diumenge, d’agost 22, 2021

DON QUIXOTE WAS FIRST WRITTEN IN CATALAN: BOOTLICKERS AND WINDMILLS.

This is not the first time that we have commented in this very modest blog on the revolutionary and insightful Jordi Bilbeny's contributions. He was the one who realized the appropriation of Catalan literary history by Castile in the 15th and following centuries. More or less as they do now differently. He has certainly not been the first to suspect over time that there was something that did not fit with what had been conveyed to us. Bilbeny also talks about it. But he has been the first to systematically and rigorously place many items on the table in the form of positive documents that should at least serve to initiate an ex novo review of the historical legacy.

It seems to me that since Mandado’s book came out, which we discussed here at the time, observations, clues, and even evidence have not stopped growing. These findings have been published on the INH website, in some books and also in the form of lectures recorded on Youtube. I do not know of any academic article that has been published in any consolidated journal of Hispanic philology, from outside, of course, because we already know what those of here think and do. And it’s not that there’s a lack of material. And it is not that what Bilbeny tells us is outlandish no matter how little it is analyzed. This is a policy - I think wrong - of the INH. Not going to the conventional academic world. Moreover, the material is published in Catalan and Spanish one has quite a different direction. If the process of dissemination is not accelerated, the first Catalan edition, predictably from 1595, will not appear, as Bilbeny says - which we must continue to search diligently - we will not be able to consolidate this new perspective that has all the appearance of being true.

There is a fact that suddenly catches your eye when you live in Catalonia. The answer to the hypotheses, clues and evidence that Bilbeny has spread have in common: they try to ridicule the theses and the person who formulates them with any weapon -everything is worth it-, and usually the most belligerent and rude are the more ignorant such as journalists of clear affiliation or anonymous prostitutes who are duly subsidized are engaged in trying to undermine the morale of the enemy in the networks. There is only silence on the part of the university. A deafening silence. It is very suspicious. Not to criticize or refute anything. Silence. And it is true that there is a strong contempt but anyone minimally trained and with historical or philological studies knows that what Bilbeny says is not only plausible but also probable. But of course, it’s not just about reviewing history, clarifying the sources, getting to the bottom of the issue, finding the truth after all. There is something much bigger at stake that is precisely what Don Quixote intended to defend against imaginary dangers. This one here is not imaginary but it is terribly true.

While some professors here and there do not even mention to criticize the new theses and persist in official history no matter how squeaky is, some Spanish novelists and 'intellectuals', even if they were born in Catalonia, do exactly the same. However, I can understand it: they defend their way of life, their bread, their name, their work and some of them their patriotic pride because they feel they are the custodians of a collective imaginary that has never existed as they thought it. Like Don Quixote. What hurts the most is that among the academics of Catalan philology, as far as I know, they do exactly the same if not worse. Surprising but it is the same attitude: silence, suspicion, feeling of false superiority and finally fear.

I have modestly dedicated myself to collecting Bilbeny's findings, among others, and they can be consulted here:

 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PGuQGM0G7ZCb7Hi0jnry-WKcdA77bndPN1qIFe5Hha0/edit?usp=sharing

I only mention three facts that are no longer mere clues or assumptions but constitute from my point of view safe evidence to move forward. There are more, though.

1. We have documented references that in 1604, a year before the publication of the presumed first edition in Madrid, the book was already known and people were disguising themselves as Don Quixote and Sancho Panza at the Barcelona Carnival. Therefore, the 1605 edition is not the first. Cervantes tells us about the editions in Antwerp and Barcelona, which have disappeared and should appear in Catalan for the first time and were later censored and translated. This fact disallows the princeps of Madrid. And we have many clues - too many - and of a very diverse nature.

2. In the first chapter of the second part of Don Quixote there is a story that is Valencian and is found in several versions written as the Rector's Romance. This is already asked in 1922 in the book El folklore valenciano en el Don Quijote by Francisco Martínez y Martínez in a pamphlet published in Valencia. How could Cervantes, who is from Alcalá according to what we are told about, could know this romance, if he was not from Valencia or had a close relationship with it? This fact supports the thesis that Cervantes (Servent) was from Valencian land which is ratified by many other facts that you can read in the mentioned document  and put together give life to the thesis of Bilbeny without any fissure.

3. We know because it is documented, that a mysterious Thomas Shelton translated Don Quixote in 1602 (although it was published in 1612). That is, before the edition of Madrid, which means that there is another previous one, presumably from 1595 because the licenses were often granted for ten years. This observation is made by Francis Carr, who erroneously deduces that the novel was first written in English.

