Page 223 - sfogliabile 49

A baroque vision of the conquest of Tunis in 1535 489

between Spain and the Regency of Algiers might explain the play’s
revival at the time, but not its enduring popularity after 1786 when a
peace treaty was signed between the two states . The play’s
68
performances beyond that date must have been due to other factors.
Firstly, we must point out that the work was publicised by being
included in the catalogue of the companies that put on the play after
1775. Secondly, we must not forget that the public in the last quarter
of the eighteenth century were very much in favour of historical plays,
and particularly those with a military theme, and complex and
baroque plots that were so different to those typical of neoclassical
theatre . Cañizares’s plays in general and this one in particular, fitted
69
the new vogue .
70
The first few years of the nineteenth century and particularly those
corresponding to the Spanish War of Independence saw another
revival of Charles V in Tunis. The vindication of great military feats by
one nation (Spain) oppressed by another (France) may have given it
renewed topicality. The play was revived on the same day in Madrid
and in Palma de Mallorca in the reign of Joseph I, Napoleon’s
brother . During the performance in in Madrid on the 2 of November
nd
71
1811 one scene in particular caused a great a stir, raising the
audience’s patriotic spirits so much that the French authorities
ordered it to be removed from the next day’s performance. The scene
is in the second act, when Captain Ripalda describes his men to the
emperor in these terms:

aquéllos son españoles,
gran señor, soldados viejos,
los que en Italia os han dado
a millares los trofeos.
Aquellos rotos vestidos,
aquellos semblantes negros
de los soles del verano
y de los fríos del invierno
aguantados en campaña
son, Señor, cuenta con ellos,
que aunque no vienen galanes
tiran bien y empujan recio.
Aquellos pobres andrajos,

68 E. Villalba, O’Reilly cit., p. 585.
69 D. Garcías, Historia del teatro en Mallorca. Del Barroco al Romanticismo, 1600-
1834, Lleonard Ed., Palma de Mallorca, 2005, p. 378.
70 Ivi, p. 379.
71 M. Larraz, Le Théâtre à Palma de Majorque pendant la guerre d’Indépendance
(1811-1814), «Mélanges de la Casa de Velázquez», 10 (1974), p. 347.

Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XVII - Agosto 2020
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)