Side dish
An entremés is a comic play or play in one act, written in verse or prose, which was usually performed between the first and second days of classical Spanish theater comedies, and which was created by the author Lope de Rueda.
Etymology
The term hors d'oeuvres comes from French and is documented in the 15th century d. C. as a kind of pantomime represented at courtly banquets.
Its current use became widespread in the XVI century d. C. alternating with the most common step among other minor theatrical genres, which will become the most important. This is how it is used in the Entremés of the Representation of the evangelical story of Saint John by Sebastián de Horozco, a comic lawsuit located at the end of the first painting of the same, linked to the following statement: «While the blind man returns, an intermission between a prosecutor and a litigant takes place». In the prologue of the Comedy of Sepúlveda, from 1547, it is said:
You may not like the almost naked subject of that grace because the process usually prays the recitals and many other intermes that intervene by the ornament of comedy, which have no body in the subject of it.
Origin
In its beginnings, it was therefore an action not exempt from the main one, as a rest or comic interlude. This was the case in some of the works by Gil Vicente or Jorge Grana Bosch, together with the steps of Lope de Rueda considered as an antecedent of the hors d'oeuvre. Sebastián de Horozco, however, wrote the first exempt interlude, different from the one already mentioned, to be represented in a nunnery on the day of Saint John the Evangelist, starring a praying friar and brothel visitor, and two other popular characters, a a town crier, a buñolero and a silly and bawdy villain, who exchange insults, blows and blankets in a clear manifestation of the carnivalesque nature of the genre.
This began to be defined with the Pasos of Lope de Rueda in the XVI century d. C.. At first it was written indistinctly in prose or verse. Juan de Timoneda cites the word hors d'oeuvres precisely in one of his best-known works, the dramatic collection La Turiana, which contains various very elegant and funny comedies and farces with many hors d'oeuvres and peaceful steps (1565).
It is clear then that the denomination of paso was synonymous with the somewhat more gastronomic hors d'oeuvres. Timoneda himself in The Delightful (1567) says: "Come cheerfully to the Delightful / you will find it full and mighty / of steps and hors d'oeuvres very facets". Agustín de Rojas Villandrando, in his work The Entertaining Journey (1603), wrote:
And between the steps really
mixed other laughter
that, because they were going between stockings
of the farce, they called them
intermonths of comedy
Since Luis Quiñones de Benavente (1600-1650) definitively configured the genre in the XVII century d. C., ended up being written in verses and sometimes incorporating sung numbers that would give rise to a later genre, the tonadilla; this ingenuity even created a subgenre of hors d'oeuvres, the so-called "hors d'oeuvres sung." Lope de Vega, on the other hand, recovered its subsidiary function and defined it as a "comic relief" starring popular characters "because entremés de reyes has not been seen", in his New art of making comedies in this time (1609), and he considered it the archetype of the old comedy that he had come to renew with his new comedy. An hors d'oeuvre would sell for triple what a loa cost and was of paramount importance in a theatrical program of the 17th century d. C., so that a good comedy with a bad hors d'oeuvre would fail inevitably, but a bad comedy with a good hors d'oeuvre could stay on the bill and be a success (theatrical successes of the Golden Age did not generally last for a week). There were actors who specialized in this genre, such as Cosme Pérez, known by his nickname Juan Rana , a true celebrity in his time and for whom no less than fifty pieces were written by courtly wits with pleasure.
Historical evolution
The evolution of the hors d'oeuvre was divided into four stages:
Birth
Birth, formation and consolidation definitive: authors of primitive hors d'oeuvres such as Lope de Rueda and Juan de Timoneda enter this stage. The show was fundamentally based on entertainment, however, a possible reception of some works in their social context has also been explored. Particularly from the most representative playwrights of the Golden Age era: Lope de Rueda, Cervantes and Calderón de la Barca.
Splendor
Time of splendor, from the second half of the 16th century to the middle of the 17th century. The most original authors are Miguel de Cervantes, Luis Quiñones de Benavente and Francisco de Quevedo, followed by other assiduous cultivators of the genre who wrote at this time: Alonso de Castillo Solórzano, Alonso Jerónimo de Salas Barbadillo, Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza, Luis Vélez de Guevara and many others.
Popularity
Period of great popularity of hors d'oeuvres and abundant production of examples; although some schemes, themes and models are repeated and, in its final moment, a certain exhaustion of ideas is perhaps perceived. It covers the second half of the 17th century century and the costumbrist aspects begin to develop more strongly. Some hors d'oeuvres, destined for the Palace, include parodic elements from the so-called burlesque comedy, the genre loses vitality that is replaced by a certain showiness and parodic charge. Some of the most important authors of this stage were Jerónimo de Cáncer and Agustín Moreto.
