writer, one of the first in the long list of German critics who appreciated the Spanish drama. Daniel Schiebeler referring to the Spanish dramatists says: . . . Ausser dem Lopes de Vega haben mit Beyfall für das spanische Theater geschrieben: Calderón . . . Tirso de Molina, dem man das Festin de Pierre zu danken hat, welches im Original den Titel führet: El combidado de Piedra. Der steinerne Gast.28 17 Francisco Nieto Molina, Los Críticos de Madrid, en defensa de las comedias antiguas y en contra de las modernas, Madrid, 1768, p. 18. " Daniel Schiebeler, "Einige Nachrichten, den Zustand der spanischen Poesie betreffend," Neue Bibliothek der Schönen Wissenschaften, 1766, I, 209, 25 pp. Quoted by Herbert O. Lyte in Spanish Literature and Spain in some of the leading German Magazines of the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century, University of Wisconsin Studies, Madison, 1932, number 32, p. 23, and in personal letter.

10

TIRSO DE MOLINA

In 1769 J. A. Dieze translated the Orígenes de la poesía castellana published by L. J. Velázquez in 1754 and added many valuable notes. At the end of the chapter on the comedy he says: Das Verzeichnis8 der spanischen dramatischen Dichter, die Velazquez bisher angeführt, könnte man mit einer erstaunenden Anzahl anderer von ihm vergessener und übergangener Dichter vermehren, wenn es der Raum dieser Anmerkungen verstatten wollte. Um nur einige zu nennen, so vermisst man hier den Gaspar de Aguilar, den Tirso de Molina, von dem man 5 Bände en 4, hat, darunter El Burlador de Sevilla, oder el Combidado de Piedra . . . berühmt ist, den Guillem de Castro, den Gabriel Teiles . . . » In this same year El burlador de Sevilla again appeared as a suelta 30 and sometime during this period La prudencia en la mujer was presented by Sebastiana Pereira, according to a Loa written by F. M. Nif o for La Tirana in 1781.31 The latter, seated in a chair as if dreaming, recites the Loa, in which she offers various new attractions for the coming season, "entre otras cosas. . . . La prudencia en la mujer que dice haber hecho muy bien la Pereira su antecesora." This play was also presented in Barcelona in 1778.32 In 1772, Esto sí que es negociar was published by Piferrer in Barcelona, 33 and in 1777, Amar por señas by Orga in Valencia. During the next decade there are more references to Tirso and his dramas, probably many more than those I have been able to find. In 1781, La Tirana played La prudencia en la mujer 34 and the same play, refundida by ** J. A. Dieze, Geschichte der Spanischen Dichtkunst, Güttingen, 1769, p. 357. Co tárelo, Comedias, II, p. vii. " Emilio Cotarelo, Estudios sobre la historia del arte escénico en España, II. Maria del Rosario Fernández, La Tirana, Madrid, 1897, p. 75. Note that Nifo is sometimes spelled with ph and sometimes with /. •Alfonso Par, "Representaciones teatrales en Barcelona," Boletín de La Real Academia Española, 1929, XVI, 342. " Cotarelo, Comedia», II, p. xxi. * La Tirana, p. 74.

TIRSO DE MOLINA

11

5

Segura,* was again presented under the title La prudencia en la mujer y mas perseguida Reina in 1785 and 1787, according to the manuscript in the Biblioteca Municipal in Madrid. 3 6 Amar por señas under the title Es una de las tres y de las tres no es ninguna was given three times in 1786, twice in 1787 and twice in 1790.37 Privar contra su gusto appeared in the refundición, Los acasos four times in 1786, twice in 1787, and twice in 1790. There is no reference to Tirso, but the criticism refers to it as " a n t i g u a . " 38 García de la Huerta published El Theatro Hespañol in 1785 with the list of the titles of plays, very similar to t h a t of Medel. I n the introduction he refers to the use of the phrase Comedia famosa, . . . costumbre tan general en el siglo pasado, que apenas se halla una sin semejante calificación, á excepción de algunas de las que corren con el nombre del maestro Tirso de Molina, que para ridiculizar este abuso, hizo imprimir no pocas suyas con el título

de Comedia sin fama.39 Huerta evidently knew only the Guzmán edition of these plays. The Memorial literario of June 1787 (p. 265) has a criticism of the play El sitiador sitiado y conquista de Stralsundo in which the author refers to Lope and his Nuevo arte de hacer comedias and says: . . . dió unos preceptos muy buenos . . . la prueba está en algunas Comedias suyas y en muchísimas de los que le siguieron, de Calderón, Rojas, Matos, Moreto, Molina, Candamo, Solis, Cañizares, &c. » Agustín Durán, Talla española, Madrid, 1834, p. 48. •* This ms., a photostatic copy of which is in my possession, bears three dates, Año 85, Año 87 and Año 1803 with the list of actors that took part. See chapter on "Bibliography of La Prudencia en la mujer," pp. 32-33 and plates 6-10. 17 Ada M. Coe, Catálogo bibliográfico y crítico de las comedias anunciadas en los periódicos de Madrid desde 1661 hasta 1819, John Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1935, p. 11. »Ibid. p. 3. » Garcia de la Huerta, Theatro IIespañol, Madrid, 1785, vol. XVI and Parte I, vol. I, p. CJori.

12

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This periodical has very interesting criticisms of the three plays by Tirso mentioned in this paragraph, and gives the argument of two of them. Menéndez y Pelayo says the Padre Estevan Arteaga who wrote on La belleza ideal in 1789 . . . declara, adelantándose á toda la crítica moderna, que D. Juan Tenorio, por ser carácter tan complejo, es el carácter más teatral que se ha visto sobre las tablas desde que hay representaciones.44

The Jesuit Father, Xavier Llampillas, wrote in Italy (177881) a defense of Spanish literature, refuting the attacks of some Italian writers. This was translated into Spanish in 1789. He mentions El convidado de piedra as having been translated by Molière but does not give the author. 41 In Germany, C. F. Blankenberg found out a little more about Tirso and corrected a mistake made by Dieze as appears in the notes which he added to the second edition of J. G. Sulzer's Allgemeine Theorie der Schönen Künste: Meister Tirso de Molina, oder eigentlich, Fr. Gab. Tellez (f 1650. J. A. Dieze, Velazq, G. 357, Anm. e. hat zwei Dichter aus ihm gemacht. Der, von ihm geschriebenen Lustspiele sind 79, welchen es grössentheils nicht an glücklichen Erfindungen fehlt. Ob Sammlungen davon vorhanden sind, weiss ich nicht, aber wohl, dass er, um das gewöhnliche Comedia famosa auf den Titeln der Stücke lächerlich zu machen, viele von seinen mit dem Zusätze, Comedia sin fama hat drucken lassen. Aus seinem Convidado de piedra hat Moliere s. Festin de Pierre gezogen.)42

Blankenberg knew only the Guzmán edition or possibly was quoting Huerta as given above. In 1790, Alvarez y Baena referred to Tirso in the Hijos ilustres de Madrid.43 40 Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo, Historia de las ideas estéticas en España, Madrid, V (1903), 92. 41 El Abate Xavier Llampillas, Ensayo histórico-apologético de la literatura española, contra las opiniones preocupadas de algunos escritores modernos italianos. Traducido por Doña Josefa Amar y Borbón, Madrid, 1789, VI, 212. " Leipzig, 1786-1787, I, 543. ° José Antonio Alvarez y Baena, Hijos de Madrid, ilustres en santidad, dignidades, armas, ciencias y artes, Madrid, II (1790), 267, under name of "Gabriel."

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The account of his life is a little longer than that given by Nicolás Antonio: he lists the first two Partes of the Comedias as published in Madrid in 1616 and "la tercera que recogió D. Francisco Lucas de Avila e imprimió en Tortosa, 1634 en 4°." Although most of the other works are in the list, there is no mention of the fourth and fifth Partes, which Guzmán and Medel both knew, since the latter gives all the titles and Guzmán published ten plays from the fourth Parte and three from the fifth. Very little seems to have been added in the last decade of the century. In the list of funciones ejecutadas en los teatros de Madrid, there is mention of La prudencia en la mujer in 1799 and of Amar por señas in 1800.44 But Cotarelo in his Catálogo razonado 46 mentions a number of different plays that were published during the century without date and some without place, probably dating as far back as 1730. The first years of the nineteenth century were a continuation of the last of the eighteenth, but with ever increasing interest except in 1801 and 1802, when two or possibly three of Tirso's plays were placed on the "lista de las piezas dramaticas que conforme a la real orden de 14 de enero de 1800, se han recogido prohibiéndose su representación en los teatros públicos de Madrid y de todo el reyno." 46 This list includes La prudencia en la mujer, San Homobono, subtitle for Santo y sastre, and Convidado de piedra.*7 Yet in 1803, La prudencia again appeared 48 and in 1804, December 20, Rita Luna and Juan Carretero began a series of presentations of El vergonzoso en palacio: " Isidoro Mdiquez y el teatro de su tiempo, por Don Emilio Cotarelo y Morí» de la Real Academia Española. Madrid, Imprenta de José Perales y Martínez, 1902, pp. 552, 618, 620. (Estudios sobre la historia del arte escénico en España, III.) 46 Comedias, II, pp. i-xliv. 48 Teatro nuevo español, Madrid, 1800-1801, I, pp. xxvi-xxvii. " This is the sub-title not only of Tirso's El burlador de Sevilla, but also of Zamora's No hay deuda que no se pague, refundición of Tirso's (but without his name), and the one usually represented. 48 According to the manuscript in the Biblioteca Municipal, already mentioned.

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(the dates for nineteen of these being given in Isidoro Máiquez between 1804 and 1818.) In this same year (1804) a new edition of No hay -peor sordo was brought out by the Librería de González. There are also a few references to Tirso in books published during this period. In 1802 García de Villanueva discussed Lope de Vega, Calderón, and Moreto, and in a footnote added the following: Antes de Calderón y Moreto había dado principio á las comedias de capa y espada D. Diego Enciso á quien siguieron . . . D. Francisco de Roxas, el mismo Calderón . . . el Maestro Tirso de Molina. . . . 48 Casiano Pellicer in 1804 gave the two quotations already cited from "cierto autor" in the time of Charles II, and a third German critic, Bouterwek, mentioned Tirso and answered Blankenberg's doubt; he says: Einer der fruchtbarsten Schauspieldichter unter den Zeitgenossen Calderon's war Tirso de Molina, oder, wie er mit seinem wahren Nahmen geheissen haben soll, Gabriel Tellez. Man schreibt ihm über siebenzig noch vorhandene Theaterstücke zu. Er wetteiferte mit Lope de Vega und Calderón um das Verdienst der sinnreichen und kühnen Erfindungen, unter andern besonders in seinen historischen und geistlichen Schauspielen. In a footnote he adds: Blankenberg zweifelt in seinen litterarischen Zusätzen zu Sulzer's Wörterbuche, ob es eine besondre Sammlung der Comödien dieses Maestro de Molina gebe. Ich kenne wenigstens einen 5ten Band seiner Comedias (Madrid 1636 in 4to), der eilf, grössten Theils historische und geistliche Stücke enthält. 60 In 1805 Francisco Sánchez Barbero published a Tratado de Retórica y Poética to which Francisco Fernández y González refera sixty years later as follows: Juntaba al conocimiento de las literaturas italiana, francesa é inglesa un conocimiento de la nuestra que no había alcanzado " Manuel García de Villanueva Hugalde y Parra, Origen, épocas y progresos del teatro español, Madrid, 1802, p. 310. "Friedrich Bouterwek, Geschichte der Poesie und Beredsamkeit seit dem Ende des dreizehnten Jahrhunderts, Göttingen, 1804, III, 520.

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Luzán, citando oportunamente y con el debido elogio á Lope de Rueda . . . Lope, Montalban, Tirso de Molina, More to, Rojas . . . Melendez y el Romancero." In 1807, D. Gil de las calzas verdes and Celos con celos se curan were staged by Coleta and Carretero and the following year they added La villana de la Sagra.52 During this period Juan Carretero prepared a refundición of Esto sí que es negociar with the double title: La serrana de Escocia ó Esto sí que es negociar. Comedia del célebre Maestro Tirso de Molina.hS In 1808, A. Wilhelm Schlegel gave his famous lectures in Vienna on the Spanish Theatre, but although great praise was granted Calderón, the only mention of Tirso de Molina occurs when the lecturer refers to Lope and to his contemporaries as "Guillen de Castro, Montalbán, Molina, Matos Fragoso." During the three years (1810-12) there were at least seven presentations in Madrid of plays already mentioned, and two of No hay peor sordo 54 besides one, unnamed, in Cadiz.55 In Cadiz also (1811) a new edition of El vergonzoso en palacio was brought out by D. A. Murguia. On October 14, 1814, the king, D. Fernando VII, celebrated his birthday by attending a "función de las que más le agradaban," the important part being the presentation of D. Gil de las calzas verdes.™ Mesonero Romanos writes of the period from 1815 to 1819 as follows: El teatro también sufrió alguna reforma . . . en la elección de las piezas, en cuanto lo permitía la absurda prohibición que pesaba sobre las más señaladas del repertorio desde La vida es sueño de Calderón hasta El sí de las niñas de Moratín.—Ya no era solo las comedias de magia o los estrambóticos dramas de 41 Francisco Fernández y González, Historia de la Crítica literaria en España desde Luzán hasta nuestros días, con exclusión de autores que aun viven, Madrid, 1867, p. 54. »Isidoro Mdiquez, pp. 671, 688, 689. M Cotarelo, Comedias, II, p. xxi. H Isidoro Mdiquez, pp. 704-727. "Allison Peers, El romanticismo en España, "Boletín de la Biblioteca Menéndez y Pelayo," Santander, 1924, p. 41. u Isidoro Máiquez, p. 374.

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Cornelia los que llamaban al público al teatro . . . ; algunos dramas traducidos . . . alternábanse con muchos de nuestro antiguo teatro de Lope, Tirso y Moreto y se cantaban óperas.57 These words have been verified b y the researches of Prof. Coe 68 among the periodicals of the time. According to their announcements there were thirty-eight presentations of Tirso's plays between the years 1804 and 1818, El vergonzoso en palacio extending over the longest period. But in the one year 1819 the number increased to thirty, owing to the refundiciones b y Dionisio Villanueva (usually known as Solis) of La villana de Vallecas, staged N o v . 2 - 9 , 14, 15, and Marta la -piadosa, Dec. 6-18. 6 9 In 1815 Murguia brought out in Cadiz a new edition of Celos con celos se cur an,60 and a special edition of El vergonzoso en palacio was published in Madrid with the following note b y the editor: Lo raro de esta pieza y el haber gustado mucho en su representación han sido las principales causas para imprimirla nuevamente. Los cómicos han omitido algunas escenas y cortado otras, quitando los dos Cazadores, el papel de Melisa, un Pintor, y el Tambor que publica un bando, haciendo que este se lea por don »' Memorias de un setentón, Madrid, 1926, I, 208. (This edition is a "fiel reproducción de la publicada en 1881.") " Catálogo bibliográfico, see note 37. M It will be noted that the sources used for reference to Tirso de Molina and his works are fourfold: 1) Contemporary periodicals with announcements and criticisms according to the investigations of Prof. Coe and Prof. Adams. 2) Programas de funciones as published by Cotarelo for the years 1793-1818 in Mdiquez, La Tirana, etc. 3) Sueltas with dates not only of their publication but in numerous cases of their representations with lists of actors and indication of parts omitted or changed. 4) References by critics and other writers. These sources are limited almost entirely to the theatre in Madrid. There is still much to be done along these same lines for the provinces. Variations in titles, the same title used by different dramatists and discrepancies in dates all combine to render impossible at present an accurate statement of the publication and presentation of Tirso's plays, and as a consequence, a correct appreciation of his increasing or waning popularity at any given period. Cotarelo, Comedias, II, p. xii.

