Dramatic Treatments of the Conde Alarcos Theme through Jacinto Grau

Abstract

The Spanish ballad, Romance del Conde Alarcos y de la Infanta Solisa, has been a source of dramatic material from the Siglo de Oro comedial down to the contemporary theater. Although the theme is Spanish in origin, its theatrical adaptations have been performed in such diverse places as the court of the Sultan of Constantinople, the stage of Goethe's theater at Weimar, the Astley's Theatre Royal in London, the Tac6n Theater in Havana, L'Atelier Theater in Paris, and the Municipal Theater of Prague.2 Such well-known men as Lope de Vega, Guillin de Castro, Mira de Amescua, Goethe, Friedrich Schlegel, and Disraeli are all involved in the dramatic history of this theme. For some, its theatrical presentation was an unqualified success; for others, it brought only failure and bitter disappointment. 3 The recent interpretation of the ballad is that of Jacinto Grau, written in 1907, and performed in Madrid in 1919, at the Teatro de la Princesa. In the prologue of El Conde Alarcos, Grau mentions his awareness of the previous versions of Lope de Vega, Guill'n de Castro, Mira de Amescua, Jose Jacinto Milan6s, and Schlegel.4 He does not state, however, whether his version was influenced by any of these, and the present study attempts to determine to what extent, if any, they served as a source of influence. The romance itself, which has been called one of the most beautiful and tender ballads in any language,5 recounts how the Conde Alarcos, although now married and the father of children, is forced by the King to murder his wife and fulfill a prior promise of marriage to the Infanta. As Alarcos' wife dies, however, she makes a dire prophecy of divine retribution upon the guilty parties, and within thirty days the King, the Infanta and Alarcos are all dead, having been summoned away for sentencing before God's judgment throne.6 There are four Siglo de Oro adaptations, not three as Grau mentions: Lope de Vega's La Fuerza lastimosa, Perez de Montalbin's El Valor perseguido y traici6n vengada, Guillen de Castro's El Conde Alarcos, and Mira de Amescua's El Conde Alarcos. That Grau fails to mention the comedia attributd to Lope's biographer, Perez de Montalbin, may be only a reflection of his judgment about a very inferior reworking of Lope's play.7 All four of these dramatists, who were contemporaries, follow the aesthetic tastes of the Siglo de Oro and reflect a common approach to the dramatization of the Alarcos theme. Specifically, they follow Lope's concept of ponga el casos as constituting the sum and substance of Act I. Each playwright devotes the first act to the creation of a fictional background for the wellknown opening lines of the romance: