Los Amantes de Teruel

Amantes de Teruel, by
Hartzenbusch, Juan Eugenio

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Title: Los Amantes de Teruel Drama en cuatro actos en verso y prosa
Author: Hartzenbusch, Juan Eugenio
Release Date: February 2, 2004 [EBook #10909]
Language: Spanish
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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AMANTES DE TERUEL ***

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[Ilustración: JUAN EUGENIO HARTZENBUSCH]
Heath's Modern Language Series

LOS AMANTES DE TERUEL
POR
JUAN EUGENIO HARTZENBUSCH

WITH INTRODUCTION, NOTES, AND VOCABULARY
BY
G.W. UMPHREY, PH.D.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ROMANCE LANGUAGES
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
1920.

PREFACE
The importance of Hartzenbusch in the history of the Spanish drama
and the enduring popularity in Spain of Los Amantes de Teruel, his
masterpiece, have assured this play a definite place in the work of
advanced students of Spanish literature in our universities. For such
students the many editions published in Spain and elsewhere have been
perhaps sufficient, but for the much larger number who never reach the
advanced literary classes an annotated edition is needed. That this play
offers excellent material for the work of more elementary courses in the
schools and colleges has long been the opinion of the present editor;
and that it has not already found a place among the Spanish texts
published in this country is difficult to understand. The old legend of
Teruel, the embodiment of pure and constant love, is one that might
well be expected to make a strong appeal to the youth of any country;
the simple and direct presentation given to the legend by Hartzenbusch
and the comparative freedom from textual difficulties, as the result of

the careful revisions of the play by its scholarly author, bring it within
the range of the understanding and appreciation of students who have
studied Spanish one year in college or two years in high school, if it is
put before them in a properly prepared edition.
The editor has kept in mind this class of students in the preparation of
the Introduction, Notes, and Vocabulary. To those who consider the
Introduction disproportionately long, the excuse is given that this will
be the first Romantic play read by many students, and that if they are to
understand it and appreciate its fine literary qualities, they must be
enabled to view it in its proper historical perspective. It is to be hoped
that this edition may serve as a safe approach to the systematic study,
of the Romantic Movement in Spanish literature.
The text of the play is that of the annotated edition of Dr. Adolf
Kressner, Leipsic, 1887 (Bibliothek Spanischer Schriftsteller), and is
the same as the one contained in the definitive collection of the plays of
Hartzenbusch, Teatro, Madrid, 1888-1892, Vol. I, pages 7-130
(Colección de Escritores Castellanos).
The indebtedness of the editor to Professor E.C. Hills of Indiana
University for many helpful suggestions is gratefully acknowledged.
G.W. UMPHREY
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
I. The Legend
II. Authenticity of the Legend

III. The Legend in Spanish Literature
IV. Life of Hartzenbusch
V. Hartzenbusch's Treatment of the Legend
VI. Romanticism
VII. Romanticism in Los Amantes
VIII. Versification
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
TEXT
NOTES
VOCABULARY

INTRODUCTION
#I. The Legend#. Constancy in love has inspired many writers and has
given undying fame to many legends and traditions. Among the famous
lovers that have passed into legend and that stand as the embodiment of
constant love in different ages and in different countries,--Pyramus and
Thisbe, Hero and Leander, Tristam and Isolde, Romeo and Juliet,--are
to be found Marsilla and Isabel. These Lovers of Teruel, as constant as
any of the others, are especially notable because of the purity of their
love and because of the absence of violence in their sudden departure
from this life. Disappointed love, desperate grief at separation, was the
only cause of their death.
The old city of Teruel, founded by the Aragonese in the latter half of
the twelfth century at the junction of the Guadalaviar and the Alfambra
as a stronghold in the territory recently recovered from the Moors, was
the fitting scene for the action of the legend.... The pioneer life of the

city, the depth of sentiment and singleness of purpose of its Aragonese
inhabitants, the crusading spirit that carried to victory the armies of
Peter II of Aragón and his more famous son, James the Conqueror, lend
probability to a legend that would ordinarily be considered highly
improbable from the point of