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Duarte, Conde de Estremoz. Reduciéndose la mayor parte de las mudanzas hechas por los actores á cortar lo largo de esta Comedia, me ha parecido conducente publicarla íntegra, advirtiendo que todo lo señalado entre dos estrellas es lo que se ha suprimido en el teatro. On t h e first page is the notice: Representada varias veces en el Teatro de la Cruz, y reimpresa conforme á la edición original del mismo autor, que se halla en su obra intitulada: Los cigarrales de Toledo. Madrid, I m p r e n t a que fué de Fuentenebro 1817. Librería de Cuesta, calle de Correos. Under date of 1821, Mesonero R o m a n o s again refers to the new character of the theatre: . . . se propuso exhumar y reproducir sobre la escena patria las grandes creaciones de nuestros insignes dramaturgos del siglo X V I I , que yacían en injusto olvido.—Tirso, Lope, Calderón, Moreto, Montalbán, Rojas y otros ciento . . . con sus admirables producciones discretamente escogidas y depuradas por el eminente literato D. Dionisio Solís tornaron a seducir y avasallar la inteligencia del público español . . . La Villana de Vallecas, Marta la Piadosa, Por el sótano y el torno, El Vergonzoso en Palacio, Mari-Hernández la Gallega y otras varias del primero ei Again the words of Mesonero R o m a n o s receive confirmation b y a recent s t u d y of t h e "Siglo de Oro P l a y s in Madrid, 1 8 2 0 - 1 8 5 0 " 62 based on the periodicals of t h e period. According to these announcements, Tirso de M o lina stands at t h e head in popularity w i t h 551 presentations, of which 400 were given from 1820-1833, and 151 from 1834 to 1850. T o the first number should be added b y rights the thirty of 1819 when the refundiciones of Solís were presented night after night as already noted. That 11

Memorias de un setentón, I, 274. Nicholson B. Adaras, "Siglo de Oro Plays in Madrid, 1820-1850," Hispanic Review, Oct. 1936, IV, 342-357. Owing to a typographical error of a 4 for a 5 in the original article the total number of plays is given as 541 instead of 551. M

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would bring the total up to 430 presentations in fifteen years, many more than that of any other dramatist of the Siglo de Oro. Of these the refundición of La Gallega, MariHernández (under the Guzmán title Mari-Hernandez, la Gallega) stands first with sixty performances. Then follow Marta la piadosa with forty-one; La villana de Vallecas, thirty-nine; El vergonzoso en palacio, thirty-seven; Por el sótano y el torno, thirty-six; La villana de la Sagra, twentynine; Quien calla otorga, twenty-eight; Don Gil de las calzas verdes, twenty-eight; La dama del Olivar, twenty-seven; El amor y la amistad, twenty-six; No hay peor sordo que el que no quiere oir, twenty; and seventeen more with less than twenty each one. I t is an astounding tribute to a man who two hundred years before had been banished from Madrid on account of the "escándalo" caused by his comedias. This year, 1821, is another milestone in the advance of Tirso and his plays. As Teresa de Guzmán represents for us the guild of publishers, and Soils the theatre guild, so Alberto Lista stands as the first of the long line of critics who have been proud to dedicate to his memory not only lines and paragraphs but also whole books. It must be remembered that from the time of Luzán the critics ignored Tirso de Molina, although they were not ignorant of his existence. Even Bohl de Faber, who accomplished so much for the Spanish Theatre, mentions the name of Tirso only once and then in the quotation from Nipho (1764) as already cited. Lista was the theatrical critic for El Censor 63 and during the years 1821 and 1822 he not only reviewed seven of Tirso's plays in refundiciones, but also constantly referred to him when talking of other dramatists by way of com" " E n el ejemplar de El Censor de la Biblioteca de Menéndez y Pelayo en Santander, están anotados al final de cada artículo . . . y de puño y letra del propio D. Marcelino los nombres de los autores." J. M. de Cossío in " D . Alberto Lista crítico teatral de El Censor," Boletín de la Real Academia Erpañola, Madrid, Junio de 1930, p. 398.

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parison or criticism. On April 7, 1821, Lista wrote of El vergonzoso en palacio: Tirso de Molina es superior á casi todos nuestros dramáticos en la originalidad y gracia de las situaciones, en la viveza del diálogo, en la verdad de los caracteres y . . . en la pureza y corrección del lenguage. Pero tantas riquezas se hallan generalmente engastadas en cuadros muy groseros é informes. La fábula es casi siempre disparatada, los incidentes inverosímiles y el desenlace mal preparado . . . el interés de la moral que siempre debe vencer al de la literatura, nos obligará á proscribir esta pieza como se proscriben los mejores cuadros cuando presentan imágenes oscenas.84 On July 14, when he wrote of La celosa de sí misma, he said: "El carácter de la celosa es muy dramático, y carece de las indecencias con que Tirso ha manchado la mayor parte de sus comedias." 65 In his comparisons Lista said of Lope de Vega: Imitáronle Tirso de Molina, Mira de Mescua . . . , y otros que en nada adelantaron el arte, excepto el primero, cuyas comedias son modelos de propiedad y pureza en el lenguage, y de donaire y sal en los diálogos; aunque pervirtió la parte moral de la escena, por la osadía de la expresión y por la liviandad de los caracteres juveniles.64 Referring to Calderón he said: "Huyendo de la liviandad de Tirso, dió á todas sus damas un mismo carácter.'' 67 As will be seen later this characterization of Tirso's comedias had much influence for many years. The third and fourth decades of the nineteenth century may be considered the Golden Age for el Maestro Tirso de M El Censor, -periódico, politico y literario, Madrid, 1821, VI, 423. The seven plays that Lista reviewed were Prueba de amor y amistad, Sept. 17, 1821; El vergonzoso en palacio, April 7, 1821; La celosa de sí misma, July 14, 1821; La beata enamorada o Marta la piadosa, Sept. 22, 1821; Don Gil de las calzas verdes, Nov. 17, 1821; La villana de Vaüecas, Feb. 2, 1822; Por el sótano y el torno, March 16, 1822. «Ibid., 1821, IX, 103. M "Reflexiones sobre la dramática española en los siglos XVI y XVII." El Censor, 1821, VII, 138. 97 Ibid., p. 139.

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Molina. Mesonero Romanos, writing of the revolution of 1823, gave the following reason for a return of the classic theatre: El teatro y la literatura [fueron] entregados de nuevo á manos de la mas implacable censura 6 abandonados al olvido mas desdeñoso. En la carencia absoluta de autores, y hasta en la imposibilidad de haberlos por aquellas causas, el antiguo repertorio de Tirso, Lope de Vega y Moreto fué el recurso benéfico de nuestros comediantes.*8

In 1826 he made refundiciones of three of Tirso's comedias: Amar por señas, Ventura te dé Dios, and La dama del Olivar under the title of Lorenza la de Estercuel; and under date of 1826, he gives a long paragraph to his favorite dramatist in which he says his plays . . . tuvieron la fortuna de dar con actores que supieron representarlas admirablemente, y la de caer también en gracia al rey Fernando VII, que las escogió con preferencia cuando había de asistir al teatro.®

Almost two centuries after the appearance of the first Parte, Ortega began publishing the works of the great Spanish dramatists in thirty-three volumes. 70 Four of these, containing fourteen plays with notes by A. Durán, M. García Suelto, and E. de Gorostiza, were devoted to Tirso de Molina. 71 This edition has been severely criticized on account of its mutilations, but considering the "implacable censura" referred to by Mesonero Romanos, the criticisms of Lista, and the careful refundiciones made by Soils for the theatre, it can easily be seen that this was the only kind of edition acceptable at the time, and if of no "value" to the modern critic, it must have played a great part in ""Rápida ojeada sobre la historia del teatro español," Semanario •pintoresco español, 1842, IV, 398. " Memorias, II, 23. 70 Colección de las piezas dramáticas de los autores españoles, 1826-1834. Comedias escogidas del Maestro Tirso de Molina, Madrid, Ortega y Compañía, 1826, 1829, 1831, 1834. Only Lope had more plays (16) than Tirso. 71 R. Foulché-Delbosc, Manuel de l'hispanisani, II, 94.

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keeping the n a m e of Tirso before t h e public. In the Juicios críticos appended t o Por el sótano, t h e critic has phrased t h a t which others h a d been feeling for some time when he said of Tirso: " a s í él como Calderón, M o r e t o y Lope son cuatro colosos, que solo estudiándolos mucho se pueden llegar á apreciar b a s t a n t e bien." 73 D . Francisco M a r t í n e z de la Rosa in 1827 devoted a long p a r a g r a p h to Tirso, a p a r t of which follows: Menos ameno y delicado que los dos anteriores [[Moreto and Rojas], no tan ingenioso y urbano como Calderón, y más atrevido y libre que Lope, mostróse superior á todos ellos en malicia y sal cómica otro poeta . . . poco célebre fuera de España y cuya fama casi se limita á la corte de ese reino, donde unas cuantas de sus comedias muy bien representadas, atraen no menos concurso y obtienen iguales aplausos que las mejores de nuestro antiguo teatro . . . el censor más adusto se sonríe a pesar suyo.74 I n 1828 Agustín D u r á n published a Discurso on t h e Spanish T h e a t r e in which he showed the great interest which was to e n d u r e t h r o u g h o u t his life. He referred to t h e f a c t t h a t a f t e r French influence came in, " f u e r o n al fin proscriptos de la llamada buena sociedad los n o m b r e s famosos de Lope, Tirso, M o r e t o . " He c o n t i n u e d : La generalidad del público dirigida por sus propias impresiones, y por el íntimo sentimiento de sus goces, llenaba los coliseos cuando veía en las escenas á Lope, Tirso, Calderón y Moreto; y tal vez sus detractores salían del Teatro tan conmovidos como avergonzados de haber participado del entusiasmo general, contra las ordenanzas de Aristóteles y del espíritu del partido. 75 72 Pedro Mendibal gave an appreciative review of this Colección in the Repertorio Americano, Londres, Aug. 1827, pp. 75-93. '» Colección, I, 311. 74 Obras literarias, Paris, 1827, II, 449-450. ™ Discurso sobre el influjo que ha tenido la criiica moderna en la decadencia del Teatro Antiguo Español, y sobre el modo con que debe ser considerado para juzgar convenientemente de su mérito peculiar, Madrid, 1828, pp. 18, 26. Also found in Memorias de la Real Academia Española, 1870, vol. I, 3a Parte, pp. 280-336.

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He closed with a word of praise for Ortega's Colección which he hoped would awaken the enthusiasm of the young so that the critics could no longer delude the public.78 It could hardly be expected that Leandro F. de Moratin would write enthusiastically of Tirso de Molina, but in his Discurso preliminar he does give a paragraph to El burlador de Sevilla, which he admits went all over Europe and was found in France in five translations. In Spain it was prohibited "como era justo," but Zamora made a refundición and so "conservó al teatro una comedia que siempre repugnará la sana crítica y siempre será celebrada del pueblo." 77 This was the period of which Mesonero Romanos could later write: El público . . . quedó tan prendado de ellas [sus comedias refundidas J que el nombre de Tirso es un talismán para llenar el teatro, y su reputación por mucha que fuera en vida, creemos que se halla hoy mas sólidamente asegurada.78

As the fourth decade advanced, however, there was a decided change, and the names of Tirso de Molina and the other classic writers gradually disappeared from the stage. The causes were multiple: the rigid censorship had been lifted and new plays were being brought out by writers of the romantic school; the great actors had gone, and perhaps the public had become more fickle. Eugenio de Ochoa laid the blame on the theatrical companies and attacked them in his writings, but finally said: Seamos justos, ¿qué ha de hacer la impresa? Ha de arruinarse y arruinar á nuestros pobres actores por dar gusto á media docena de españoles rancios, como nosotros por ejemplo, de aquellos que dejarían todas las óperas, todas las traducciones del mundo por una comedia de Calderón, de Tirso ó de Moreto? ,9 " A refundición of Privar contra su gusto was made by Ramón Ugena in 1829 and Hartzenbusch says that it was estrenado on Feb. 29 (sic) of that same year. Teatro antiguo de Tirso de Molina, Imprenta de Yenes, II, 362. 77 Discurso preliminar a las Comedias, B. A. E., II, 308. n Semanario pintoresco, 1837, II, 163. "Reflexiones sueltas," El Artista, 1836, II, 177.

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And Mesonero Romanos lamented in 1842 that "un estranjero que venga á Madrid podrá permanecer en él un año sin escuchar en el teatro una de las bellísimas obras de Lope, de Moreto, de Tirso y de Calderón." 80 Tirso's name, however, had not disappeared from literature; it simply passed over into the hands of the critics. In 1834, when Ortega brought out his last volume of Tirso's plays, Agustín Durán published the first of what was to have been a Colección del antiguo teatro español. Only this one volume containing three of Tirso's plays ever appeared. 81 Durán used the Partes but made many changes which he considered necessary to understand the text; he knew the Guzmán edition, which he criticized rather severely; he gave what biographical data were known at the time and accompanied the plays with Observaciones which in the main are very good; he also kept the original division into actos or jornadas without scenes. His efforts were greatly appreciated and it was unfortunate that he could not continue the work. Three years later, D. F. Grimaud de Velaunde published three plays under Tirso's name in separate little volumes. 82 In 1838, Ochoa included four in the fourth volume of his Tesoro del teatro español. Of these twenty-five plays published between 1826 and 1838 only three were duplicates. During the years 1839 to 1842 D. Manuel Delgado, editor of the Galería dramática, a series of sueltas which was to comprise el teatro antiguo español, el moderno español y el moderno estrangero, began the publication of the classic drama with thirty-six plays of Tirso, the only author, as it finally resulted, to represent the teatro antiguo españolThe Directores of this section 80 " R á p i d a ojeada sobre la historia del teatro español," Semanario pintoresco, 1842, IV, 374. » Talía española, Madrid, 1834. M Teatro antiguo español, Madrid, 1837. According to Cotarelo (Comedias, II, p. v) one of these, Los balcones de Madrid, comedia en tres actos atribuida al Maestro Tirso de Molina, is the earliest impression known of this play. M Teatro escogido de Fray Gabriel Teüez, conocido con el nombre de El Maestro Tirso de Molina, Madrid, Imprenta de Yenes, 1839-1842.

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of the Galería were quite naturally Durán and Hartzenbusch, who supplied the notes and criticisms. In July 1839 the Correo Nacional published a very favorable review of the edition by D. Enrique Gil y Carrasco.84 He connects this with the Talía española in the following words: La Talla española comenzó por el teatro del célebre religioso mercenario fray Gabriel Téllez . . . y la parte de la Galería dramática que comprende el Teatro antiguo continúa esta publicación.

In 1836 the Ateneo de Madrid joined the ranks of those honoring the well-known name of Tirso de Molina; Alberto Lista gave a series of Lecciones de literatura española which were published the same year. Following more or less the same line of thought as in 1821, he says: No es de estrañar pues, que en un siglo tan religioso y caballeresco como el XVII se presentasen raras veces en el teatro. ¿Sería la razón contraria la que en nuestro tiempo ha hecho que se representen con tanto aplauso y aceptación del público? 86

On Feb. 20, 1837, Mesonero Romanos gave an address which is perhaps the first to try to combine the results of real research for data on the dramatist's life with the criticism of his works. The lecturer acknowledged that he could find very little, but he pointed the way to others. His address was printed the same year. 86 Two years later, Enrique Gil, under the heading Revista Teatral, made the following comparison of three of the great dramatists: Aquella sencillez griega que predicaba y ponía en practica [la escuela de las formas] no era alimento bastante a un pueblo de imaginación ardiente y desasosegada, regalado con las lozanas bellezas del caballeresco Calderón, con la facilidad, galas y ternura M

Reprinted in Obras en prosa, Madrid, 1883, II, 58-64. Lecciones de literatura española esplicadas en el Ateneo científico, literario y artístico por D. Alberto Lista, Madrid, 1836, Lección 15, p. 3. This lección is numbered separately. * "Opúsculo leido por R. de M. R. en la sección de literatura del Ateneo el 20 de febrero." Semanario pintoresco español, II, 152. M

TIRSO D E

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25

del delicado Lope 6 con las malicias atrevidas y picantes del epigramático Tirso de Molina. 87

In 1840 Diego Coello y Quesada, criticizing La cabeza encantada ó el español en Venecia by Martínez de la Rosa, said of Salpicón that he was "digno de ocupar un puesto entre los graciosos de Tirso y Moreto." 88 In 1841 the Marqués de Molíns gave a discourse on La prudencia en la mujer,*9 a play which especially interested him as he had produced a similar one in 1837 with notes. It is impossible to quote all the references made to Tirso in the periodicals, especially in El Semanario pintoresco and El Panorama, but one paragraph from an article by Hartzenbusch in the latter is very interesting as showing the change in opinion about Tirso's comedias. The author says that we object to the morality in the plays of the modern authors but accept that of the ancients : . . . si en Alfredo de Avimar ha pintado Dumas un ateo, en la comedias de Tirso, Tardo es lo demás como lo de menos, hay un personage que expone y practica también el impío sistema del materialismo . . . á Moratín se le acusaba de inmoral, y su Mojigata estaba prohibida, cuando veíamos en pacífica posesión de la escena á Marta la piadosa,90

In 1840 Louis de Viel-Castel published a long article on Tirso de Molina in which he referred to the Spanish poet as " U n des esprits les plus originaux qui aient jamais existé," and added, Mais si Tirso est remonté, en Espagne, au rang son nom y est redevenu glorieux et populaire, heureux de l'autre côté des Pyrénées. Il est complètement inconnu des critiques étrangers qui drame espagnol. 91

élevé . . . , si il a été moins resté presque ont écrit sur le

Semanario -pintoresco español, Oct. 27, 1839, p. 342. Ibid., June 21, 1840, p. 199. " Obras de D. Mariano de Togores, Marqués de Molíns, Madrid, 1882, III, pp. 163-190. For the play Doña Maria de Molina, see vol. II. 90 "Discurso sobre las unidades dramáticas," El Panorama, periódico de moral, literatura, artes, teatros y modas, 1839, p. 202. « "Tireo de Molina," Revue des Deux Mondes, May 1, 1840, X X I I , 488, 87 88

505.

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But from this time on these words are no longer true. D. C. Schütz included D. Gil de las calzas verdes in his Teatro Español.92 The next year C. A. Dohrn translated El burlador de Sevilla and Don Gil into German. 83 In 1845 Schack considered Tirso in his invaluable history of the Spanish drama. 9 4 Meantime, in Spain, Hartzenbusch finished publishing the so-called Yenes edition in 1842. In 1844 Alberto Lista added to his former work an extensive criticism of this edition and also of the separate plays. 95 In the same year, 1844, Antonio Gil y Zárate published his Manual de literatura with several pages about Tirso. His criticism is similar to t h a t which had been in vogue for twenty years, and he emphasizes the fact of Tirso's popularity on the stage: " . . . su anuncio bastaba para llenar el teatro; y olvidados casi enteramente Lope y Calderón, Tirso se sobrepuso á ellos por un momento." 96 With other scattered references we reach the year 1848, the two hundredth anniversary of Tirso's death. There seems to have been no special celebration of the event, but the fifth volume of the Biblioteca de Autores Españoles appeared, containing the Comedias escogidas de Fray Gabriel Tellez (el Maestro Tirso de Molina), juntas en coleccion é ilustradas por D. Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch. This book, containing thirty-six plays, had reached its seventh edition in 1924, and for the last eighty years has been the chief source of references for the students of Tirso. It is possible that t h a t firm friend of Tirso, Mesonero Romanos, had the centenary in mind when he brought out his book of Cuentos, n Teatro español: Colección Escogida de las mejores Comedias Castellanas desde Cervantes hasta nuestros días, arreglada por D. C. Schütz, 1840. M Spanische Dramen übersetzt von C. A. Dohrn, Berlin, 1841-1844. w Adolf Friedrich Graf von Schack, Geschichte der dramatischen Literatur und Kunst in Spanien, Berlin, 1845-^6, II, 552-608. 96 Ensayos literarios y críticos, Sevilla, 1844, II, 89-136. For further explanation of this edition see p. 38 of this book. »• Vol. II, p. 276.

27

TIRSO DE MOLINA 97

fábulas, etc., collected from Tirso's works. An interesting little notice appears on page 427 of the last number of El Semanario pintoresco of this year: "Fué muy aplaudida la [[comedia] de Tirso, Lorenza la de Estercuel." This was the refundición of La dama del Olivar, made by Mesonero Romanos in 1826. A refundición of Desde Toledo a Madrid was made by Hartzenbusch and Bretón in 1847, represented the same year, and published in 1849. During the last eighty years or more, the interest in Tirso de Molina has not abated. It is a recognized fact that he occupies an undisputed place among the most important Spanish dramatists. Hartzenbusch wrote that in 1849, at the representation of ¿Quién es ella? "la embocadura presentaba . . . los retratos al óleo de los seis grandes poetas de la escena española, Lope, Calderón, Tirso, Moreto, Rojas y Alarcon." 98 This must have been an imaginary portrait, for the original (or a copy of it) was not found until 1874 in the Monastery at Soria. Through the efforts of Doña Blanca de los Rios, a bust, copied from the portrait by the artist Coullaut Valera, has been placed in the Teatro Español. The greatest interest, however, has been shown in the form of investigation and criticism. In 1849 George Ticknor published his History of Spanish Literature, and although he devoted only a few pages to Tirso, no one since then would think of publishing anything on the Spanish drama that did not include Tirso de Molina among the great dramatists. Special studies have been made of Don Juan, El condenado por desconfiado, and La prudencia en la mujer. So little had been added to the knowledge of his life since Mesonero Romanos complained of searching the archives in vain, that in 1888 the Real Academia Española " Tirso de Molina: cuentos, fábulas, descripciones, diálogos, máximas, y apotegmas, epigramas y dichos agudos escogidas en sus obras: con un discurso crítico. Por D. R. M. R., Madrid, 1848. n Prólogo de la edición de 1850 by Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch in the Obras de Don Manuel Bretón de los Herreros, 1883, I, p. viii.

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announced a competitive contest on the subject of Tirso— his life and his theatre." But it was not until long afterward that the outline of the life of Fr. Gabriel Téllez was slowly built up by the painstaking efforts and investigations of Manuel Serrano y Sanz, Blanca de los Rios, and Emilio Cotarelo. In 1906 and 1907, the last-mentioned published in the Nueva Biblioteca de Autores Españoles all the plays that had not appeared in the edition of 1848, including those in which Tirso collaborated with others, and introduced by far the most extensive biography yet written. Various plays have also appeared separately and in collections. Translations have been made into French, Italian, and German. In regard to refundiciones, La prudencia en la mujer has been most fortunate, as there have been three, one by Hartzenbusch, presented for the first time May 20,1858, and printed in 1902; another by Enrique Funes (1889) with historical notes; and the third in 1930, by D. Cristóbal de Castro, made expressly for the great actress Margarita Xirgu, who for more than a month filled the Teatro Español by her superb rendering of Tirso's great historic drama, an event which E. Diez-Canedo characterized as "Sin ser en absoluto una novedad, es entre nosotros casi una revolución." 100 Although it is true that there were years when Tirso de Molina was not popular, it is also true that the length of time when he was totally neglected is much shorter than has been supposed, and undoubtedly many more references to the author and to his plays could be found in both the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. ** Although the prize was never awarded, Pedro Muñoz Peña published a critical work in 1889 entitled "El teatro del Maestro Tirso de Molina." 100 El Sol, Sept. 24, 1930.

II

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF LA PRUDENCIA EN LA MUJER101

L

A prudencia en la mujer may be counted among the most fortunate of Tirso de Molina's plays, not only in the favor with which it has been received on the stage but also in the number of times it has been published in various forms. The following bibliography is an attempt to list all the editions, translations, refundiciones, and manuscript copies known to exist, with some explanatory notes as to their history and the places where they may be found. The titles of first editions found in the compiler's library are marked with an asterisk, and of photostatic copies by a dagger.

t ( l ) COMEDIA FAMOSA, / LA PRVDENCIA / EN LA M V G E R No. 7 in P A R T E / T E R C E R A DE / LAS COMEDIAS D E L I MAESTRO TIRSO / DE MOLINA. / R E COGIDAS POR DON FRANCISCO LV- / cas de Auila, sobrino del Autor. / A DON IULIO MONTI CAVALLERO MILANES. / Año 1634. / CON LICENCIA, / Impresso en Tortosa, en la Imprenta de Francesco Martorell, año 1634. / A costa de Pedro Escuer mercader de Libros de Zaragoza. Fifteen copies have been located as follows : 1 0 2 one each in the National Libraries of Berlin, Vienna, the Royal Library at Brussels, the University Library at Freiburg, the Herzog August Library at Wolfenbüttel, the British Museum, the Vatican, the Biblioteca de Filosofía y Letras and the Biblioteca del Palacio, Madrid, two in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, and four in the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, from one of which (R18712) the accompany101 Reprinted with permission from the Hispanic Review, Vol. I, No. 4, October, 1933. 1IB For abbreviations of libraries see page x.

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ing photographs of the first and last pages were made (plates 1 and 2). The title at the top of page 189 of plate 2 is that of the next play. t(2) Del Doctor, Tirso de Molina / comedia famossa / La prvdencia en la / M Y G E R This manuscript now in the Biblioteca Municipal of Madrid was taken there with many others from the archives of the Teatros del Príncipe y déla Cruz, and may have been used by some manager or prompter (plate 3). It contains no date, name of copyist, or list of actors, and it is impossible to place it exactly by the handwriting. It seems to belong to the period including the last quarter of the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth, but as it follows the Parte very closely, even in places where the second edition (that of Guzmán 1735, see no. 3 below) has made changes, it would seem quite probable that this was made before 1735, since after that date the Guzmán edition was the one commonly used. t(3) COMEDIA FAMOSA. / LA PRUDENCIA / E N LA MUGER. I D E L MAESTRO TIRSO D E MOLINA This is a suelta of forty-four pages published by Doña Theresa de Guzmán, probably in October 1735, as it is advertised in La Gazeta of the twenty-fifth of that month.103 It was the edition ordinarily used for nearly a hundred years and is referred to by Durán in the Talia, p. 48 (see no. 9 below). It is number 10 in SEGUNDA P A R T E / D E LAS I COMEDIAS / VERDADERAS / D E L MAEST R O D E LAS CIENCIAS / DON M I G U E L / TIRSO D E MOLINA. I T E R C E R A IMPRESSION. / CON P R I V I LEGIO. I EN M A D R I D : AÑO D E M . D . C C . X X X V I . / En la Lonja de Comedias de Doña Theresa / de Guzmán, Puerta del Sol. This segunda parte is the second volume in a set of three in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, and contains 1M

Coe, Catálogo bibliográfico, p. 188.

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twelve plays by Tirso de Molina. It is apparently made up of the sueltas published by Teresa de Guzmán and bound together with the addition of title page and table of contents. There are numerous copies of the suelta in the European libraries, three in the Ticknor Library, Boston (from one of which, D. 174.3, the two accompanying photographs were made, plates 4 and 5), and one in the library of the Hispanic Society, New York City. It is, however, very difficult to obtain at the present time, and although I have nearly all of Tirso's plays in the Guzmán edition, I have not been able to find La prudencia en la mujer. (4) COMEDIA NUEVA. / LA PRUDENCIA / EN LA MVGER, / Y REINA MAS PERSEGUIDA, / SU AUTOR / D. V I C E N T E CIPRIANO SEGURA There are two copies of this book in the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid. The one (T19425) from which the accompanying photographs were made (plates 6 and 7) belonged to D. Agustín Durán, and in his edition of La prudencia en la muger (see number 9 below), he says (p. 48): Y o no he visto otra reimpresión de dicho drama que la que hizo Doña Teresa Guzman á principios del siglo X V I I I . A fines del anterior 6 en los primeros años del siguiente le refundió á su manera un tal Cipriano de Segura, despojándole de las bellas octavas que contiene, y substituyendo en su vez un romancillo insípido y desaliñado.

Durán evidently wrote these words before acquiring his copy of the edition under consideration. A play of the same title is found in manuscript in the Biblioteca Municipal (see number 6 below). García de la Huerta in the Theatro Hespañol104 lists two plays as written by Segura—La Prudencia en la Mujer y Reyna mas perseguida and La Reyna mas perseguida y Prudencia en la Mujer. Since this catalogue aims to in104 Madrid, 1785, vol. 16, La prudencia en la mujer, p. 151, and La reyna mas perseguida, p. 159.

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elude all plays "que se han publicado 6 representado en los Theatros" (p. vi) except "traducciones modernas," the inclusion of this title does not prove that it was yet printed. It was, however, presented during this year, for in the Memorial literario, Madrid, 1785, p. 380, is found the following review among those of the plays given in the Coliseo del Principe by the Rivera Company: La Prudencia en la Muger y Reyna mas perseguida: Comedia de Don Vicente Cypriano Segura. Esta Comedia es una representación de varios sucesos acaecidos á la Reyna Doña Maria, durante los catorce años de la menor edad de su hijo Fernando el IV, en que fue Gobernadora del Reyno, hasta que su hijo empuño el cetro: en ella no observa regularidad alguna en tiempo ni en lugar; ni menos en acción, pues tiene muchas, y así no debe llamarse Comedia, sino Dialogo seguido. El episodio ó lance con que acaba, dando cuentas la Reyna al Rey parece el modelo de la Comedia de Cañizares Intitulada las Cuentas del Gran Capitán.

(5), f(6) and (7) La Prudencia en la muger, / y mas perseguida Reina. / La avaricia castigada In the Biblioteca Municipal, Madrid, there are three manuscript copies of what are apparently different stages in the revision of the play by Segura, although the name of the author does not appear in any of them. One has the same title as the printed copy, but in the other two the order of the words has been changed to agree with the order as found in the last two lines of all four versions of the play: "La Prudencia en la Muger, / y mas Perseguida Reina." The corrections found in no. 2 (see plate 8) and incorporated in no. 3 seem to have been made for its presentation on the stage, as there are various dates and lists of actors. The earliest of these dates is 1785, found at the beginning of each act in copy no. 2. The blurred figure at the top right of page two (plate 9) is probably a 5, for the list of actors underneath corresponds with possibly two exceptions to that given in La Tirana,105 as belonging to 1!

* Page 128.

(See note 31.)

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the Ribera Company at the Teatro de la Cruz; and if, as was often the case, the companies exchanged theatres for a part of the season, this would seem to be the representation referred to in the Memorial literario (see number 4 above) which took place in the Principe. The second date, año 87, at the left, has no distinct list. The bracketed words underneath show t h a t the actors in the first list (1785) which have a line after the name were also in the presentation of 1787, and changes were indicated by crossing off names and writing in others. This corrected list also corresponds almost entirely with t h a t for this year in La Tirana, p. 157. The last date, 1803, has two lists, one at the extreme left of the page and another carefully written out (see plate 10). This corresponds fairly well with that given in Máiquez,106 for the company of the Teatro de la Cruz. From the note at the end of page 2 of the play it would seem t h a t there were other dates when it was acted, perhaps under the title of La prudencia en la mujer y Reyna Doña Maria (see number 8). There are many changes in the refundición. Teresa Benavides de Carvajal becomes one of the characters, and her servant, Flora, with Veneno and Tacón (Carrillo and Chacón) are the graciosos, who go through the entire play, arranging beforehand the scene with the villagers of Berrocal in the third act. The incident of the picture falling is retained, and in addition to this bit of realism the queen overthrows the round table where the nobles expect to have their banquet (act II, scene 20), and the vaso which Doña María says is the only thing of value left in the house is the same one in which the Jew was about to give the poison to the boy king (see plate 7). (8) La Reyna Doña Maria The following note about a copy of a play with this title in the Biblioteca Municipal, Madrid, has been sent me: IM

Cotarelo, Isidoro Máiquez, p. 546.

34

TIRSO DE MOLINA Bajo este título figuran las jornadas 2* y 3 1 de la "Prudencia en la mujer" . . . Las dos jornadas tienen el mismo texto que los actos 2o y 3o de "La prudencia en la mujer." No figura nombre de autor alguno. According to Cotarelo 107 a play with this title was represented May 21, 1803, in the Teatro de la Cruz. In addition to the titles above quoted there is another —La prudencia en la muger y Reyna Doña Maria—which is found several times during this period. Whether it refers to Segura's play or another refundición of Tirso's Prudencia, or is an entirely different play, I cannot say. There is no mention of Tirso de Molina, except by García de la Huerta, in connection with any of the plays during this period, but the following table of dates with names of plays shows some of the possibilities of his influence, and when the treasures of the Biblioteca Municipal have been catalogued it will be possible to find more data. 1778 La prudencia en la muger y reina Doña María. Presented in Barcelona; see Representaciones teatrales en Barcelona, by Alfonso Par in Boletín de la Real Academia Española junio, 1929, p. 342. 1779 or before La prudencia en la muger. Presented by Sebastiana Pereira (jubilada in 1779). La Tirana, p. 75. 1781 La prudencia en la muger. Presented by La Tirana, October 4. La Tirana, pp. 74-75. 1785 La prudencia en la muger y mas perseguida Reyna. Presented according to manuscript. (See number 6.) La prudencia en la muger y Reina mas perseguida. Probably the refundición by Vicente Cipriano Segura. (See number 4.) Listed by Huerta in Theatro Hespañol a8 by Segura. Review of play in Memorial literario, lí7

Mdiquez,

p. 6 5 2 .