Decay
Decline phase of the hors d'oeuvre; includes late 17th century d. C. and the 18th century d. C. in which it ends up disappearing from the scene, in 1778, when the Enlightenment theorists prohibited it for its vulgarity and tackiness, alien to the aesthetic idealism of Neoclassicism; This was an opposition that was added to that of the Church, but not for moral reasons. Still, however, the interlude produces some interesting figures such as Francisco de Castro, Antonio de Zamora, Manuel de León Marchante, Juan de la Hoz y Mota, etc.; but it is replaced by the farce, located between the second and third acts; This was a more extensive and less lyrical piece, with a more developed plot and hardly any sung numbers. It is renewed with new types: the Frenchified fop, the nice castizo and the presumptuous abbe. In this new genre, and at the end of the XVIII century d. C., Juan Ignacio González del Castillo from Cádiz and Ramón de la Cruz from Madrid stood out.
Characters
The stupid or simple, malicious characters (or, better than characters, types) of the intermission were common, although they are usually the victim of other people's tricks, and who often plays the role of the intermission in the intermission. town mayor or servant; among public officials, the bailiffs, caricatured by their deaf ears and blind eyes before the criminals who bribe them; the rural mayors, characterized by their palurness and paleness and often identified with the fool and even with a characteristic comic actor, the great Juan Rana; the militia offered the types of the poor soldier without a job and sad guest of the diners, a rival in love with the sacristan and almost always snubbed by them; The militia was also criticized, because the second-raters went to it and those who, unable to adapt to the method and rigor of manual labor, sought a better way to earn their livelihood, or also those who fled from serving some punishment or sentence; many of them returned after years laden with wounds, presumption and vainglory and joined organized society without finding a place for their adventurous spirit, many of them ending up as braggarts, rowdies or freeloaders. The opposite of the soldier and his rival was the sacristan , who had more economic possibilities than him and was more accepted by women; after the fool, he is the most frequent character.
The doctor is a much attacked figure in the hors d'oeuvres because of his poor means of healing; he characterizes them as greedy for money and confused and cultured language, always on the back of a mule to give themselves tone.
The apothecary was a less popular character, accused of poisoning and killing people like the doctor, and used to be a ridiculous lover, inopportunely citing medicines and prescriptions in his love affairs.
The escribano was popular and not among the most acutely insulted, and he repeatedly appears at the side of the simpleton and ignorant mayor as his counterpoint, advising him what to do, sometimes in a light or discreet dispute with the.
Less respected and more mistreated is the letterado, born from the fusion of the nobility with the bourgeoisie, a large product of the universities that offered an escape to the children of the lower nobility and the bourgeoisie and that they could always join the clerical state without further studies than those provided by the universities. Although they embodied the country's intellectual aristocracy, they were looked down upon by the people.
The servants appear frequently, although their interventions are not main; They present, though not always, the appearance of rude and goofy as opposed to the same type of comedy, which is always intelligent and restrained.
The pages entremesiles arouse laughter with their hunger and everlasting gluttony and with their lies and mockery; they are boys of naive clumsiness and acute mischief.
The students do not appear favoured: they are always involved in love affairs, nocturnal fights, duels, disputes with classmates and student pranks outside of study hours. They were quarrelsome, cheerful and smart, and they provided comedy, the picaresque novel and the courtly novel with numerous episodes and characters at the same time that they enriched the language with twists, idioms and particular phrases; in the hors d'oeuvres they are presented as mocking trollops and true geniuses of mischief. It is without a doubt the most deformed type.
The innkeepers star in a particular world of wandering soldiers, beggars, criminals, peasants and travelers to the court; they appear in two ways: as poor victims of the guests, swindled or swindled, or as thieves themselves. The innkeepers were worse looking, more cowardly than those, more thieves and more often than not with perverse and crooked intentions; they are in concord and good friendship with the people of bad life.
The men appear with an imprint of profession or trade, but sometimes also with a dominant character trait: misers, freeloaders, matchmakers or brave or bullies who were already confused in the 18th century with the military himself and always wrinkle when the time comes to show it; They are like the handsome man in the play and vulgar romances. As for the gentleman, he is less well treated in the intermission, as he was in the picaresque novel: poor at heart, boasting opulence, worthy of commiseration more than laughter, and victim of a decadent concept and deformed from what had been a glorious social class; late 17th century and into the 18th century d. C. disappears and is replaced by the viscount, who inherited everything ridiculous that had been thrown at the poor hidalgo and responds to a less lively contact with social reality.
The poet is as poor as the hidalgo and is characterized by his habit of reducing everything to verse.
The husband offered a wide field to the appetizer in his facets as cuckold, Carthusian, mocked, jealous or integrated into his wife's hobbies; he is a peasant or a citizen who garnishes himself from the always fickle woman who has had to keep him up at night.
