Chapter 2. Othello in Spain (1802–1844)
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Ángel-Luis Pujante
Abstract
Othello was premiered in Madrid in 1802. The text used was not a translation of Shakespeare’s tragedy, as was held in certain writings, but a rendering of Jean-François Ducis’s French neoclassical version. The play met with immediate success and ran until 1844, both in Madrid and Barcelona. Although the number of performances diminished in the 1830s and 1840s, this did not affect its fame. On the contrary, other plays of similar or related content lived off it and fed back into the Othello myth in turn. These were: Rossini’s opera Otello, premiered in Barcelona in 1821 and in Madrid in 1822, the comedy Shakespeare enamorado [Shakespeare in love] by Alexandre Duval, translated and adapted for the Spanish theatre, and the anonymous parody Caliche, both first staged in Madrid in 1828. The three ran till at least 1844. In fact, the Othello story became so well-known in Spain that it was used politically in 1839 in a Madrid daily newspaper against a rival newspaper. This chapter will examine the Spanish translation of the French neoclassical adaptation and the aspects in which it departed from the latter. It will also discuss the success of the play and the way in which its presence on the Spanish stage gave rise to a critical debate on the tragedy, both as written by Shakespeare and as adapted neoclassically by Ducis. Lastly, it will consider the extent to which the opera, the comedy and the parody contributed to the popularity of Othello in Spain and to its early reception in general, as well as assess its political use in the press as indicative of the fame achieved by the play at the time.
Abstract
Othello was premiered in Madrid in 1802. The text used was not a translation of Shakespeare’s tragedy, as was held in certain writings, but a rendering of Jean-François Ducis’s French neoclassical version. The play met with immediate success and ran until 1844, both in Madrid and Barcelona. Although the number of performances diminished in the 1830s and 1840s, this did not affect its fame. On the contrary, other plays of similar or related content lived off it and fed back into the Othello myth in turn. These were: Rossini’s opera Otello, premiered in Barcelona in 1821 and in Madrid in 1822, the comedy Shakespeare enamorado [Shakespeare in love] by Alexandre Duval, translated and adapted for the Spanish theatre, and the anonymous parody Caliche, both first staged in Madrid in 1828. The three ran till at least 1844. In fact, the Othello story became so well-known in Spain that it was used politically in 1839 in a Madrid daily newspaper against a rival newspaper. This chapter will examine the Spanish translation of the French neoclassical adaptation and the aspects in which it departed from the latter. It will also discuss the success of the play and the way in which its presence on the Spanish stage gave rise to a critical debate on the tragedy, both as written by Shakespeare and as adapted neoclassically by Ducis. Lastly, it will consider the extent to which the opera, the comedy and the parody contributed to the popularity of Othello in Spain and to its early reception in general, as well as assess its political use in the press as indicative of the fame achieved by the play at the time.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction. “I would my [European] pilgrimage dilate” 1
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Part 1. Trans(national) subjects
- Chapter 1. Charles Mathews’s Othello, the Moor of Fleet Street (1833) and Maurice Dowling’s Othello Travestie (1834) 29
- Chapter 2. Othello in Spain (1802–1844) 49
- Chapter 3. Traditions of playing and spectating 63
- Chapter 4. Othello on the German stage 81
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Part 2. Othello and European constructions of alterity
- Chapter 5. Othello’s race and slavery 99
- Chapter 6. From black to white, from man to beast, from tragical to comical 113
- Chapter 7. Let it be hid? 133
- Chapter 8. “It is all about passion” 153
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Part 3. Adapting Othello
- Chapter 9. Adapting Othello for television in late Francoist Spain 173
- Chapter 10. Pulling the strings 191
- Chapter 11. The circumcised dog and the subtle whore 205
- Chapter 12. “It is not words that shakes me thus” 225
- Chapter 13. A selective timeline of Othello in European culture 247
- Index 261
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- List of contributors vii
- Introduction. “I would my [European] pilgrimage dilate” 1
-
Part 1. Trans(national) subjects
- Chapter 1. Charles Mathews’s Othello, the Moor of Fleet Street (1833) and Maurice Dowling’s Othello Travestie (1834) 29
- Chapter 2. Othello in Spain (1802–1844) 49
- Chapter 3. Traditions of playing and spectating 63
- Chapter 4. Othello on the German stage 81
-
Part 2. Othello and European constructions of alterity
- Chapter 5. Othello’s race and slavery 99
- Chapter 6. From black to white, from man to beast, from tragical to comical 113
- Chapter 7. Let it be hid? 133
- Chapter 8. “It is all about passion” 153
-
Part 3. Adapting Othello
- Chapter 9. Adapting Othello for television in late Francoist Spain 173
- Chapter 10. Pulling the strings 191
- Chapter 11. The circumcised dog and the subtle whore 205
- Chapter 12. “It is not words that shakes me thus” 225
- Chapter 13. A selective timeline of Othello in European culture 247
- Index 261