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Nov., p. 380. Manuscript in Biblioteca Municipal without d a t e or author. (See number 6.) La R e y n a mas perseguida y prudencia en la Mujer, de Segura. Listed by García de la Huerta. La prudencia en la M u j e r de Molina. Listed b y García de la H u e r t a . 1787 La Prudencia en la muger y mas perseguida Reina. Presented according to manuscript. (See number 6.) La prudencia en la mujer y Reyna Doña María. Presented J u n e 5-10, Diario de Madrid. María Bermejo took the leading part in both of these plays. Was it one and the same place and date? 1789 La prudencia en la muger y R e y n a Doña María. Presented Nov. 17-19, Diario de Madrid. 1791 La prudencia en la muger y Reyna Doña María. Presented Nov. 23-25, Diario de Madrid. 1799 La prudencia en la muger. Presented Aug. 25, Máiquez, p. 618. La mas prudente muger y Reyna Doña María. Presented Aug. 25, Diario de Madrid. 1803 La Prudencia en la muger y mas perseguida Reina. Presented according to manuscript. (See number 6.) La prudencia en la muger. Presented Nov. 28, Máiquez, p. 653. La Reina Doña María. (Lope de Vega?) Presented M a y 21, Máiquez, p. 652. It is probable t h a t the title La prudencia en la muger has no reference to Tirso's original comedia except in García de la Huerta's Bibliography, but is simply a shortened form of one of t h e other titles. To add to the confusion, la Reina, doña María, in Lope de Vega's play of t h a t name,

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was the wife of D. Pedro, who reigned in Aragón from 1196 to 1212, a hundred years before Tirso's heroine saved the throne for her son Fernando IV. There is no relation between the two, nor does the play referred to frequently for thirty years as La mujer prudente have any connection with either Tirso's or Lope's. This is the abbreviated title for La mujer prudente y el hombre convencido a la razón, a translation of La dama prudente by Goldoni. It was presented August 14, 1798, under the former title according to Máiquez, p. 607, and under the latter according to the Diario de Madrid. Still another form of the title is El hombre convencido a la razón o la muger prudente used by both the Diario de Madrid and the Gazeta in Sept. 1790. •(9) LA I P R U D E N C I A E N LA MUGER. / COMEDIA FAMOSA No. 1 in TALÍA ESPAÑOLA, / Ó / COLECCIÓN D E DRAMAS / DEL ANTIGUO TEATRO ESPAÑOL, / ORDENADA Y RECOPILADA / POR DON AGUSTIN DURAN. / SECCION QUE ABRAZA D E S D E PRINCIPIOS DEL SIGLO XVII A MEDIADOS / DEL XVIII. / T O M O I / M A D R I D : / POR D. EUSEBIO AGUADO, IMPRESOR D E CÁMARA D E S.M. / Y DE SU REAL CASA. / 1834. Preceding page: TEATRO / DEL / MAESTRO TIRSO D E MOLINA / TOMO I. This was sold in entregas without sewing, that they might be bound together more easily. I have a copy of La prudencia en la muger in this form as well as in the volume bound with Palabras y plumas and El pretendiente al revés. There are Apuntes biográficos and also Observaciones on the Prudencia en la muger which have frequently been used by succeeding editors. Durán says that the only reimpresión that he had seen is that of Doña Teresa de Guzmán (see number 3). He used some of the corrections found in her edition and added others of his own with more stage directions. He does, however, keep the term jornada and there are no divisions into scenes. Un-

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doubtedly he used the Parte of 1634 as the basis for his text. 108 •(10)

DOÑA

M A R Í A D E MOLINA, / D R A M A CINCO ACTOS

EN

No. 1 in Obras de D. Mariano Roca de Togores, Marqués de Molíns, T o m o II, Dramas y comedias, Madrid, 1881. The play was presented July 11, 1837, and published in 1881 with seventeen pages of historical notes, equally useful for the Prudencia en la muger.m It was probably suggested by Tirso's comedia, although not strictly a refundición. There are points in common, but the plot as a whole has marked differences and the time is limited to one day. D. Pedro, Infante of Aragón, sues for the hand of Doña María; the Jew is one of the chief conspirators, preparing the poison for the queen and when that fails trying to assassinate her; there is no reference to the picture of the queen, but a retablo falls at the moment when D. Juan is to be crowned and Doña María appears; the conspiracy is much more important and in the last act fighting takes place in front of the palace; the queen rushes in half crazed, begging her friends to save the little king, who is brought in the arms of the Procurador (Tirso's mercader), and the queen crowns him king of Spain. Neither the Caravajales nor Juan Benavides appears, and D . Diego de Haro is killed in the struggle. There is no reference made to Tirso in connection with this drama, but in 1841 Roca de Togores gave an address in the Ateneo on La prudencia en la mujer in which he notes especially Tirso's failure to observe the three unities, and in the Prólogo to volume III of Obras,110 containing this address, Enrique R. de Saavedra 108 La prudencia en la mujer does not appear among the fourteen plays of Tirso published by Ortega in 1826-34, nor among the three published by Grimaud de Velaunde in 1837. 108 The best notes, historical and critical, on Tirso's play are found in the article La prudencia en la muger by Alfred Morel-Fatio published in the Bulletin Hispanique of 1900, vol. II, pages 1-109 and 178-203. u0 Opúsculos críticos y literarios, tomo III of Obras de D. Mariano Roca de Togores, Madrid, 1882.

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compares the two plays and shows that the faults so patent in the old comedia were corrected in the nineteenth century production, and in addition the character of Doña María is made more human though not less heroic. *(11) LA PRUDENCIA E N LA MUGER. / COMEDIA FAMOSA No. 1 in TESORO / DEL / TEATRO E S P A Ñ O L , / D E S D E SU ORIGEN (AÑO D E 1356) / HASTA NUESTROS D I A S ; / A R R E G L A D O Y DIVIDIDO E N CUATRO PARTES, / POR / Don Eugenio de Ochoa. / TOMO CUARTO. / TEATRO ESCOGIDO / D E S D E EL SIGLO XVII / HASTA NUESTROS DIAS / PRIMERA PARTE. I . . . I PARIS, / E N LA LIBRERÍA EUROPEA D E BAUDRY, I . . . 1 1838. Ochoa's edition is an exact copy of that of Durán, including the Observaciones, to which he adds the following statement: "Recientemente ha sido tratado en nuestra escena este mismo argumento bajo el título de Doña María de Molina, por el joven y distinguido poeta don Mariano Roca de Togores." *(12) LA P R U D E N C I A E N LA MUGER, / COMEDIA No. 1 in vol. VI of TEATRO ESCOGIDO / D E / F R A Y GABRIEL TELLEZ, / CONOCIDO CON EL N O M B R E D E / EL MAESTRO TIRSO D E MOLINA. / TOMO VI. / M A D R I D : / E N LA IMPRENTA D E YENES, / GALLE D E SEGOVIA, NÚM. 6. / 1840. This edition belongs to the Galería dramática, which started in 1835 and comprised el teatro antiguo español de Tirso de Molina, el moderno español y el moderno estrangero. These comedias were sold as sueltas and also in volumes of which there were twelve for the thirty-six plays selected from Tirso. The reason given for choosing this author was that "casi todas las obras de Tellez son rarísimas y no se hallan á precio ninguno." 111 lu

Prólogo, I, p. v.

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The editor of the Galería was D. Manuel Delgado, while D. Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch and D. Agustín Durán were the directores of the teatro antiguo; the former evidently did most of the editing and was much less conservative than the latter. Although Tirso used sometimes acto and sometimes jornada, Hartzenbusch uses the word acto for all the plays. He also divides into scenes, indicates the place, adds many more stage directions and corrects "las lecciones, manifiestamente viciosas." Durán furnishes the Apuntes biográficos and the Observaciones already published in the Talia. The added notes are presumably by Hartzenbusch. D. Enrique Gil y Carrasco wrote a criticism of the edition for the Correo Nacional of July 1839, reprinted in 1883,112 and Alberto Lista devoted forty pages to it in Ensayos literarios. *(13) LA P R U D E N C I A E N LA MUJER No. 15 in vol. V of Biblioteca de Autores Españoles . . . Comedias escogidas de Fray Gabriel Tellez (El Maestro Tirso de Molina), juntas en colección é ilustradas por D. Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch, Madrid, Imprenta de la Publicidad, a cargo de M. Rivadeneyra, 1848. This edition, of which the seventh impression appeared in 1924, forms the basis for all that have been published during the last eighty years, so that preceding editions, even those of 1834 and 1840, are rare. Hartzenbusch has in the main followed his edition of 1840 which is referred to as H1, while that of 1848 is abbreviated to H2. The following are examples of the kinds of changes that have taken place since 1634. The abbreviation etc. is used to indicate that the particular reading which it follows has been used by the succeeding editors. Act I, Sc. 6.

m

vn siglo entero juzgára por vn Infante Parte un siglo entero juzgára por un instante Guzmán, etc.

Obras en prosa, Madrid, 1883, II, 58-64.

40

TIRSO DE MOLINA

Act I, Sc. 3.

contra su Alcaçar P., G. sobre tu alcazar Durán, Ochoa contra tu alcazar H 1 , etc. Act I, Sc. 1. a lançadas a Baco, hezes a Ceres P., G. Aranzadas á Baco, hazes á Ceres D., O., H 1 Aranzadas á Baco, hazas á Céres H 2 , etc. Personas Pastores P., G., D., O. Aldeanos H 1 , etc. Act I, Sc. 1. son toscos, y mudos P., G., D., O. son toscos y rudos H 1 , etc. Act I, Sc. 11. si al encuentro no los sales P., G., D., O., H 1 si al encuentro no les sales H 2 , etc. Guzmán often makes simple typographical corrections. Durán (followed by Ochoa) and Hartzenbusch usually copy these and add, especially in the case of the latter, many others, either to change apparent faults in versification, spelling, and grammar, or to make the passage more easily understood. In the Prólogo Hartzenbusch gives his reasons for making these corrections. Very few changes of any kind have been made since 1848 except in the refundiciones. *(14) TIRSO D E M O L I N A / LA P R U D E N C I A E N LA MUGER Pages 305-334 in Colección selecta del antiguo teatro español. Publícalo el Eco hispano-americano. Paris, librería española de Doña C. Denné Schmitz, rue de Provence, 12, 1854. This edition is like that of the Hartzenbusch, 1848, even to three short footnotes in Act III. Although the paging follows in order, the plays are printed in such a way that they may be easily separated. There are two full-page illustrations quite possibly inserted, each one with the heading T E A T R O E S P A Ñ O L ESCOGIDO. I have also a fragment torn from some Colección, possibly one published by Garnier Frères this same year. (See discussion of the question on pages 97-100 of this book.) The fragment contains a remarkable portrait of Tirso (!).

LA PRUDENCIA

EN LA MUJER

41

*(15) LA P R U D E N C I A E N LA MUJER. Comedia en tres jornadas y seis cuadros, escrita por Fray Gabriel Téllez, conocido con el nombre de El Maestro Tirso de Molina. Refundida por Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch. Madrid, 1902. "La presente refundición . . . se entrenó en el teatro del Circo de esta corte el día 20 de Mayo de 1858." Nota at end of play. The play is of course shortened for presentation and shows the influence of the nineteenth century, but in the main it follows the original in the first two acts, which Hartzenbusch calls jornadas as in the Parte. In the third act, however, el Infante D. Juan declares his love to the queen while the king is hidden behind a column. When the latter appears D. Juan tries to escape with the words "Trágueme aquí la tierra!" and falls into a pozo hidden among the ruins. Berrocal enters with others and exclaims "Ya te tragó." After three more scenes similar to the original written in Romance, the play ends like a farce. Berrocal, the alcalde, comes up from the pit where he descended to tomar declaración and closes with the following décima: Don Juan dice compungido que se ha roto el coronal y ambas piernas, de lo cual está muy arrepentido. Que aunque allí donde ha caído no hay de luz chispa ni media, ve que la muerte le asedia; que del mundo le despida, y en nombre de Tirso pida perdón para la comedia.

(16) LA PRUDENZA DELLE DONNE. D R A M M A D I GABRIELE TELLEZ (vulgo TIRSO D E MOLINA), 1610 Number 5 in vol. IV of Teatro scelto spagnuolo antico e moderno raccolto dei migliori Drammi, Commedie e Tragedie. Versione Italiana di Giovanni la Cecilia . . . Torino, 1858. General title—Nueva Biblioteca populare.

42

TIRSO DE MOLINA

From a comparison of this translation with the Spanish editions it seems probable t h a t Cecilia used the Durán version, probably the Paris edition of Ochoa, since he refers to the latter by name as the " g r a n critico spagnuolo." The translation is rather free, and difficult phrases are omitted. There is a reference at the end of the avvertenza to Togores' drama, Dona María de Molina. *(17) LA SAGESSE D ' U N E F E M M E , C O M É D I E E N TROIS JOURNÉES Number 2 in Théâtre de Tirso de Molina, traduit por la première fois de l'espagnol en français, par Alphonse Royer. Paris, 1863. This translation is based on the Hartzenbusch edition in the B. A. E. impression of 1850. Royer writes: "C'est cette edition qui m ' a servi de guide dans ma tâche de traduction." *(18) T I R S O D E MOLINA. LA P R U D E N C I A E N LA MUJER Pages 983-1017 in vol. I of Teatro selecto antiguo y moderno, nacional y extranjero, coleccionado é ilustrado con una introducción, notas, observaciones criticas y biográficas de los principales autores, por Don Francisco José Orellano. Edición correcta, exornada con retratos y viñetas alusivas al texto. Barcelona, 1866-68. Salvador Mañeros. Six volumes. This edition is t h a t of Hartzenbusch, 1848, with the same three notes and five others. Like those of number 13, the plays have been printed so that they can be torn out and sold separately. I have La prudencia en la mujer and three other fragments which have been taken from vol. I. (19) T I R S O D E M O L I N A (FR. GABRIEL TÉLLEZ). LA P R U D E N C I A E N LA M U J E R , COMEDIA E N T R E S ACTOS Volume X X I I I in Biblioteca Universal. Colección de los mejores autores antiguos y modernos, nacionales y extranjeros. Madrid, Calle de Leganitos 18, 1876.

LA PRUDENCIA

EN LA MUJER

43

This was the first cheap edition and, although a poor specimen of the printer's art, it has served to keep the play before the public; the fourth impression appeared in 1910. (20) LA PRUDENCIA E N LA MUJER, COMEDIA DE TIRSO DE MOLINA, R E F U N D I D A E N CUATRO ACTOS POR ENRIQUE FUNES. Santa Cruz de Tenerife . . . 1889 A copy of this first edition is in the Biblioteca de Menéndez y Pelayo, Santander. The one ordinarily found in libraries and referred to by critics is the 2a edición corregida por el refundidor, same place and year. The second edition has copious historical notes at the end, which are lacking in my copy although referred to in the footnotes. Funes based his work on the Orellana edition of 1866, but he also used Hartzenbusch, 1848, and often refers to an edition más antigua (as p. 13, note), which is that of Durán, 1834. The refundición follows the original fairly well in regard to historical details. There is, however, more emphasis given to D. Juan's desire to marry the queen; the shade of Guzmán el Bueno appears twice and there is a tendency toward theatrical effect which is lacking in the original. (21) LA PRUDENCIA E N LA M U J E R This is a reprint of number eleven. The title-page with one exception is the same even to the quotation from Durán, but instead of bearing the name of the Librería de Baudry, 1838, the following announcement appears: Paris Gamier Hermanos, libreros—editores 6, Rue des Saints-Pères, 6, 1898. (22) LA PRUDENCIA E N LA M U J E R Volume II of Comedia Semanal. Casa editorial de La última moda. Madrid, 1909. Based on the Hartzenbusch edition 1848 with parts omitted. *(23) LA PRUDENCIA E N LA M U J E R BIBLIOTECA LITERARIA DEL ESTUDIANTE. Dirigida por Ramón Menéndez Pidal. Tomo X I I I .

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TIRSO DE MOLINA

TIRSO DE MOLINA, selección hecha por Samuel Gili Gaya. Dibujos de F. Marco. Madrid, MCMXXII. Instituto-Escuela. Junta para ampliación de estudios. This edition following that of Hartzenbusch, 1848, is made for young students and scenes in whole or in part are omitted, summaries being given instead. *(24) TEATRO ESPAÑOL. TIRSO DE MOLINA. LA PRUDENCIA EN LA MUJER. Editora Internacional, Madrid. Berlín-Buenos Aires. 1924 Based on the Hartzenbusch edition 1848 with Prólogo. f(25) La prudencia en la Mujer. Comedia en tres actos y ocho cuadros de TIRSO de MOLINA, refundida por Cristóbal de Castro. This latest and best of the refundiciones was made by D. Cristóbal de Castro for the noted actress Margarita Xirgu. It is based on the Hartzenbusch edition and follows Tirso's play in all essentials. The chief difference lies in the omission of all reference to the portrait of the queen. The play is somewhat shortened by omitting lines and condensing scenes, which results in one place in a change from quintillas to redondillas (Act III, Cuadro 2, Scene 1). However, when represented from Sept. 23, to Oct. 25, 1930, in the Teatro Español, the original was restored in many places so that Margarita Xirgu probably came nearer the Doña María of Tirso de Molina than any other actress for three hundred years.113 *(26) Tirso de Molina. La prudencia en la mujer. Edited by William McFadden. Liverpool. Bulletin of Spanish Studies. 1933. It is one of the "Plain Text Series," based upon the first edition of 1634, with references to the Guzmán edition and those of Hartzenbusch. lu Unfortunately Castro's refundición has not been published, and I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness and gratitude to the author, who most kindly furnished me with a typewritten copy.

ra

THE "GREATEST" SPANISH DRAMATISTS 114

I

t is not the object of this chapter to discuss the greatest Spanish dramatists but to trace during the last 250 years the changing opinions as to who they were in any given period. To do this it is necessary to consider the plays presented and published, and the opinions of the critics both neo-classic and national. When the theatres of Madrid were opened in 1649, after having been closed for about three years, the old order had passed away—the plays of Lope de Vega and his contemporaries were no longer the center of attraction, and the stage for the next 150 years belonged to Calderón and his followers. Chief among these were Moreto and Rojas, while others of importance were Matos Fragoso, Diamante, Hoz y Mota, Zárate, Solís, Salazar, and three of the decadent period—Bances Candamo, Zamora, and Cañizares, the last of whom died in 1750. The principal attack against the theatre for many years came from the Church from the point of view of morality. In 1682 Fray Manuel de Guerra y Ribera answered with a spirited apologia 115 for the theatre and its representative, Calderón. Literary criticism of the Spanish theatre reached its height in the eighteenth century, the leader in the attack being D. Ignacio Luzán, who in 1737 published his Poética.116 It is 114 Read at the Seventeenth Annual Meeting of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish, Cleveland, Ohio, December 1933, printed in Hispania, Feb. 1934; reprinted by permission. 116 Verdadera Quinta parte de Comedias de don Pedro Calderón de la Barca Apología, por el Reveren m o Padre Maestro Fray Manuel de Guerra y Ribera Madrid, 1694. The Apologia is also found in the Sexta parte, 1683. 111 La poética ó reglas de la poesia en general, y de sus principales especies. Por don Ignacio de Lvzan, Claramunt de Suelves, y Gurrea. Entre los académicos ereinos de Palermo, llamado Egidia Menalipo. Con licencia: E n Zaragoza: por Francisco Revilla, vive en la Calle de S. Lorenzo: Año 1737 [folio].