At court, genes of all kinds and the most diverse conditions were also mixed: the French were frequent in the trades of tinkers, grinders, peddlers, and castrators; flamingos were rarer; the Indians were always rich innocents, white horses to pluck and always greedy; the Portuguese, with hardly any variations, always in love and in love, bullying, talkative, arrogant and given to singing; the negros who sissy and speak gloomy language almost always appear, when they are not characters, in the dances, dances and ballads; Galicians are characterized by their servility and greed; the gypsies, like the blacks, only go out when they have to dance or in jail, or with some funny gypsy girl; the mountaineers, always on account with their nobility and old-fashioned and laughable figurehead values. All of them are widely characterized by their language of poorly articulated sounds or misinterpreted words.
Of ancient roots is the character of the blind man or copler, always muttering the appropriate sentence to the case and in conflict with the other colleagues of the trade who occupy a position of more business; his psychology mixes mischief, bad intentions and the mercantilism of devotion with good faith and sometimes naivety.
Below all this world was that of the germanía, a world of crime and the sordid, mysterious and hallucinating underworld that included another language in gibberish; To be from the Germanic order, it was necessary to have been publicly flogged at some time, sentenced to the galleys or to have been in the sack or trullo; the brothel was the center of operations.
The woman came in two types: the collected one in the honest environments of the home and family and submissive and kind in an environment of traditional values, or the loose one who went everywhere, belonged to any social class, which is imposed by its sensuality or which is led to a happy life by greed. If they were from a high social class and had urban clientele and noble or distinguished status, they were courtesans; If not, they were street sluts who swarmed the popular entertainment venues, including the outskirts of the comedy corral. They are characterized by their ingenious language and ability to animate the show with their sparkling wit and ease and ease. In their final phase, both will end up as matchmakers or pimps. The slut was hurt by her greed, vice and arts.
The mop is another frequent female type, of peasant origin and crude and primitive manners.
The hypocritical pious is also the target of more or less direct satire. The happy woman, the sorceress, the funny gypsy, the prudent woman also take place in the cosmos of the interlude. (barely represented), the funny one, the trickster, the jealous one.
Authors
The most original creators of hors d'oeuvres are Miguel de Cervantes, Francisco de Quevedo and Luis Quiñones de Benavente.
Also notable were Luis Vélez de Guevara, Alonso Jerónimo de Salas Barbadillo, Alonso de Castillo Solórzano, Antonio Hurtado de Mendoza, Francisco Bernardo de Quirós, Jerónimo de Cáncer, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Vicente Suárez de Deza, Sebastián Rodríguez de Villaviciosa, Agustín Moreto, Francisco Bances Candamo, Antonio de Zamora and Francisco de Castro.
Hors d'oeuvres collections
From early on the printers realized the great business that was to compile collections of hors d'oeuvres.
- New months of various authors (Zaragoza: Pedro Lanaja, 1640).
- New months of various authors for honest recreation Alcalá de Henares: Francisco Ropero, 1643.
- Funny RamilleteValencia, 1643.
- Poetic Theatre distributed in twenty-one new intermonthsZaragoza, 1651.
- Flor de entremeses y sainetes de diferentes autores, Madrid, 1653.
- Poetic theatre distributed in twenty-one new intermesses chosen from the best wits of Spain Zaragoza: Juan de Ybar, 1658.
- Laurel de entremeses varios Zaragoza: Juan de Ybar, 1660.
- Traits of leisure Madrid: José Fernández de Buendía, 1661, reprinted in 1664.
- Pleasant afternoons of fun distributed in several months Madrid: Andrés García de la Iglesia, 1663.
- Christmas and Corpus Christi Madrid: José Fernández de Buendía, 1664.
- Leisure entertained in several intermess, dances, loas and jácaras Madrid: Andrés García de la Iglesia, 1668.
- Verdores del Parnaso in twenty-six months Madrid: Domingo García Morras, 1668.
- New Parnasus Madrid: Andrés García, 1670.
- Ramillete of selected sainetes Zaragoza: Diego Dormer, 1672.
- Vergel of intermeses and concepts of donaire Zaragoza: Diego Dormer, 1675.
- Flower of intermeses, dances and loas Zaragoza: Diego Dormer, 1676.
- The best flower of intermes that has been Zaragoza: Heirs of Diego Dormer, 1679.
- Meantime flowers and leisure traits to different aps Madrid: Viuda de Josep Fernández de Buendía, 1680.
- Meantime flowers and leisure traits to various issues Madrid: Antonio de Zafra, 1691.
- Verdores del Parnaso in different intermeses Pamplona: Juan Micón, 1697.
- Arcadia de entremes Pamplona, 1700.
- Book of intermess of several authors Madrid, 1700.
- Ramillete de entremeses de diferentes autores Pamplona, 1700.
- Flowers of the Parnasus taken for the recreation of understanding by the best ingenuities of Spain in loas, entremeses and mojigangas Zaragoza, no year, but 1708.
- Arcadia de entremes Madrid, 1723.
- Chistes of taste for various ingenuities of Spain Madrid: José Rivas, 1742, 2 vols.