To theNewWorldandBack:Another Sourcefor Antonio Joséda Suva'sLabirinto deCreta JULIET PERKINS During1736,withthepublicationof the secondvolumeof Bernardo Gomesde Brito'sHistóriaTrágico-Marítima, Lisbon'sreading publicwas vicariously reliving thetragic fateofshipwreck victims ofthesixteenth and seventeenth centuries.1 Thepopularity ofthese narratives, reprints ofthose originally published inpamphlet form atthetimeofthedisasters, wasnot lostonAntonio Joséda Silva,thedramatist andlibrettist. Whenthecurtain rose,in November thatyear,on hispuppetoperaLabirinto de Creta,it was upona coastalscenewitha storm-tossed fleet intheoffing. Ontothe beachcrawltheheroTheseusandhisservant, whosurvive theshipwreck onlytodiscover thatthey havebeenwashedupontheislandofCrete, their destination andtheir fateunchanged. This original openingto themythic episodeofTheseusin theCretan labyrinth istypical ofda Suva'stalent toamuse,andofhisage.Likemany dramatists intheseventeenth andeighteenth centuries, theliberties hetook withclassicalmyths, grafting on sub-plots andextraneous episodes,were entirely intunewiththeconventions and convolutions ofthecomedyof intrigue.2 On theone hand,Spanishtheatre withitswealthofcape-andsword plays undoubtedly providedthe thematicsource of his comic operas.3On theotherhand,his workas an artistic whole reflects the oscillation tobefound inearly eighteenth-century Lisbonbetween Spanish and Italianmodelsin musicaltheatre.4 Foritshouldbe stressed thatda Silvawrote librettos. Although thedialogueofhisoperasisspoken, thisin nowaynegates their developing autonomy from Spanishtheatre, thelatter at thattimewithitsown blurredboundariesbetweencomedia,fiesta, zarzuelaandopera.5 1See The TragicHistoryoftheSea 1589-1622,ed. byC. R. Boxer (Cambridge:The Hakluyt SocietyattheUniversity Press,1959),pp. v-vi. * Or theeightoperasbyda Silva,hrst performed intheyears1733-38 intheBairroAltotheatre, onlytwoarenotsetintheclassicalworld. JAs discussedbyJoseOliveira Barata, Historiado teatroem Portugal[bec. XVlll) Antonio Joséda Silva (O Judeu)no Palco Joanino(Lisbon:Difel,1998);see pp. 100-07,on thematter of Spanishsources,especiallypp. 185-221 fora detailedsurveyof Lope's and Calderóni theatre and theirrelationtoda Silva. 4 This argument willbe setout inan introductory essayto myEnglishtranslation ofLabirinto de Creta(nowinpreparation). 3 See JackSage, 'Zarzuela , in New GroveDictionaryofMusic and Musicians,ed. byStanley Sadie, 20 vols (London: Macmillan,1980),xx, 649-52; and GilbertChase, The Music ofSpain, revised edn (New York:Dover, 1959),pp. 97-102. ANTONIO JOSÉ DA SILVA'S LABIRINTO DE CRETA 131 Da Silva,who was bornin Rio de Janeiroin 1705and who came to Lisbonin 1712,whenhisparents weresummoned to appearbeforethe Inquisition, becameentirely familiar withthelanguage, conventions and witticisms of Spanishdrama,whichin Lisbonwas actedexclusively by companies ofSpanish players until about1716-17.Inallprobability oneof hisearlier workswas a hagiographical playinSpanishverse, El Prodigio de Amarante, about the lifeof the Portuguese saint,São Gonçalo of Amarante. He is also credited witha zarzuelain honourof thedouble betrothal betweenthePortuguese and Spanishroyalhouses,negotiated during 1728andcelebrated through thatyear, andwhich culminated inthe extravagant spectacleof theexchangeof thetwo princesses at Caia, in January 1729.6Unfortunately, thetextis notextantand thisattribution has neverbeensubstantiated. It is notimpossible, though, thatda Silva knewofor adaptedtheSpanishplayofthesametitle, AmorVencidode Amor(1666).Thiscomediafamosawaswritten byJuanVêlezdeGuevara, Juande Zavaleta,and Antoniode Huerta.7 Indeed,wherever we look in thelate seventeenth and earlyeighteenth centuries, we cannothelpbut comeacrosspermutations ofwriters, working incollaboration on similar titlesand themes, whether as comedies,tragicomedies, or operas.8The nameofJuanVêlezfrequently cropsup,forexample, inconjunction with JuanBautistaDiamante,theprolific follower ofCalderón,and withthe Portuguese JoãodeMatosFragoso. In dealingwiththeepisodeof Theseus slayingtheMinotaurin the Cretan Labyrinth, da Silvawasfollowing a number ofSpanish predecessors inadapting themyth forthestage,whether incomicorserioustone.The first oftheseis Lope de Vega,whose'tragicomedia' El Laberinto de Creta was published in 1621. Calderónde la Barcadevotedthesecondjornada, or act,ofLos TresMayoresProdigios(1636)to Theseus'Cretanepisode (thefirst actdealtwith Jason, thethird withHercules).Inhismature years hewrote anautosacramental, El Laberinto delMundo(TeseoenCreta)in 1677,whichmayitself havebeeninfluenced bythemuchearlierone of Tirso de Molina, El Laberintode Creta (1638). Designatedan auto sacramental historial-alegórico, thislatter isa hybrid workofreligious and mythic symbolism, leavened bythecomments ofthegracioso, ina probable attempt tokeeptheattention oftheaudienceonthetheological aspectsof the play.9JuanBautistaDiamantewrotea zarzuela on the topic,El 6 Diogo Barbosa Machado, BibliothecaLusitana,4 vols (Lisbon: 1741-59). iv (1759), M. Juan Vêlezde Guevara. Los Celos Hacen Estrellas,ed. byJ. E. Vareyand N. D. Shergold (London: Tamesis, 1970),pp. xxix and xxxi. JuanVêlez was theson of Luis Vêlez de Guevara (i579~i644)î theauthorof,amongmanyplays,Reynardespuésde morir, about Inèsde Castro. Atthistime,whether inFrance,Portugalor Spain,theword'comedia' stillmeant'play', and had notbecomerestricted to themodernsenseofa humorouswork. As suggestedby Blanca de los Rios in hereditionof Tirso de Molina. Obras Dramáticas completas,4thedn,4 vols (Madrid:Aguilar,1989),iv, 1299. 132 JULIET PERKINS Laberinto de Creta,withmusicbyCristobalGalán.10 Theseus,Ariadne andtheCretanlabyrinth cropupinoperatoo:from RometoLondon,we find scoresranging from Monteverdi's earlyintheseventeenth century, to thoseofLully, PorporaandHandel,andlibrettos byQuinaultandPariati. Da Silva,through hismusical contacts, inparticular thecomposer Antonio Teixeira, couldwellhaveknownofsomeofthese treatments. There is, however,one important dramaticadaptationof Theseus' Cretan adventure...