45

46

TIRSO DE MOLINA

interesting to note that Luzán and the other critics of the period usually select as the object of their attack or defense Calderón with his school, and the solitary figure of Lope de Vega, the latter representing the whole preceding period of the drama. The names of Tirso de Molina, Ruiz de Alarcón, Guevara, Montalbán, etc., almost never appear. Although few of Lope's plays were presented in the eighteenth century (there always were a few), yet his influence had been too great not to have his name kept before the public, even though it might be as the "corruptor del teatro." 117 Luzán refers continually to Lope, Calderón, and Moreto, and occasionally mentions Soils, Matos Fragoso, Bances Candamo, Zamora, and Cañizares. Later Cervantes' name is also found, especially after Bias Nasarre published the second edition of his plays with its noted prólogo.118 In 1764 F. M. Nipho, defending the Spanish drama, complains that the Spaniards are called "bárbaros" because they like the inimitable comedias of Lope de Vega, Calderón, Rojas, Moreto, Molina, Diamante, Candamo, and many others.119 In 1773 Tomás Sebastián y Latre wrote an Ensayo in which, opposing the ideas of Montiano, he refers to the "gran numero de aquellos hombres ilustres—Lope de Vega, Calderón, Moreto, Solís, Salazar, Rojas y otros." 120 Practically the same list is used in 1785 by García de la Huerta in El Theatro Hespañol.121 In 1789 appeared the second edition of Luzán's Poética with some additional chapters on the Poesía dramática española, in which he mentions (1) the early dramatists, (2) those contemporary with Lope as listed by Cervantes, and (3) the important followers of Calderón, adding "entre los quales se distinguen Moreto y Roxas, conservando casi la misma reputación que lograron en su edad." 122 See footnote 2. » See footnote 22. u » See footnote 26. m Ensayo sobre el teatro español, Madrid, 1773, p. 1. U 1 1, (1785), p. cci. "»Poética, II, 30. 117 u

" G R E A T E S T " SPANISH DRAMATISTS

47

Thus up to the last decade of the eighteenth century the leading plays of the non-contemporary writers were those by Calderón, always far ahead of anybody else, followed by those of Moreto and Rojas, then those of Matos Fragoso, Solís, and Candamo, Zamora, and Cañizares, with a number by Lope. These same names occur in the criticisms, except that Lope and Calderón are always first, followed by the school of Calderón. During the last few years of the eighteenth century and the first quarter of the nineteenth century there is a decided though gradual change in the names of the dramatists whose works were presented. This is due in great part to the efforts of D. Dionisio Villanueva, usually known as Dionisio Soils, apuntador in the theatrical company of Isidoro Máiquez. He was much interested in the old national drama, and not only made the plays of Lope de Vega more popular but, as one writer says, "resucitó" Tirso de Molina by means of his refundiciones, which were staged by the company. In 1814 the king, D. Fernando, celebrated his birthday by attending a función, the important part of which was the representación of D. Gil de las calzas verdes, and by 1825 Tirso had so become the people's favorite that, long after, D. Antonio Gil y Zárate says: " . . . su anuncio bastaba para llenar el teatro; y olvidados casi enteramente Lope y Calderón, Tirso se sobrepuso á ellos, los eclipsó por el momento." 123 There was another reason for the popularity of the old authors. Mesonero Romanos writes that there were few contemporary dramatists and these . . . fueron envueltos en la segunda proscripción originada por la contrarevolucion de 1823; sus obras y hasta su nombre prohibido; y el teatro y la literatura entregados de nuevo á manos de la mas implacable censura, ó abandonados al olvido mas desdeñoso. En la carencia absoluta de autores, y hasta en la imposibilidad de haberlos por aquellas causas, el antiguo repertorio de Tirso, u>

Manual de literatura, Madrid, 1844, 2a -parte, II, 276.

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TIRSO DE MOLINA

Lope de Vega y Moreto, fué el recurso benéfico de nuestros comediantes.114 In the field of criticism during this period there were at first the neo-classicists, with Moratin at their head, but others like Bohl de Faber were beginning to realize that the old Spanish theatre did have something worth while. These last were aided by German critics favorable to Calderón, notably Schlegel, who in 1808 gave his famous lecture on the Spanish dramatist. It has been said that he "discovered" Calderón. It is true that his words brought the attention of other nations to the Spanish drama and helped in changing the attitude of neo-classic critics toward him, but as for "discovering" him, there seems to have been no period in which he was ever lost. He was attacked and he was defended but he was always present, as the many sueltas during the eighteenth century prove. Schlegel barely refers to Lope de Vega and to a few of his contemporaries. In 1802 García de Villanueva, in his Origen, épocas y progresos del teatro español, discussed Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Calderón, and Moreto, as well as Castro and Alarcón in their relation to Corneille, while in a footnote he referred to Rojas, Tirso de Molina, Solís, Salazar, etc.125 In 1804 the German, Bouterwek,12® referred to Tirso as one who rivaled Lope and Calderón. In 1806 Lord Holland in England wrote at length on Lope de Vega and Guillén de Castro and observed that the "plays of Calderón, Moreto and Rojas are now frequently acted." 127 In 1809 "promulgábase también un buen reglamento de teatro mandándose colocar en los teatros de Madrid los bustos de Lope, Calderón, Moreto y Guillén de Castro," an ordinance, how114 "Rápida ojeada sobre el teatro español," Semanario pintoresco español, 2* aerie, IV (1842), 398. m P a g e 310. "» See footnote 50. m Henry Richard Vassail Fox, 3rd. Lord Holland, Some Account of the IAves and Writings of Lope Felix de Vega Carpió and Guillen de Castro, London, Longman, 1817.

"GREATEST" SPANISH DRAMATISTS

49

128

ever, which, according to Mesonero Romanos, was not carried out. The prominence given to the name of Guillén de Castro during these years is probably caused by someone's having found out that he, as well as Corneille, wrote a comedia about the Cid! By the beginning of the third decade, however, a great change has taken place. Tirso de Molina not only has mounted to the first place on the stage but is also among the first for the consideration of critics and publishers. Alberto Lista, theatrical critic for El Censor, of Madrid, 129 reviewed many plays during the years 1821-22, among them seven of Tirso, six each of Calderón and Lope, three of Rojas, and two of Moreto. At this same time Mesonero Romanos, whose name with those of Durán and Hartzenbusch will ever be associated with this Golden Age of Tirso, referred to the "grandes creaciones de nuestros insignes Dramaturgos que yacían en injusto olvido . . . Tirso, Lope, Calderón, Moreto, Montalban, Rojas y otros ciento." 130 Two years later he speaks of the "antiguo repertorio de Tirso, Lope de Vega y Moreto." 131 Between 1826 and 1834 Ortega, with Durán as one of the editors, published a Colección general de comedias escogidas del teatro español, containing sixteen plays of Lope, fourteen each of Calderón and Tirso, twelve of Moreto, eight each of Alarcón, Rojas, and Cañizares, and a smaller number of Matos Fragoso, Solís, Zamora, Candamo, and others. The critic (probably Durán) of one of these plays refers to Tirso de Molina, Calderón, Moreto, and Lope as "cuatro colosos que solo estudiándolos mucho se puede llegar a apreciar bastante bien." 132 For a number of years this was the ordinary selection of names. Castro had disappeared, Rojas was receding, and Alarcón had hardly 118

Memorias, I, 83. "»See footnote 63. u0 Memorias, I, 274. 1,1 "Rápida ojeada sobre el teatro español," Semanario pintoresco español, 2* serie, IV (1842), 398. "* Comedias escogidas de Tirso de Molina, Madrid, I (1826), 311.

50

TIRSO D E

MOLINA

made his entrance. But in 1827 Pablo Mendibal, in an article on Alarcón as an americano, refers to those "celebres autores . . . que se presentan como corifeos de otros tantos escudos o ramas principales . . . tales como Lope, Calderón, Tirso de Molina i aun el menos conocido i por lo menos no debidamente apreciado Alarcon." 133 During this same year Martínez de la Rosa compares Tirso with Calderón, Lope, Moreto, and Rojas.134 The next year Agustín Durán writes the following, which should be kept in mind during all study of the Spanish drama between 1750 and 1825: La generalidad del público dirigida por sus propias impresiones, y por el íntimo sentimiento de sus goces, llenaba los coliseos cuando veía en las escenas á Lope, Tirso, Calderón y Moreto: y tal vez sus detractores salían del teatro tan conmovidos como avergonzados de haber participado del entusiasmo general, contra las ordenanzas de Aristóteles y del espíritu del partido.135

In 1842 Mesonero Romanos speaks of the "bellísimas obras de Lope, de Moreto, de Tirso y Calderón." 136 As already stated, Bouterwek in 1804 placed Tirso with Lope and Calderón. So far as I have found, he is the only foreigner who thus keeps pace with the Spanish stage until 1840, when Louis Viel-Castel in an article on Tirso recognizes this lack of appreciation and adds, "avec Lope de Vega, Calderón et Moreto, Tirso de Molina occupe . . . un rang qui le place tout-á-fait hors de ligne." 137 Meantime in 1835 the Galería dramática was started, which, according to Mesonero Romanos, writing four years later, was to consist of three parts—the Teatro moderno español, of which sixteen volumes had already appeared, the Teatro antiguo español, for which Hartzenbusch was to lu

Repertorio Americano, Londres, agosto, 1827, pp. 75-93. ' Obras literarias, Paria, 1827, II, 449-50. IM Discurso sobre el influjo que ha tenido la critica moderna en la decadencia del Teatro Antiguo Español, y sobre el modo con que debe ser considerado para juzgar convenientemente de su mérito peculiar, Madrid, 1828, pp. 18, 26. 138 "Rápida ojeada sobre el teatro español," Semanario pintoresco español, 2» serie, IV (1842), 374. w "Tirso de Molina," Revue des Deux Mondes, X X I I (1840), 504.

"GREATEST" SPANISH DRAMATISTS

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select comedias from Lope, Calderón, Tirso, Moreto, Rojas, Alarcón, etc., and the Teatro estranjero.13S B u t of the old Spanish drama only the plays of Tirso, thirty-six of them, ever appeared. In 1840 Eugenio de Ochoa published a Colección de piezas . . . sacadas del Tesoro del Teatro Español, the latter a collection which had appeared two years before. From those which he selected he says : . . . podrá el lector apreciar fácilmente I o el genio creador de Lope de Vega; 2 o los progresos que debió el arte á Calderón, Tirso de Molina, Moreto, Rojas y Alarcon; y en fin la marcha que siguió el teatro para llegar a su total ruina.139 Hartzenbusch, describing the presentation of ¿Quién es ella? in 1849, writes: " L a embocadura presentaba los retratos al oleo de los seis grandes poetas de la escena española—• Lope, Calderón, Tirso, Moreto, Rojas, y Alarcon." 140 T h e German, v o n Schack, follows the decision of the contemporary Spanish critics in writing of the seventeenth century. He says: " D e los nuevos poetas dramáticos, que aparecen en este período, ninguno sin duda, puede elevarse al rango de Lope, Tirso, Alarcón, Calderón, Rojas, y Moreto." 141 T h e French philosopher, Auguste Comte, on making out the Calendrier positiviste, selected these same six names as representing the Spanish classical drama, to be read during the tenth month. 1 4 2 B u t the American, George Ticknor, seems to have returned to the LopeCalderón days of fifty years before. He devotes 120 pages to Lope, sixty-eight to Calderón, while the other four are 138 Semanario pintoresco español, 2* serie, I (1839), 191. Alberto Lista emphasizes this selection (D-iscursos literarios y críiicos, vol. II, 90). When writing of the Galería dramática and of Tirso he says: "Se ha colocado a Tirso de Molina entre los seis principales poetas del teatro español del siglo xvii, que son: Lope, Tirso, Calderón, Moreto, Rojas y Ruiz de Alarcón." Baudry, Librería Europea, Paris, 1840, p. vi. i*0 Obras de don Manuel Bretón de los Herreros, Madrid, I, (1883), p. liii. Prólogo de la edición de 1850. 1,1 Geschichte der dramatischen Lileratur und kunsl in Spanien, Berlín, 1845-46. See Spanish translation by Eduardo Mier, IV (1887), p. 187. IU Auguste Comte, Système de politique positiviste, 4 vols., Paris, 18511854, Vol. IV.

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placed among the secondary dramatists with less than ten pages each, Montalvan receiving more space than Tirso or Moreto.143 However, the decision of the editors of the Galería dramática in 1835 has been final in regard to the names of the six greatest Spanish dramatists. Hurtado and González Palencia in the 1932 edition of their Literatura only voice the opinion of others when they give the first place to Lope de Vega with Tirso de Molina and Alarcón, and Calderón with Moreto and Rojas. On the other hand, if the number of names is limited to four, we find a change in opinion takes place about the middle of the century. Instead of the group so often quoted—Lope, Calderón, Tirso, and Moreto—there is a tendency to follow Mendibal who, as already stated, writing for the Repertorio in London in 1827, united the names of Lope, Calderón, Tirso, and Alarcón. So far as I have been able to find out, Ludwig Lemcke in 1856 was the first to call these four the great Spanish dramatists,144 and the following year Leopold Schmidt delivered an address in Bonn on the subject " Uber die vier bedeutendsten Dramatiker der Spanier," in which he said that the drama is divided into two periods, that of Lope and that of Calderón, with Tirso and Alarcón between, and then showed that these four are responsible for the greatness of the Spanish stage, each one supplying a notable part distinct from that of the others.145 Nearly seventy-five years later Ludwig Pfandl refers to the "sogenannten Meisterdramen" of Lope, Tirso, Alarcón, and Calderón, and after discussing Lope and Calderón he says that if we try to choose the best of their followers it would be the group comprising Tirso, Ruiz de Alarcón, and Moreto, all far ahead of any others, but he adds that although Tirso, especially in Spain, has been placed as the "> History of Spanish Literature, New York, 1849. 1« Ludwig Lemcke, Handbuch der spanischen Literatur, Leipzig, 1856, III, 396.

144 Leopold Schmidt, Über die vier bedeutendsten Dramatiker der Spanier— Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, Alarcón, und Calderón, Bonn, 1858.

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first and greatest after Lope and Calderón, it would be his opinion to give this place of honor to Alarcón.144 Mérimée, however, judges Tirso as follows: It is inconceivable that the glory of Tirso de Molina, which now waxes daily, should long have been so in eclipse that his plays were almost forgotten. He rightly deserves a place in the front rank, between Lope and Calderón.147

The consensus of modern opinion gives the first three places to Lope, Tirso, and Calderón, while the fourth place is not definitely assigned. Both Romera-Navarro in 1928,148 and Miss Kennedy in 1932,149 agree with this judgment. It is interesting to note that Alarcón seems to have appealed more strongly to foreigners and Moreto to the Spaniards, so that the consensus of opinion gives the three highest places to Lope, Calderón, and Tirso, while the fourth is open either to Alarcón or Moreto. lw Ludwig Pfandl, Geschichie der spanischen Nationaliiteratur in ihrer BliitezeU, Freiburg, 1929, pp. 366, 412, 414. Ernest Mérimée, A History of Spanish Literature. Translation based on edition of 1922, by S. Griswold Morley, New York, 1930, p. 356. 1M M. Romera-Navarro, Historia de la literatura española, Boston, 1928. 1,9 Ruth Lee Kennedy, The Dramatic Art of Moreto, Philadelphia, 1932, p 121.

IV THE FIVE PARTES OF TIRSO DE MOLINA150

F

or over a hundred years these Partes have been considered by critics as among the very rare books of Spanish literature. Blankenberg was uncertain that any existed.151 Alvarez y Baena says that Tirso's " o b r a s " should all be reprinted "por ser todas muy raras." 152 Hartzenbusch explained that the reason for his selecting the plays of Tirso de Molina for the Galería dramática was because "casi todas las obras de Téllez son rarísimas y no se hallan a precio ninguno." 153 Schack refers to the "ungemein seltene Sammlung" of Tirso's plays 154 and Ticknor in 1849 says of Tirso's comedias, "copies of them are among the rarest of Spanish books." 155 Barrera adds his testimony: "Desde luego se hicieron muy raros los tomos de sus comedias" 156 as does Brunet when referring to the "collection de ses pièces" as "fort rare." 157 The data here collected in regard to the Partes have been arranged in the form of lists or tables, that one may easily see and compare : (I) dates that have been attributed to early editions of the Partes; (II) known dates in connection with the Partes; (III) places where copies may now be found; (IV) editors or publishers who have made use of them. 140 Revised and reprinted by permission from the Hispanic Review, Vol. Ill, No. 2, April, 1935. 141 See page 12 of this book. See note 43. lu Teatro escogido de Fray Gabriel TeUez, conocido con el nombre de El Maestro Tirso de Molina, Madrid, Imprenta de Yenes, I (1839), page v. The Prólogo is signed by Hartzenbusch, although his name is not on the title page. ^ Gesch.ich.te, II, 553. 146 History of Spanish Literature, II, 309. m Cayetano Alberto de la Barrera y Leirado, Catálogo bibliográfico y biográfico del teatro antiguo español desde sus orígenes hasta mediados del siglo XVIII, Madrid, 1860, p. 384. U7 Jacques-Charles Brunet, Manuel du Libraire, Paris, 1862, III, 1810.

