Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg
Fuenteovejuna, by Lope de Vega

The music is Morisco music, found on Iberian Garden, Vol. 1 by Altramar. The piece is Muwashshah: Mā li-l-muwallah, 1113-1198.

This music takes place at the beautiful gardens along the Guadalquiver, near Cordoba. This is during the "convivencia" under Alfonso X (El Sabio - The Wise), the time before Granda fell: when Christians, Moslems and Jews lived at peace with each other. Muwashshah are songs in poetic form, with instrumental interludes in the form of Ibn Bājja (Avempace): 1470-1520. This is Morisco art.
Whop1

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Felix Lope de Vega y Carpio 1582-1635
Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio: 1582-1635
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The main idea of this play, written and published in 1614, will not be analyzed in detail. Some aspects concerning views commonly held in Spain at that time, and related linguistics will be commented upon.

The play (briefly):
The Comendador of the Order of Calatrava, Fernán Gómez de Guzmán mistreats the peasants of Fuenteovejuna (whippings, rape, ignoring official rod of office, etc.). The villagers join together to kill the Guzmán, but support King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabel of Castile. A magistrate (pesquisidor) has been sent to the village to investigate. The magistrate tortures the villagers to determine the facts. All the villagers have agreed to say only that "Fuenteovejuna did it." None of the villagers falters. King Ferdinand forgives the crime of murder and places Fuenteovejuna under the protection of Castile.

Pascuala (Act 1):
...
"Interrogating us for proof
That we're true Spaniards, from each roof
They chirp accusingly: 'Jews? Jews?'"
...
"Their heart, their everything, their whole
Life's being, and can do no wrong,
But once the fire of passion's spent
They start to treat us worse than Jews" 1

Thus the way Spanish men treat Spanish women is like Jews are treated.

All the villagers of Fuenteovejuna (Act 3):
...
"Die, wicked Christians and false traitors, too!" 2
Spanish version uses "malos cristianos"

Note "cristianos" is in lower case.

Lope de vega writes in this play (p. 80)
"Unmatched in cruelty by men
Throughout this world, from where the sun
First rises bright to where it sets.
Camões?

Glossary

Term Meaning
Autos sacramentales Liturgical dramas.
Bann Announcement in church of a marriage.
Batin de oficina (palo),
vara de oficina 3 		Baton of office (staff), rod of office
Bollesta 4 Crossbow.
"Buñolero"
(text used in original play) 5 		Fritter-maker (work that "Moriscos" did to the exclusion of other peoples in Spain).
Carros "Carros" are "cars" or floats used in religious processions.
Comedias Typically three-act plays that teach language, customs, values, beliefs. The audience targeted being illiterate peasants. The structure of these plays being Aristotelian unities of place, time, and action (not too many places, not too many times, not too many ideas), else the audience will become confused, then bored, then hostile (and will start talking and will leave).
Types of Comedias:
  1. Comedias de capa y espada (sword fighting)
  2. Comedias de figurón (a physically or spiritually grotesque character)
  3. Comedias de magia (magic and illusion are the focus)
  4. Comedias de teatro (boato: luxury of sets and special effects)
  5. Tragicomedia: most theatrical pieces are either comedies or tragedies, but tragicomedias mix both forms.
Comedia character types or roles:
  1. barbas (beards)
  2. damas (young ladies)
  3. galanes (young men)
  4. graciosos (fools)
Picturesque aspects of plays.
Corrals Theatres, composed of a large open area called the patio where spectators (men called "mosqueteros") stood, set among three large buildings with an elevated stage. Spectators could pay a little more to sit on benches ("gradas") behind the patio. Many theatres had tertulia (cushion-covered benches in front of the stage) reserved for educated monks and censors. A separate section of benches called the "casuela" was cordoned off for female spectators, behind the men. The wealthy could rent rooms with windows and balconies in the buildings overlooking the patio. At the highest level of the buildings surrounding the patio was the desván, reserved for and rented by the nobility. In the desván, there was a hidden theatre-box for the king who sat behind a Moorish screen. Actors were dressed in elaborate costumes. The plays were mostly in the form of "commedia dell'arte", and also of the variety known as "jongleuresque" (mimes, traveling players, clowns, jugglers, troubadores, etc.)

Stages were uniformly of the same size and composed of three levels:
  1. Balcony ("Heaven")
  2. Tabla ("Earth")
  3. Trampa or trapdoor ("Hell")
By c. 1681, there was an increasing use of "tramoyas" (stage machinery).
Costumbrista Picturesque aspects of plays.
Entreméses Comic interludes between acts of long performances, often composed of satires customes and occupations of characters. Farces called "sainete". This kind of theatre evolved into "Zarzuela", c. 1850. Scenery for entreméses often included "trompe l'oeil" and linear-perspective scenery.
Fuenteovejuna,
Fuente Ovejuna,
Fuenteovejunaville (p. 92) 		The sheep well (The Sheep well village)
Gracioso A clown or jester (especially in entreméses.
Hilanderas 6 Women that spin thread.
Labradore Farmer, peasant.
Maricone 7 Homosexual (perjorative).
Moros 8 Moors.
Pasos One-act plays.
Perro 9 Dog, mongrel.
"pícaros"
(Spanish slang) 10 		Thugs, pimps or vagabounds.
Refranes Practical morality (pastoral stories, chivalry, ballads).
Rollizo 11 Plump or fat.
Romances Dreams and ideals.
tocas y basquiñas 12 Headresses and petticoates.
Tramoya Stage machinery.
Villano 13 Bumpkin (literally: villager, peasant).
Zarzuela Light opera, emphasizing music.

1   "Fuenteovejuna", by Lope de Veg; Translated: G. J. Racz; 2010, p. 12
2   Ibid., p. 77
3   Ibid., pp. 54, 64
4   Ibid., p. 32
5   Ibid., p. 60
6   Ibid., p. 72
7   Ibid., p. 72
8   Ibid., p. 90
Note that Lope de Vega uses "moros" (Moors), but also uses "Buñolero"
without further elaboration. Thus Lope de Vega conflates Moors with Morescos.
9   Ibid., p. 96
10   Ibid., p. 78
11   Ibid., p. 91
12   Ibid., p. 72
13   Ibid., p. 91

Bibliography

  1. Stackhouse, Kenneth; "Translations of the American Plays of Lope de Vega: The Discovery of the New World, The Conquest of Araucania, Brazil Restored"
  2. Vega, Lope de; "Fuenteovejuna", Translated: G. J. Racz; 2010

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