Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0336/03364.txt

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$Unique_ID{COW03364}
$Pretitle{379}
$Title{Spain
Romanticism, the Artistic Expression of Liberalism}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Embassy of Spain, Washington DC}
$Affiliation{Embassy of Spain, Washington DC}
$Subject{spanish
de
cultural
spain
art
century
theatre
time
first
madrid}
$Date{1989}
$Log{Fundacion Miro*0336404.scf
}
Country:     Spain
Book:        Spain 1989
Author:      Embassy of Spain, Washington DC
Affiliation: Embassy of Spain, Washington DC
Date:        1989

Romanticism, the Artistic Expression of Liberalism

     The 19th century was witness to the apogee of liberal thought, in direct
combat with absolutism, and to its aesthetic correlative, romanticism.
Costumbrista literature (depictions of regional customs and manners), parallel
to French and English writing of the same genre, found two ideal interpreters.
The journalist Mariano Jose de Larra, the author of costumbrist articles,
that, together with his suicide, symbolized romantic desperation, and the
chronicler Jose Maria Blanco White, who bequeathed his bitter testimony from
exile. In the domain of theatre, Zorrilla's Don Juan Tenorio gave the old
myth its definitive and most popular form. Spain at this time appeared to
travellers from all over Europe as the romantic nation par excellence and an
obligatory place for pilgrimages, after the impact caused by the struggle
against the Napoleonic invasion.

     Romanticism paved the way for the rebirth of cultural values from
different regions. The first figure of the Catalan Renaixen-ca was Joaquim
Rubio i Ors. In Galicia, the earliest representative of this movement was
Nicomedes Pastor Diaz. In Catalunya, the Jocs florals (floral games), a
poetic competition originating in the Middle Ages, were restored, and Catalan
poetry reached great heights with Verdaguer's epic poem L'Atlantida and the
legendary Canigo.

     During the second half of the 19th century, realism came to the
forefront, as in the rest of Europe, to which the cultural development of the
Peninsula became closely tied. Perez Galdos and Clarin were two
extraordinary writers who combined the portrait of the individual with that
of a society. With the former, the capital of Spain, Madrid, found its great
chronicler; today it is still possible to relive the ambience of Fortunata y
Jacinta in the area around the Plaza Mayor. The latter described life in the
provincial city a century ago in lyric epopees; the oppressive atmosphere of
these cities comes alive in the pages of La Regenta.

     Towards the end of the century, Becquer guided romantic poetry toward a
profound intimacy using a simple form that was a clear anticipation of
contemporary lyricism. Rosalia de Castro did the same with her bilingual
work, in both Gallego and Castillian. In the theatre, together with the
melodrama and the high comedy, an eminently Madrileno style triumphed, the
zarzuela, a popular and lesser lyric genre, similar to the operetta with both
spoken and sung pieces. Such works as La verbena de la Paloma, La Revoltosa
and La Gran Via won great popularity and fascinated-in spite of their
apparent simplicity-such intellectuals as Nietzsche and Valle Inclan. The
Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid currently offers performances, on modern and
meticulous stages, of this genre which continues to attract and forms part of
the best of Spanish popular culture.

Between the Pessimism of 1898 and the Enthusiasm of the Republic, Spain
Witnessed a Cultural "Silver Age"

     Despite the numerous unsettling political and social avatars that
affected the Spanish scene during the first third of the 20th century,
cultural creation witnessed a renewed splendour, which caused certain
observers to speak of a Silver Age, beginning in 1898 and extending to the
outbreak of the Civil War in 1936.

     The first of these dates marks the loss of Spain's last colonies, and,
generally speaking, the conclusion of a long period of decline which had begun
in the 17th century. An ample group of writers reacted against this fact,
searching for its causes and attempting to seek out remedies for Spain's
regeneration. They became known as the Generation of '98, and included among
their number several great literary figures. Their activity was not, however,
limited to literature, but extended to the fields of science, medicine,
history and the essay.

     At the same time, modernism, a parallel current to French symbolism,
pictorial and musical impressionism, decorative modern style and
pre-Rafaelism, among other trends, arose, and Catalunya, always more open to
the winds of change which frequently made their way to Spain, lived this
phenomenon with special intensity. The brilliant architect, Antonio Gaudi,
was its principal figure, linked as he was to the Renaixen-ca (renaissance) of
Catalan culture, which was based on the prosperity of a cultivated, industrial
bourgeoisie with an increasing inclination to support regionalist ideas. The
extremely personal art of Gaudi, full of botanical and animal suggestions,
with such revolutionary works as the still unfinished church of the Sagrada
Familia and the fantastical Parque Guell garden, can be admired principally
in Barcelona. From this modernist Catalan ambience, two great painters would
also come to the forefront; these are Picasso and Nonell.

     Also at the turn of the century, the echoes of musical nationalism, which
were resounding through the whole continent, came to Spain. Two composers won
international recognition within this current; they were Isaac Albeniz and
Enrique Granados. The Iberia piano suites, creation of the former, synthesize
romantic virtuosity and impressionist levity with pintoresque baroque and the
colour of popular Spanish music. In Las danzas espanolas and Goyescas, one
of Granados' compositions, an intimate romanticism with accents from all the
regions of Spain is evident.

     In the domain of painting, Ignacio Zuloaga, depicted, with his robust
sketches and his characters typical of the Spanish people, a world closely
linked to the literature of the Generation of '98. In a different aesthetic
line, the Valencian Joaquin Sorolla can be categorized as a
post-impressionist using brilliant colouring. Beyond the anecdote portrayed
in each canvas, the levantine light is the great protagonist in his seaside
scenes that can be admired in the Sorolla Museum in Madrid. Also a response to
impressionist aesthetics is another Valencian, Mariano Benlliure, a brilliant
sculptor of monuments, busts and bullfighting scenes.

     The Generation of '98 was almost obsessively preoccupied with what came
to be known as the "Spanish problem", and thus rediscovered the beauty of
the somber Castillian countryside and developed a considerable stylistic
renovation along the same lines as the characteristic 19th century rhetoric.

     Some members of this Generation attained truly universal standing, as is
the case of the Basque Miguel de Unamuno, who, in his Sentimiento tragico de
la vida, anticipates the reflections and the basic themes of existentialism.
Another Basque, Pio Baroja, the great realist novelist, relates with such
simplicity, naturalness and dynamism that it is not surprising that Hemingway
proclaimed him his master. The Valencian Azorin sang with impressionistic
sensitivity of the tranquility of the people and of his travels to Castile, of
the "beauty of the ordinary". The Gallego Ramon Maria del Valle Inclan
gave musicality to Spanish prose, first from a modernist aestheticism and
later in a Spanish expressionism known as the "esperpentos". The Andaluz
Antonio Machado initiated contemporary Spanish poetry by merging reflexive
seriousness, deep temporal meditation and civic motives with symbolism. Along
these same sentimental lines arose the poetry of Nobel Prize winner Juan
Ramon Jimenez, who evolved over time, driven by perfectionist anxiety,
toward a deeper, more abstract and complex lyricism.

     Spanish intellectuals in this period felt with particular intensity the
influence of European culture and m