54

THE FIVE PARTES TABLE I.

55

EARLY EDITIONS

In this table M signifies Madrid; S, Sevilla; T, Tortosa; and V, Valencia. Editor Nie. Antonio 1672 Harda

1st Parle 1M

m

Snd

3rd

M. no date M. no date T. 1634

4ih

5th

no ref.

no ref.

M. 16..

M. 16. .

T. 1634

no ref.

no ref.

M. 1616

M. 1616

T. 1634

no ref.

no ref.

M. 1616 S. 1626 V. 1631

M. 1616 M. 1635

T. 1634 M. 1635 M. 1636 M. 1652

M. 1616

M. 1616

T. 1634 M. 1635 M. 1636

1626

1626 1635

T. 1634 M. 1635 M. 1636

M. 1627 V. 1631

M. 1627 M. 1635

T. 1634 M. 1652

M. 1626 V. 1631

M. 1635

T. 1634 M. 1635 M.1636

18th cent. Baena

1M

1790 Durán

181

1834

Mesonero Rom." 1 1837 Hartzenbusch l u 1839—12 Schack

1M

1845-^6 Hartzenbusch 1848

11,5

M. 1635 M. 1636

Barrera 1M 1860

M. 1627 S. 1627 V. 1631

Brunet 1 , 7 1862

M. 1626? S. 1627 V. 1631

M. 1635

T. 1634 M. 1635 M. 1636 M. 1652

Cotarelo 1M 1906

M. 1627? S. 1627 V. 1631

M. 1635

T. 1634 M. 1635 M. 1636

m

" M . 1627" T. 1634 M. 1635 M. 1636 M. 1635

Nicolás Antonio, Bibliotheca hisp. nova, Madrid, 1672, I, 510. Fr. Ambrosio de Harda, Biblioteca de escritores mercenarios (18th century), inedited, Academia de la Historia. (Plate I.) 1M See footnote 152. ltl Talla española, p. 6. 151 See footnote 86. (Footnotes continued on next page.) 1H

56

TIRSO DE MOLINA

The first thing to be noted in Table I is that both Harda and Baena follow Nicolás Antonio in regard to the last three Partes, although long before Baena had published Hijos de Madrid the Partes were known to Medel 1 6 9 and it seems strange that Baena had never heard of them. In regard to the dates of the first two Partes it is quite possible that Harda, who wrote during the early part of the eighteenth century, simply placed Tirso in the seventeenth century without venturing to fix the year (plate 11), and that Baena misunderstood the number and gave the date as 1616, which was copied for over a hundred years. 170 Durán keeps this date for both Partes, although, since he acquired the Valencia 1631 edition of the first Parte and the Madrid 1635 of the second, he could add these dates to the others; I do not know where he obtained his information of the Sevilla edition or of one of the third Parte published 'in Madrid 1652 and later quoted by at least two others (Schack and Brunet). Mesonero Romanos follows Durán for the first edition of the first and second Partes. But a little later critics begin to question the accuracy of these dates. In 1839 Hartzenbusch publishes without comment the Apuntes biográficos from Durán, in the first volume of the Yenes lu

Yenes edition (See footnote 153), VI, 281; VIII, 122; and IX, 327. See footnote 154. "* Juan Eugenio Hartzenbusch, Comedias escogidas de Fray Gabriel Tellez (e¿ Maestro Tirso de Molina), juntas en coleccion é ilustradas. Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, Madrid, 1848, V, pp. xxxvi-xxxvii. '« See footnote 156. 117 See footnote 157. Comedias, I, pp. xliv-Ixviii. "»See footnote 9. 170 It is true that the Biblioteca of Harda was accessible only in manuscript form, but Francisco Javier de Burgos seems to have known it. Compare the following quotations from the two authors: "Quae cum Matriti prodissent primo separata, postea ibidem ad unum volumen in 4.° redacta in lucem prodierunt anno 16 . . . ." Burgos referring to the comedias says that they were "impresas primero separadamente por él mismo, contrahechas después por libreros codiciosos, recogidas más tarde en colecciones incompletas de uno, dos o tres tomos, y reunidas por último en cinco gruesos volúmenes por un sobrino del autor.'' Published in El Laberinto according to Cot&relo (Comedias, I, lxxvii, footnote 4) and reprinted by Hartzenbusch in B.A.E., V, xxvii. 1M

THE FIVE

PARTES

57

edition of the Comedias, but scattered through the following volumes are references to dates which show that he was studying the question. In volume VI, page 281 (1840) in the examen of the Villana de Vallecas, found in the first Parte, he says " s u publicación fué en 1626" and he proves that it could not have been published before 1620 on account of a letter (Act I, sc. 10) which bears the date of March 25, 1620. In volume VIII, page 122 (1840), he refers to the " tomo segundo de Tellez . . . publicada . . . el año 1626" but in volume IX, page 327 (1841), he mentions the "segunda parte de las comedias empresas el año 1635," and on the last page of volume X I I he has a Nota o corrección al testo, in regard to the date 1616 for the first and second Partes. La edición mas antigua de la 1" parte que hemos llegado á ver últimamente, tiene concedido el privilegio en Madrid á 12 de marzo de 1626, la tasa con fecha de 20 de noviembre del propio, y la portada es del año siguiente. Se imprimió, pues, en 1626, y se publicó en 1627; aun tal vez esta impresión era la segunda, y la original habría salido en el año 1626 mismo, en cuyo caso los que la dan por del 1616 pueden haber equivocado un número.

Unfortunately Hartzenbusch does not state where this edition was published or where he saw it, for in the Catálogo razonado of the Biblioteca de Autores Españoles, published in 1848, he says that he does not know whether there is a copy of the first edition in Madrid or not, the one in the Biblioteca Nacional being like Durán's (Valencia 1631). In regard to the second Parte he says, under heading of Parte tercera año 1634 (p. xi), that the latter was published before the former, so no date earlier than 1635 is given for the second Parte; nor is there one as late as 1652 for the third. However, shortly after this, he saw Schack's work and apparently his admiration for the learned German led him to quote his dates even though not accepting them. After referring to Durán's copy of the first Parte, Valencia 1631, he adds the phrase,

58

TIRSO D E MOLINA

El Señor Adolfo Federico Schack (tomo II, página 554 de su excelente Historia de la literatura y arte dramática en España) cita una edición de este tomo, verosímilmente la primera, hecha en Madrid año 1627.

And in the section treating of the Segunda Parte he puts into the heading, "Madrid 1627 (Según el Señor Adolfo de Schack)." Neither Schack nor Hartzenbusch refers to the Sevilla edition of 1626. It is very strange that Ticknor should have retained the very early date in the first three editions of his Literature (1849, 1854, and 1864)—-"we have five volumes of his dramas published between 1616 and 1636." 171 The Spanish edition translates this without comment.172 It was not until the fourth edition was published (1872) that the phrase is changed to "between 1627 and 1636." Although no one is certain of the existence of an edition of Madrid 1626 or 1627, Brunet says the first "doit être de Madrid, 1626," and Cotarelo, "debió de salir en 1627." Barrera is the first after Durán to refer to Sevilla 1627. In regard to the second Parte, Brunet gives only the later date of 1635 but adds, "il doit y avoir une plus ancienne edition," and Barrera mentions the edition of Madrid 1627 as given by Schack but does not accept it. TABLE II.

IMPORTANT KNOWN DATES 1625-1636

1625, Edict of banishment. 1626, March 12, Primera Parte, Suma del Privilegio (ed. Valencia). 1626, Nov. 12, Madrid, Primera Parte, Fe de Erratas (ed. Valencia). 1626, Nov. 20, Madrid, Primera Part«, Suma de la Tassa (ed. Valencia). 1627, Sevilla, Primera Parte, published. 1631, Valencia, Primera Parte, published. 1632, Feb. 26, Toledo, Deleytar finished. 1632, May 24, Madrid, Deleytar, Licencia de la Orden. m

1849, II, 308. Historia de la literatura española por George Ticknor, traducida al castellano con adiciones y notas por D. Pascual de Gayangos y D. Enrique de Vedia, Madrid, II (1851), 454. 1,1

T H E FIVE

PARTES

59

173

1633, Sept. 13, Tortosa, "Tercera" Parte, Aprovacion. 1633, Oct. 2, Tortosa, "Tercera" Parte, Licencia. 1633, Dec. 21, Barcelona, "Tercera" Parte, Approbatio and Licentia. 1634, Tortosa, "Tercera" Parte, published a costa de Escuer, Zaragoza. 1634, April 8, Madrid, Deleytar, Aprobación (Josef de Valdivielso). 1634, June 22, Madrid, Deleytar, Aprobación (Geronimo de la Cruz). 1634, Aug. 6, Madrid, Deleytar, Privilegio. 1634, Nov. 10, Madrid, "Segunda" Parte, Aprobación (Pedro de Matallana). 1634, Nov. 20, Madrid, "Segunda" Parte, Aprobación (Andres de Espino). 1634, Dec. 8, Madrid, "Segunda" Parte, Suma de la licencia. 1635, Jan. 24, Madrid, Quarta Parte, Licencia del S. Vicario. 1635, A fin de enero, Madrid, Quarta Parte, Aprobación. (Montalván.) 1635, Feb. 1, Madrid, Quarta Parte, Remission del Vicario. 1635, March 8, Madrid, Quarta Parte, Suma de Privilegio. 1635, March 10, Madrid, Quarta Parte, Aprobación (Lope de Vega). 1635, March 26, Madrid, "Segunda" Parte, Fé de Erratas. 1635, March 27, Madrid, "Segunda" Parte, Suma de la Tassa. 1635, Madrid, "Segunda" Parte, published. 1635, June 28, Madrid, Deleytar, Fe de Erratas. 1635, June 30, Madrid, Quinta Parte, Aprovacion. 1635, July 3, Madrid, Quinta Parte, Licencia del Vicario. 1635, July 5, Madrid, Deleytar, Suma de la Tassa. 1635, Madrid, Deleytar, published. 1635, July 16, Madrid, Quinta Parte, Licencia. (Calderón de la Barca.) 1635, July 24, Madrid, Quinta Parte, Suma del Priuilegio. 1635, Aug. 1, Madrid, Quarta Parte, Fee de Erratas. 1635, Aug. 2, Madrid, Quarta Parte, Tassa. 178 The most probable explanation for the dates of the "tercera" and "segunda" Partes, is simply that a mistake was made on the title page. Not only the dates but also the place seem to bear out this explanation, for the "tercera" was published outside of Madrid, while the "segunda" is in the Madrid series.

60

TIRSO DE MOLINA

1635, 1636, 1636, 1636,

Madrid, Quarta Parte, Jan 1, Madrid, Quinta Jan 9, Madrid, Quinta Madrid, Quinta Parte,

published. Parte, F6 de Erratas. Parte, Suma de Tassa. published.

From a study of Table II it will be seen that Tirso had considerable trouble in getting his works published between 1626 and 1634, but that for fifteen months from November of this latter year he was busily engaged in bringing out four books, all in Madrid. For the cause of this we probably have to go back to the year 1625, when the edict of banishment from Madrid was passed against him by the Consejo of Castilla.174 It is true the Valencia edition of the first Parte contains the Suma del Privilegio, Suma de la Tassa, and Fe de Erratas of 1626 in Madrid, but there seems to be no proof that this edition was ever given to the public. In fact it is strange that under the circumstances Tirso succeeded in having even this much done and, as Cotarelo notes, the customary Aprobaciones are lacking in both the Sevilla and Valencia editions. Dr. Sherman W. Brown has made a careful comparison of these two and finds that the texts are identical even to broken type, whereas the preliminares are quite different.175 It would seem that the type was set up and at least one copy taken off in order to prepare the Fe de Erratas and the Suma de la Tassa. Shortly afterward it was published in Sevilla with a new Dedication. Four years later Pedro Patricio M6y of Valencia obtained possession of the Sevilla plates of the text, and of the Madrid preliminaries which apparently he copied in his own establishment. (Plates 12 and 13.) After this Tirso spent a year writing a very different kind of book, Deleytar aprovechando, which closes under date of Toledo, 26 de febrero, 1632, and soon after he obtained the first permission, although the book did not See page 2 of this book. »'« Modern Philology, X X X (1932-33), 97. 174

T H E FIVE

PARTES

61

appear until after the middle of 1636. T h e n he started to publish the second volume of comedias c o m m o n l y known as the tercera parte from a mistake on the title-page to which reference has been made in note 173. H e adopted the expedient, according to the Prologue, of having t h e m "recogidas" by a nephew, Francisco Lucas de Avila, and sent to the Kingdom of Aragón, where the work was scattered over three cities. T h e cost was borne by a mercader de libros in Zaragoza, one aprobación and licencia were obtained in Barcelona, and another of each in Tortosa, where the printing was done. It probably appeared during the first part of 1634 with at least four variants, which will be explained under Table III. From this time apparently no difficulty was experienced in publishing his books in Madrid, although it is curious that it took longer to bring out the semi-religious book Deleytar aprovechando than the comedias. Was it due to the fact that the nephew did not sponsor the former? TABLE III.

LOCATION OF COPIES

The following table lists all the copies of the five Partes which I have been able to trace, with the library where each is found.176 Note: The figure under each Parte indicates the number of copies in t h e library; S and V in column 1 refer to the Sevilla and Valencia editions; " n o t . " means the title page is lacking; M and U in column 3 indicate dedication to Monti and Urrea respectively. 176

This list includes only public libraries and according to the Union Catalogue of the Library of Congress, the Hispanic Society in New York is t h e only one in the U. S. which possesses a copy of any one of the Paries. Before such a table can be complete, reports must be obtained from all private libraries and the present location found of those to which references are made in catalogues and studies, e.g., the complete set owned by Temaux-Campans, referred to by Schack. Dr. R u t h Kennedy sent me the valuable reference to the Salvá set in Paris. Among the libraries that do not own Paries are t h e Biblioteca Nacional of Mexico and of Lisbon, l'Arsenal in Paris, the Public Library in Moscow and the Bodleian at Oxford. A copy of the second Parte minus three comedias and the entremeses was for sale by Gabriel Molina in the spring of 1934, but I have not been able to locate it.

62

TIRSO DE MOLINA Place

1st

2nd

Nac. 18185-9 " 18710-14 " 12141 " 23107 Paris (Rés. p. YG 21-25) " (YG 303) Berlin Vienna British Museum Brussels Freiburg Wolfenbiittel FU. Palacio Vatican Modena Hispanic Society

1V 1V

1 1

1 S

1

no t 1 S

1 no t 1 1 2 no t

no t (S)

1

3rd

4th

1 M 1 1 1 U, M 1 M no t 1 M 1 1 U 1 M 1 1 no t (M) 1 M 1 1 1 U 1 M 1 M no t no t 1 M 1 U 1

Sth 1 1

1 1 no t 1 1 no t 1

1 1

6

10

15

9

11

As may be seen from the above table, five complete sets of these Partes have been located, but only two are perfect. One of them, the "Salvá set of Partes (which belonged to Heber)" is in the Bibliothèque Nationale, at Paris. "It is a beautiful one bound in tan leather and having Salvá's coat of arms on it. The title pages are all there." The other formerly belonged to Agustín Durán and is now in the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid. Each volume is stamped with an oval seal bearing the words around the border, "B. N. Libreria del Excmo. S. D. Ag. Duran," and in the center, "Adquirido por el gobierno en 1863." The other set in the same library (R18710-14) lacks two plays in the first Parte—La villana de Vallecas and La Gallega Mari-Hernandez—a copy published by Piferrer in 1830 having been inserted in the place of the former, and one by Teresa de Guzmán, 1734, in place of the latter.177 The title-page is lacking in the first Parte of the 177 This set is probably the one referred to by Hartzenbusch in 1839: " D e las bibliotecas públicas de Madrid, sola en la Nacional hay una coleccion, ejemplar incompleto y estropeado que desaparecerá tal vez al menor descuido." Teatro escogido, ed., Yenes, II, 363, note.

THE FIVE

PARTES

63

set at Berlin and in the second, third, and fifth Partes of the one in Vienna. Two copies of the first Parte are of the Valencia edition and two of Sevilla. But although the title-page of the one in Freiburg is missing, Adolf Schaffer, to whom the book belonged, asserts that it is the Sevilla 1627 edition. The title-pages of the second, fourth, and fifth Partes are alike, but there are some curious variants in the so-called third. In the copy at Freiburg (plate 15) there appear the words " A DON IULIO M O N T I CAVAL L E R O M I L A N E S " and the dedication inside begins the same way with the additional phrase "vnico Patron del dueño deste libro." The second set in the Madrid library has a strange combination. The title-page is directed " A L E X C E L E N T I S S I M O SEÑOR DON A N T O N I O de Vrrea" but the dedication itself is exactly like the above, i.e., " A Don Iulio Monti, vnico patron, etc." The copy in the Vatican library (plate 16) has the same title page as this latter but the dedication, also directed to Urrea, is signed by Pedro Escuer, the publisher, and is entirely different from the one at Freiburg. 178 A slight variant is found in the one in Paris which places the number 7 0 ^ (pliegos) in the middle between the word Capitán and the plumes of the coat of arms. In the Urrea copies there is no line under the words " C O N L I C E N C I A " as there is in those dedicated to Monti. It would seem that Tirso dedicated the so-called tercera Parte to D. Julio Monti as the "vnico patron," t h a t later for some reason perhaps thinking it would sell better, the bookseller or publisher Pedro Escuer rededicated it to D. Antonio de Vrrea, Capitán General del Reyno de Cerdeña, and that some of these later books were put out with the old dedicatoria and some with a new one signed by Escuer himself. 178

The copies in Brussels and Paris have this same Dedicatoria. Cotarelo gives a detailed description of the preliminares as found probably in the Durán copy and publishes the greater part of the Dedicatoria "A. D. Julio Monti, caballero milanes, unico Patron del Dueño deste libro," but he makes no reference to the dedication to Antonio de Vrrea. See pages 100-101 of this book for a copy of the latter according to the tercera Parte found in the library at Brussels.

64

TIRSO D E

MOLINA

T A B L E IV. R E P R I N T I N G OF PLAYS F R O M PARTES The following lists give an idea of the periods when the Partes were known, and of the editors and publishers who made use of them. Tirso claims only four of the twelve plays in the second Parte as his own: the T in the last three columns denotes those which Hartzenbusch and Cotarelo selected; Schack agrees with Hartzenbusch; the Roman numerals indicate volume of set; B.A.E. is the abbreviation for Biblioteca de Autores Españoles (volume V) edited by Hartzenbusch, and N.B.A.E. for Nueva Biblioteca de Autores Españoles (volumes 4 and 9) edited by Cotarelo. Primera Parte Titira of playa

Palabras y Plumas El Pretendiente al reves El Arbol del mejor fruto La Villana de Vallecas El Melancólico El Mayor Desengaño El Castigo del Penseque Segunda parte del Penseque La Gallega Mari-Hernandez Tanto es lo de m>m como lo de menos La Zelosa de si misma Amar por razón de Estado

Guzmán 1733-36

Ortega 1825-34

B.A.E. 18»8

Durán 1834

Hart. 1839-Í2

X

X X

II VIII

X

X

VI IX

X

X

X

V V IV

X

X

II VI

N B.A.E. 1906-07

X

I

X X

I I X X

I II

X

Segunda Parte Titles of playa

La Reina de los Reyes Amor, y zelos hazen discretos Quien habló pagó Siempre ayuda la verdad Los amantes de Teruel Por el sotano, y el torno Cautela contra cautela La muger por fuerza El condenado por desconfiado Primera parte de don Aluaro de Luna Segunda parte de don Aluaro de Luna Esto si que es negociar

Guzmán 1733-36

Ortega 1826-34

Durán 1834

Hart. 1839-42

B.A.E. 1848

N.B.A.E. 1906-07

I I T

xT

T II I

X

I

X T

xT

T

X

II

I T XI T

xT I I

X

IX T

xT

T

T H E F I V E PARTES Tercera T i t l e s of p l a y a

Del enemigo el primer consejo No ay peor sordo La mejor espigadera Auerigüelo Vargas La elecion por la virtud Ventura te de Dios hijo La prudencia en la muger La venganza de Tamar La villana de la Sagra El amor, y el amistad La fingida Arcadia La huerta de luán Hernández

Privar contra su gusto Zelos con zelos se curan La muger que manda en casa Antona García El amor Medico Doña Beatriz de Silva Todo es dar en una cosa Amazonas en las Indias La lealtad contra la embidia La Peña de Francia Santo y Sastre Don Gil de las caigas verdes

Ortega 1826-34

X

III

Amar por arte mayor Escarmientos para el cuerdo Los Lagos de san Vicente El Aquiles Marta la piadosa Quien no cae, no se levanta La República al rebes La vida y muerte de Herodes La Dama del Olivar Primera parte de Santa Juana Segunda parte de Santa Juana

Durán 1834

Hart 1839-12

B .4 E. 1848

XI IV

X

VII

X

N B A.B. 1906-07

X

II

X X X

III

II

III VI X I IV

II

V

X X

X

X X

I I X

I X X

I

Guzmán 1733-36

X

X

Parte Ortega 1826-34

Durán 1834

Hart. 1839-12

II IX

X

I

B.A.E. 1848

I I VII

X

X

I I I I I I

IV

X X X

X

I

Ortega 1826-34

X

III

X

III

X

Hart. 1839-42

B.A.E. 1848

XI

X

Parte

Guzmán 1733-36

X

B.A.E. 1906-07

X

X X

y

X

X

Quinta T i t l e s oí p l a y a

Parte

Guzmán 1733-36

Cuarta T i t l e s of p l a y a

65

Durán 1834

AT B . A . E . 1906-07

II II II I

X

II II II II II II

66

TIRSO DE MOLINA

Among the various references to Tirso de Molina and his works during the seventeenth century, the only mention I have found of the Partes is that in the Bibliotheca Hisp. Nova by Nicolás Antonio in 1672, where he gives the titles of the plays in the first Parte, mentions the second, and gives the generally accepted date for the third, the last two being entirely omitted. By the second quarter of the next century (about one hundred years after their first publication) all the five Partes seem to have been found. Judging by the references, the editors of the Diccionario de autoridades (1726-1739) must have known of at least the first and third.179 But between 1733 and 1736 Doña Teresa de Guzmán published thirtythree of Tirso's plays, of which twenty-nine were taken from the Partes—six from the first, one from the second, eight from the third, eleven from the fourth, and three from the fifth. At the same time (1735) los herederos de Francisco Medel printed in the Catálogo, commonly known as that of Medel, the titles of all the comedias contained in the five Partes with the exception of El condenado por desconfiado in the second. Why this was omitted I do not know. The Guzmán edition was that ordinarily used during the next hundred years. In 1769 J. A. Dieze translated the Orígenes de la poesía castellana, published by J. A. Velazquez in 1754, and in a note refers to Tirso de Molina "von dem man 5 Bände en 4, hat." 180 But in 1786 C. F. Blankenberg, in notes to J. G. Sulzer's Allgemeine Theorie der Schönen Künste, says: "Ob Sammlungen davon vorhanden sind, weiss ich nicht." 181 And in 1790 Alvarez y Baena in Hijos de Madrid makes no reference to the fourth and fifth Partes.1*2 Apparently he copied Nicolás Antonio without paying any attention to the additional data acquired during the cenm

See page 6 of this book. See footnote 29. 181 See page 12 of this book. "»See footnote 152.

1M

THE FIVE

PARTES

67

tury. Bouterwek in 1804 says he knew of the existence of the Quinta Parted The refundiciones of this period and the first quarter of the nineteenth century were probably made from the Guzmán edition, and there is no reason to suppose that the Partes were used either by the actors or the critics. To Agustín Durán is due the honor of really making the nineteenth century acquainted with the Partes. He was one of the editors of a collection of plays entitled Coleccion general de comedias escogidas del teatro antiguo nacional, published by Ortega y Cia., 1826-1834.184 This includes fourteen of Tirso's plays, eleven of which are from the Partes, and since three had not been reprinted before (unless in unknown sueltas) at least the second and third Partes must have been used. In the same year that the last volume appeared he published under his own name as editor, Talia española with three comedias taken from the first and third Partes, which follow the original much more closely than the Ortega edition or than those published later by Hartzenbusch. This was the first volume of a series which for some reason he was unable to finish.185 He and Hartzenbusch were the directors of the Teatro antiguo de Tirso de Molina, one of the three sections of the Galería dramática—the edition commonly known as t h a t of Yenes.186 He is perhaps the only Spaniard who collected all five Partes (Table III) to which Hartzenbusch refers in the Prólogo of the B.A.E. edition (page v). It may be noted here that according to the data collected in this Table, Spain possesses two complete sets and six odd volumes, i.e., sixteen volumes—all in Madrid; and Germany is second with a complete set in Berlin and six odd volumes in Freiburg and Wolfenbüttel, eleven in all. These two countries 1M

See footnote 50. Manuel García Suelto and Eduardo de Gorostiza were the other two editors. R. Foulché-Delbosc, Manuel de 1'hispanizará, II, 94. IM Teatro escogido de Fray Gabriel Tellez, edition Yenes, 1834, I, p. iv. 186 Page 38 of this book. 194

68

TIRSO DE MOLINA

have more than half of the known copies of the Partes. A comparative study of the interest shown in Tirso in foreign countries would be valuable both from a historical and literary point of view, but has not been attempted here. When Ticknor published the first edition of his Literature in 1849, he said that he had "never seen but four" of the Partes; in the third edition (1864), however, the note is changed to the effect that he had seen only one complete set and that in Vienna.187 He was in Spain in 1818 for the first and only time, but did not go to Vienna until 1856.188 Grimaud and Ochoa did not use the Partes,189 and as a rule editions since 1848, including the translation into Italian by Cecilia and one into French by Royer, followed the text of the B.A.E. edition edited by Hartzenbusch.190 However, during the twentieth century, there has been a return to the study of the Partes. In 1906-07 Cotarelo published in the N.B.A.E. all the plays that Hartzenbusch did not include in the B.A.E. whether written wholly or in part by Tirso. B. P. Bourland in 1901 used the fourth Parte for his edition of D. Gil de las calzas verdes,m Adolfo Bonilla y San Martin the first of 1631 with emendations >" First edition, II, 309, footnote; third edition, II, 324, footnote. George Ticknor, Letters to Pascual de Gayangos, edited by Clara Louisa Penney, New York, 1927, Introduction, pp. xxx, xxxix-xl, 273. 1,8 Teatro antiguo espafiol, D. F. Grimaud de Velaunde. Madrid, 1837. Tesoro del teatro espafiol, Paris, Eugenio de Ochoa, 1838. 1 , 0 This volume has been through seven editions as follows: 188

segunda edición segunda " segunda " cuarta " quinta " sexta " séptima "

Madrid, " , " , " , " , " , " , " ,

1848 1850 1857 1866 1903 1910 1917 1924

(Boston Pub. Lib., A.H.B.) (Columbia, N. Y. Public, Gottingen, México) (Yale, Moscow) (Gottingen) (Yale) (Wellesley) (Middlebury) (Brown)

These data were found when looking for other material. The second edition seems to have been the favorite as it was issued several different years, while so far, I have found no copies of the third. 1,1 Don Gil de las Calzas Verdes comedia en tres ados y en verso por Fray Gabriel Tdllez (el Maestro Tirso de Molina), edited with an introduction, notes and vocabulary by Benjamin Parsons Bourland, Ph.D., New York, 1901.

THE FIVE

PARTES

69 192

from Hartzenbusch for the text of La villana de Vallecas, and William McFadden the third for La prudencia en la mujer.193 Sherman W. Brown bases his critical notes of La villana de Vallecas on the first Parte, Seville 1627, with "some of Hartzenbusch's changes." 194 Undoubtedly there are others t h a t have not come to my notice. Before this history can be considered at all complete, it will be necessary to compare manuscript copies, sueltas, and editions and translations published in foreign countries with the Partes and the Guzmán edition. At present the deduction to be made is t h a t the Partes were used during the fourth decade of the eighteenth century and the second quarter of the nineteenth and are taken for granted as necessary for the critical work in the twentieth. m La villana de Vallecas comedia famosa del Maestro Tirso de Molina, publícala Adolfo Bonilla y San Martín, Madrid, 1916. "» Liverpool, Bulletin of Spanish Studies, 1933. 1,4 "La villana de Vallecas of Tirso de Molina," an edition with introduction and notes. Dissertation, University of Chicago, 1933. In lithograph form, without text, found in university libraries. He proves that the text of the Seville 1627 edition is identical with that of Valencia, 1631 (page 83).

V

THE GUZMAN EDITION OF TIRSO DE MOLINA'S COMEDIAS195

T

wo hundred years after the banishment of Tirso de

Molina from Madrid and the resulting discontinuance of his writing for the theatre, he reached the pinnacle of his popularity—his name was the most potent means of filling the theatre, the first of the numerous modern editions of his plays was published, and even the critics became aware of his existence. In the period between Neo-classicism and Romanticism, it was he who was the great attraction in the field of drama. But in the eighteenth century, just one hundred years after the "sobrino" Lucas de Avila published the last four Partes, there is another short time which is worthy of consideration, although from a different point of view. Apparently the great dramatist's plays were not presented and the critics did not even trouble themselves to attack him as they did Lope and Calderón, but many of his comedias were published and advertised to an extent that would justify the conclusion that he was at least read. Two points, however, must be borne in mind as showing the lack of interest in his works and even of the knowledge of his existence during the preceding years. Aside from the dramas published in the Gran colección and the biographical notice given by Nicolás Antonio, there are only the briefest references to him for seventy-five years after his death. One of the results of the accession of a Bourbon to the Spanish throne was the founding of the Real Academia Española and the publication of the Diccionario de autoridades, 1726-1739. In the lists of "autores eligidos" given '"Revised and reprinted by permission from Hispanic Review, Vol. V. No. 1, January, 1937. 70

T H E GUZMÂN

EDITION

71

in e a c h of the six volumes, Tirso's name does not once appear, b u t under the heading "Explicación de abreviat u r a s " are found in the third volume (1732) the words " M o l i n . Com. . . . Tirso de Molina: C o m e d i a s ; " in the fourth (1734) " M o l i n . Com. . . . T h y s o de M o l i n a : Sus C o m e d i a s ; " and at least t w o quotations from comedias t a k e n from the first Parte—De (sic) tanto es lo demás and La zelosa de si misma. In the last two volumes he is again ignored. In 1735, however, a very important bibliography of the theatre appeared. This was the one generally k n o w n as the Indice de Medel,™ although published by his herederos. Under date of D e c . 20, 1735, the Gaceta contained the following a n n o u n c e m e n t : El Indice General de los Títulos de Comedias y Autos Sacramentales, alegóricos y al Nacimiento que se han escrito por varios Autores antiguos y modernos. Libreria de los Herederos de Francisco Medel, frente de San Phelipe. I n 1750 M o n t i a n o described the book as follows: E n el año 1735 imprimieron con esta confusión [comedias and tragediaslos herederos de Francisco Medel, curioso mercader de libros de esta Corte, un Indice de 4409 Comedias: entre las cuales, y otro mayor numero que no están inclusas y andan en varias listas, que he logrado ver manuscritas se halla una cantidad exorbitante de las que quedan indicadas en este Discurso. 197 In 1785 García de la Huerta mentioned the Indice and referred t o Medel as a "Mercader de Libros y Comerciante en Comedias." 198 La Barrera says, among other things, Es precioso . . . como catálogo de librería, demostrando la existencia en aquella fecha de algunas exquisitas piezas dramáticas, sin duda manuscritas, que después han desaparecido, y evidenciando el abundante caudal de este género de libros que aun poseíamos en España. 199 1,8

See footnote 9. Agustín Montiano, Primer discurso sobre las tragedias Madrid, 1750, pp. 75-76. 198 Theatro Hespañol. Prólogo, p. iii. Catálogo, p. xi. 1,7

españolas,

72

TIRSO DE MOLINA

I t is possible as t h e title seems to imply, and La Barrera believed, t h a t this was a catalogue of the plays for sale, but it seems more probable t h a t it was a reference list of titles gathered f r o m different sources and to which, as Montiano said, he could add others. T h e number is almost unbelievably large to have been on sale in one bookstore. I n the case of Tirso it would mean copies of all five Partes, the Cigarrales, at least six different years of the Gran colección, and a number of plays which we now possess only in manuscript form. I n several cases the same play is mentioned under two or more different titles or subtitles. But whatever m a y have been the purpose of the Indice, it certainly indicates a great and apparently sudden interest in the works of Tirso and of other dramatists of the previous centuries on the p a r t , not of an Académico, but of a Mercader de Libros. However, the n a m e most closely connected with the publication of the comedias of Tirso de Molina is t h a t of Doña Teresa de Guzmán, who during the years 1733 1736 or 1737 bore t h e cost of at least thirty-three comedias and probably one auto, all in the form of sueltas. Nothing is known a b o u t her except what is found in the privilegios and announcements at the end of each play. From these we gather t h a t she had a Lonja de Comedias in the P u e r t a del Sol where were t o be found " m u c h o s entremeses, Relaciones y mas de seiscientos titulos de surtimiento de Comedias." She h a d permission to print not only the comedia mentioned in each case b u t also " l a s demás comedias y obras de este A u t o r , " and usually the Privilegio extended the time to ten years, although in the case of the first play, Amar por señas, it is limited to " u n a vez." Of these six h u n d r e d títulos which she h a d in stock a list of somewhat less t h a n a t e n t h is found in Lope de Vega's La batalla del honor 200 announced in the Gaceta of Dec. 13, 1735. This reads as follows: 100 This announcement was called to my attention by Dr. W. L. Fichter of Brown University and will be considered the basis for plays published by Teresa de Guzmán.

THE

GUZMÂN

EDITION

73

Las comedias que se han impresso nuevamente, y se hallaran en dicha Lonja de Comedias, son las siguientes. DEL

MAESTRO

TIRSO

DE

MOLINA

TOMO PRIMERO

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

El Castigo del Pense que. Primera Parte El Castigo del Pense que. Segunda P a r t e Zelos con Zelos se curan El Amor medico Como han de ser los amigos Don Gil de las calzas verdes Esto si que es negociar El Amor, y la Amistad El Zeloso prudente La República al Reves La Villana de la Sagra Amar por Señas TOMO SEGUNDO

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

El Vergonzoso en palacio Ventura te de Dios, hijo Amar por razón de estado El Pretendiente al reves El Petimetre con Palabras, y plumas No hay peor Sordo que el que no quiere oir Maria Hernández la Gallega La Beata enamorada La Muger que manda en casa La Prudencia en la mujer Del mal el menos, y averigüelo Vargas Privar contra su gusto TOMO

1. 2. 3. 4.

TERCERO

Favorecer a todos, y amar a ninguno La Nuera mas leal, y mejor Espigadera La Elección por la Virtud, Sixto Quinto Todo es dar en una cosa. Primera parte de los hechos de los Pizarros 5. Amazonas en las Indias. Segunda parte de los hechos de los Pizarros

74

TIRSO

DE

MOLINA

6. La lealtad contra la embidia. Tercera parte de los hechos de los Pizarro8 7. La Peña de Francia y traición descubierta 8. Escarmientos para el cuerdo 9. El Assombro de Portugal la heroica Antona Garcia DE

DON

JUAN

RUIZ

DE

ALABCON

Examen de Maridos Lo que mucho vale mucho cuesta en Ganar Amigos La Prueba de las Promesas La crueldad por el Honor Los Empeños de un Engaño Los Pechos privilegiados DE

LOPE

DE

VEGA

El hombre de bien El Amigo por Fuerza La Obediencia laureada La Batalla del Honor DE

VARIOS

AUTORES

La Lindona de Galicia. Montalvan El Castigo de la Miseria. Hoz Estragos de Odio y Amor. Un Ingenio The latest announcement in the Gaceta for any of these plays is Jan. 15, 1737, La Crueldad por el Honor by Alarcón, of which there is a short criticism in vol. I of the Diario de los Literatos of that year, but three comedias by Lope were advertised a year later: El marido bien ahorcado . .Jan. 7, 1738 La Boba discreta Jan. 28, 1738 La dama melindrosa Feb. 4, 1738 Two earlier plays omitted from the list but mentioned in the Gaceta are Mentir y mudarse a un tiempo by Diego y Joseph Figueroa y Cordova, Dec. 21, 1734, and Tirso's auto, El colmenero divino, Feb. 21, 1736. This makes the whole number only fifty comedias and one auto, but un-

T H E GUZMAN EDITION

75

doubtedly m a n y more can be found among the thousands of sueltas in public and private libraries. After 1738 no reference to Doña Teresa de Guzmán has been found for a hundred years, and only one t h a t might possibly refer to her Lonja, b u t in 1834 D . Agustín D u r á n , referring to La prudencia en la muger, writes: " Y o no he visto otra reimpresión de dicho drama que la que hizo Doña Teresa de Guzman a principios del siglo X V I I I , " and in the Observaciones at the end of El -pretendiente al revés he says: He visto una reimpresión de este drama . . . y otra hecha a principios del siglo XVII (sic) por Doña Teresa de Guzman. . . . Ambas están llenas de erratas, faltas de sentido y en fin de supresiones imperdonables.201 Hartzenbusch, in 1848, says t h a t " p o r los años de 1734 reimprimió D o ñ a Teresa de Guzman una porcion de ellas." 202 I n 1860 La Barrera has a word of commendation for her, " P o r los años de 1734 al 36 se reimprimió en M a d r i d con b a s t a n t e esmero, considerable número de ellas doña Teresa de G u z m a n . " 203 Menéndez y Pelayo's words are even stronger: Sin el buen gusto y el celo patriótico de una Da. Teresa de Guzmán, que a principios del siglo pasado tenía lonja de libros en la Puerta del Sol y que a su costa reimprimió con cierto esmero . . . un número bastante crecido de comedias del ingeniosísimo fraile, a quien llamaba Maestro de las Ciencias, hubiéramos creído que el siglo XVIII había ignorado hasta la existencia de Tirso.104 And later referring to her he says, " q u e . . . había renovado la buena memoria de Tirso y Alarcón, reimprimiendo con b a s t a n t e esmero algunas de sus comedias, m u y raras y a . " 205 Doña Blanca de los Ríos mentions her " m o d e s t a M1

Talla española, pp. 48, 126. Comedias, p. xliv. "» Catálogo, p. 387. ** Menéndez y Pelayo, Estudios de crítica literaria, II (1895), 133. »• Ideas estéticas, V (1903), 153. m

76

TIRSO D E MOLINA 206

reimpresión" and Cotarelo seems to limit her work to the five Partes: Por los años de 1733 y 34 reimprimió algunas de las que figuraban en los cinco tomos legítimos cierta Da. Teresa de Guzmán, que tenía lonja de comedias en la Puerta del Sol; pero no dió ninguna nueva porque no las conocía.207

In his bibliography of the comedias Cotarelo mentions the Guzmán edition, whenever known, usually with a few wrords of characterization, but the dates (except those mentioned in the following paragraph) vary from " a principios del siglo XVIII," "tercera decena del siglo X V I I I " to "hacia 1733" and "hacia 1734." In the above quotations the uncertainty in regard to the date of publication is decidedly noticeable. This is not strange, as in only five of the thirty-three plays is the year given—two appear the last of 1733 and three the first part of 1734. Now, however, Professor Coe of Wellesley College, in her investigation of the announcements of comedias in the Madrid periodicals, has ascertained not only the year but also the month when thirty-one of the thirty-three plays of this edition were placed on sale.208 In the following table these thirty-one plays are arranged in chronological order according to the date of their announcement in the Gaceta, and their characteristics are summarized. The title is that used in the original source indicated in the third column, in which the numbers refer to the different Partes. The abbreviation Cig. signifies t h e Cigarrales

de Toledo,

a n d G. C., Gran colección.

The

few dates found in the plays under Fe de erratas are placed in the fourth column, and the date of publication of the Gaceta in the fifth. In each case the difference is explainable as the amount of time which would riaturally elapse between the work of the proof reader and the announce,M Blanca de los Ríos de Lampérez, Tirso de Molina, Conferencia, Madrid, 1906, p. 10. Also El Siglo de oro, Madrid, 1910, p. 8. 107 Comedias, I, p. lxxiv. ** See footnote 37.

77

T H E GUZMÂN EDITION

ment. The characterization of the play as comedia famosa or sinfama is noted and also the number which is found in many of them, usually in the upper right-hand corner of the first page. In the last column is indicated the order of the play in the preceding list from La batalla del honor, and also (except Antona Garcia) in the three bound volumes in Paris to be explained later. Source 1. A m a r por aeflas 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

E l a m o r medico Zeloe con zelof» se curan L a villana de la sagra E e t o , si que es negociar I-a república al revea Don Gil de las calzas verdea. . . El teloeo prudente C o m o han de ser loe amigoe . . E l amor y el amistad E l castigo del pense que (segunda p a r t e )

C..C 1667 4 4 3 2 5 4 Ok. Ci*. 3 1 1

13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24.

M a r t a la piadosa V e n t u r a te de Dios, h i j o I>a gallega M a r i - H e r n a n d e z No c a y peor sordo E l vergonzoso en palacio A m a r por razón de estado E l pretendiente al reves P a l a b r a s y plumas L a muger que manda en cae&. . L a prudencia en la muger Averigüelo Vargas P r i v a r contra eu gusto

5 3 1 3 Cig. 1 1 1 4 3 3 4

25. 2tj. 27. 28. 29.

D o ñ a B e a t r i z de Silva T o d o es dar en una cosa Amazonas en las Indias L a lealtad contra la e n v i d i a . . . . E s c a r m i e n t o « para el cuerdo. .

4 4 4 4 5

30. 31. 32. 33.

Elección por la virtud L a Pefia de F r a n c i a L a m e j o r espigadera Antona García

3 4 3 4

Date

Date

pia]/

26 oct. 1733

14 die. 1733 26 en. 1734 29 en. 1734

26 feb. 1734

3 nov.

Qaeeia

1733 8-f.

Vol. 1 100

12

99 82 18 92

1 8 15 22 29 5 19 2 9 23

die. die. die. die. die. en. en. feb. feb. feb.

1733 1733 1733 1733 1733 1734 1734 1734 1734 1734

.i f. s.f. s.f. s.f. s.f. s.f. s.f. s.f. s.f.

2 2 27 4 11 11 20 11 18 25 8 22

mar. mar. abr. mayo mayo jul. sep. oct. oct. oct. nov. nov.

1734 1734 1734 1734 1734 1735 1735 1735 1735 1735 1735 1735

s.f. fam. fam. s.f. s.f. s.f. s.f. fam. fam. fam. fam. fam.

29 17 24 31 6 13 10 23

nov. en. en. en. mar. mar. abr. oct.

1735 1736 1736 1736 1736 1736 1736 1736

fam. fam. fam. fam. fam.

4 3 11 7 10 6 9 5 8 1 2 Vol. t 8 2 7 6 1 3 4 5 9 10 11 12 Vol. S 1 4 5 6 8

fam. fam. fam. fam.

3 7 2 9

93 91 97 97 98 90 95 77 92 96 65

The Gaceta adds an important note after number 24, Privar contra su gusto, " q u e compléta el segundo tomo del Maestro Tirso de M o l i n a . " This corresponds to the division of the plays into three tomos in the list already cited from Lope's comedia. So far as I know there is only one set of these three volumes—that found in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris ( Y g 304, 305, 306). The first two volumes are also in the Biblioteca del Palacio, Madrid. Apparently after twelve plays had appeared as sueltas,

78

TIRSO DE MOLINA

they were gathered up regardless of order of publication and bound together with title-page (plate 19) and table of contents added. I have found no explanation for the order followed, but there seems to have been one, for the two sets and the advertised list are practically alike in this respect. The date is 1734 and the words parte primer a, as well as the fact that play number 13 was announced one week after number 12, would indicate the intention to print a series. Five comedias follow in a short time, and then there is a lapse of over a year before number 18 is listed in the Gaceta, July 1735. The last of the second set is announced Nov. 22, 1735, and these twelve sueltas are also bound together with table of contents and title-page (plate 20) as segunda parte under date of 1736. The printed tables of contents in the two volumes and the advertising list agree also in this case, but in the copy at the Biblioteca del Palacio two other plays have been bound with the original twelve and the titles written in by hand. One of these is Las Amazonas en las Indias y hazanas de los Pizarros, which is number 5 in the tomo tercero in the advertising list and the Paris set. The other is Anlona Garcia,209 which appeared also under the heading tomo tercero in the list under a lengthened title, but is omitted entirely from the copy in Paris. The third volume of the set found only in Paris was for some reason not completed. It contains seven comedias advertised in the Gaceta, one of them Escarmientos para el cuerdo on two different dates and another La mejor espigadera not announced so far as can be found. These are the same in the advertising list, but the latter has a ninth, El assombro de Portugal, la heroica Antona Garcia, which does not appear in the former. Its place is taken •by the auto, El colmenero divino, advertised Feb. 21, 1736, and the comedia, El burlador de Sevilla, which has no connection with the Lonja of Dona Teresa de Guzmdn. It was published in Sevilla by the viuda de Francisco de Leefdael ** See pp. 90-92 for details in regard to this play.

THE GUZMAN EDITION

79

210

without date. It is curious that the list of titles of the comedias (sueltas) at the R. Biblioteca Estense di Modena corresponds exactly with those of the three volumes at Paris. The only difference is that the copy of El burlador was published by Pedro Escuder at Barcelona. Both title-pages (plates 19 and 20) indicate there was considerable sale for Tirso's plays since a "tercera impressión" was needed, perhaps especially made for the series of bound volumes. This supposition is strengthened by the fact that numerous copies of the Guzmán sueltas are to be found in the European libraries and even in this country, 211 and may explain the apparent discrepancy between the date of La batalla del honor, Dec. 1735, and those of several of the plays advertised in it. Not all of the copies of this play contain the list. An early edition was probably noted in the Gaceta, and a later one ("tercera impressión") contains the list up to 1737. Copies of the latter are found in Gottingen, Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, and Ticknor Library, Boston (G 3353.7). The second volume (segunda parte) refers to the author in a strange way—"Maestro de las Ciencias Don Miguel Tirso de Molina." The title given the author may have been taken from the play Palabras y plumas in this volume, but I have found no other place where the name Miguel is used.212 110

Cotarelo (Comedias, II, p. vii) says "hacia 1735." Marcelino Gutiérrez del Cano gives date of Viuda de Francisco Leefdael as 1729-1733. " Ensayo de un catálogo de impresores españoles," Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos, 1900, IV, 670. ,u For example, the Ticknor Collection in the Boston Public Library contains all but two (No hay peor sordo and Aniona Garcia) of the thirty-three comedias, and of many of them there are two or even three copies. m In connection with this, it is interesting to note that in the first volume of the Diccionario de autoridades published in 1726, Miguel de Cervantes is credited with the play La -prudencia en la muger. Hartzenbusch must have had access to the set of bound volumes or to some suelta now forgotten, as he saya in referring to the Guzmán edition (Comedias, p. xlii): " En aquella colección se da a Fray Gabriel Téllez el nombre de Don Miguel Tirso de Molina y el titulo de Maestro de las Ciencias." La Barrera, as has been noted, is the only critic who uses the date 1736, and this does not appear in the sueltas, but only on the title-page of the second bound volume.

80

TIRSO DE MOLINA

The following table shows at a glance the sources of the thirty-three comedias: Original parie* Tomo*

I II ni Totals..

O.C.

Cíe.

Total

1 1 1

1

2 1

12 12 9

3

1

3

33

1

2

3


:\ * ' Í ' '•(• i i : i • « • „. s ,s ¿ U * ~ • " ~ V •»; » ,> !,;( M- 7 . " ,'.«. > r v « \ -y '•>?':=•,S: S' V i Í Aa^'Sv/H-V^ÌVvV'• *¡V-'. • Csvs^. J, ^ "Sf&'j 9 9 ».& 9 jt:9'9'&'è 99'» »

COMEDIA VA M OSA, LA P R V D E N C I A E N L A M V G E R. P E R S O N A S mtftfnriqut. ¿ • li .i«. Don nieçû. Cirri lo truie, Dim I. >•%•¿ra. berrocal pui or. Torli ifiop.;¡tá>, Kiji'O pajtvr. Cri¿¿¡>iapajiord.

PRIMERA.

Saie don Enrique, Ivr.

Q Era la vj'u_'a Reyna cfpofa m i i , i 3 h.an, Uun, La R e y na ¡ y la C o i o u a p r r t c n c c c

Tercera

Parte

Biblioteca Nacional, M a d r i d

PLATE

2

La venganza de Taroar. don D i í g o h a z e d que fe prenda don Enrique, y los demás. 1>(d.El temor fio a'as huela, a Aragón los tres h u y e r o n del r i g c r de vucftra Aiteza. jjry.Hazed madre de d o n luán lo quequifiercdes.Kc, Sepa E f p a ñ a que foy clemente, y que el valor no fe venga, dtÓietrolo d t f t o s Reynos* y fus eftados.y hazier.áa en l o s d o s Ca'suaia'.es (hijo con vutftra licencia)

i8p

y en Venauides r e p a r t o , JDíí.Merecelo fu nobleza. Rcj. D i g n a m e n t e en fu lealtad quaiquiet.i merced fe emplea, y vueihaA l t c z a í e ñ o r a con lu v i d a i l i u ü r e c n f c ú a que ay muyeres en Efpaña con valor,y con prudencia, Dic.De los d o s Catauajales con la íegutida Comedia T i r f o Senado os combida íiha íido a vueitrogüitocfta.

Fin de Id Ccmdia.

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COMEDIA FAMOSA.

L A P R U D E xN C I A EN LA M Ü G E R . D E L

MAESTRO

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PERSONAS t)oH Enrique. Don Juan. Do» Diega. Carrillo Crudi, Di» Luis. Un Majordomi» Dm Nmb».

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§ Din Melende. ¡r x El Rey de 17. anet; ^ Garrote Paflor. § La Reyna Doña Marta. § & El R') Fernando Ouarto. D,'eg.Demc

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3 .Vivas eternas edades.

R í y . ' . ' o r q u e el M u n d o a d m i r e e n El,ytt,¿os.

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y mas lerfeguida

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Reina.

Con Ucencia: En Sevilla, en la Imprenta de MANUEL NICOLAS V A Z Q U E Z , en Calle de Genova: donde se vende todo genero de Surtimiento de Comedias, Relaciones^ Entremescsj y Romances, Refundición

by Segura

Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid

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M a n u s c r i p t copy of Segura's

refundición

Biblioteca Municipal, Madrid

Pl.ATK O

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Manuscript copy of Segura's

refundición

Lists of actors 1785 and 1787

I'LVTE

10

Manuscript copy of Segura's List of actors 1803

refundición

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