It does not follow that a first edition was in Catalan but it is beyond doubt that the edition of Madrid of 1605 is not the first edition of Don Quixote as we have been led to believe with interest and clumsiness. Nor is it certain that Cervantes was Valencian, but that the links with that Valencian land are very powerful to the point of knowing a local folk tale.

Tsunamis have a seismic origin and are not dangerous on the high seas, although they are getting bigger. Only when they reach the mainland they are devastating. The submarine earthquake occurred years ago and we are now in the growth phase. But when it gets dry sooner or later the effects will be inexorable and have unpredictable consequences.



dimecres, d’agost 04, 2021

DUO ÉLAN (SANT PERE DE CALELLA, 4 D'AGOST DE 2021)

Ja sabem que l'església de Sant Pere no és el millor lloc per fer música per la seva excessiva però no exagerada reverberació però és d'agrair que les Joventuts Musicals de Palafrugell ens hi portin cada any un cicle de concerts amb propostes clàssiques molt interessants. El cicle de 5 concerts va començar amb un recital al qual m'hauria agradat assistir: es deia Recital Ave Maria, tenia tot un programa religiós, era amb orgue i era en homenatge a les víctimes del còvid 19. 

Sigui com sigui el concert inesperat d'avui era d'un duo format per una arpa i una soprano. Des del moment que vaig conèixer A ceremony of Carols, de Britten, vaig començar a fixar-me en l'arpa com un instrument substantiu i no pas com un farciment de les òperes romàntiques. I és que l'arpa és un instrument lligat indefectiblement en l'ideari col·lectiu a aquell moviment (o revolució). Ja ho deia J.V. Foix:

'(...) si, ponderats i dignes,
Els meus dictats guanyessin el demà,
Sense miralls ni atzurs, arpes ni cignes!'

Quin greu error creure que l'arpa és solament romàntica... Em sembla que el recital d'avui ho desmenteix. L'arpa com a instrument harmònic és capaç de substituir tranquil·lament el piano i a més fer-ho de la millor manera possible: bellament i expressiva. 

No es veuen gaires homes que toquin l'arpa, tot i que n'hi ha. Jo diria que tradicionalment s'ha associat l'arpa a un imaginari femení que es perd a la nit dels temps. Les primeres arpes es veu que són d'alguns mil·lenis abans de Jesucrist. La qüestió és que l'arpista d'avui era una noia jove que es diu Esther Pinyol i que a pesar de la seva joventut i timidesa - d'altra banda injustificada- promet ser un dels valors de futur del planter de la corda catalana. De fet, ja ha col·laborat amb l'OBC i el seu futur s'albira brillant. Realment el seu art s'ha posat de manifest en totes les peces que s'hi han cantat i especialment en les que ha intervingut com a solista: 'La source', de Hasselmans, i el deliciós i bellíssim 'interludi' d'Andersen. Pinyol ha demostrat també que, a banda de tocar el seu instrument amb la passió d'una enamorada, sap acompanyar el cantant amb precisió i gust. 

L'altra component del duo era la soprano Anabel Real que crec que ha sortit de l'ESMUC passant per Sabadell, on ja cantat coses a la Faràndula d'envergadura certa, com la Reina de la Nit. Real té una veu bonica, rodona, no gens punxeguda, es mou amb facilitat en els aguts, però sobretot té molta veu. Al concert d'avui hi havia moments en què les vibracions arribaven amb molta força a la zona del mig de l'església. I això que no treia tota la veu. Però el recital no era de virtuosisme o coloratura ni tampoc es necessitava molta veu per a portar-lo a terme perquè era bàsicament de cançó. On ha brillat més Real a parer meu és en les peces més vistents vocalment com Solveigs sang, Villanelle o Marinela, Marinela, de la Canción del olvido. L'inici amb les tres cançons de Reynaldo Hahn potser no era el millor perquè 'L'heure exquise' és extremadament delicada i els aguts de Real anaven al forte sense remei per la constitució, educació i fortalesa de la seva veu. Potser és el que diria que ha de millorar més en aquest repertori: els piani especialment si són aguts i l'expressivitat. Tot i això, la seva 'À Chloris' ha estat deliciosa i molt ben cantada. També m'ha semblat sentir algun problema inicial de fiato en alguna peça de Hahn. El programa també tenia tres cançons de Morera -entre les quals L'oreneta- dues cançons de Falla i alguna altra cançó que no coneixia. Una altra cosa: si cal beure aigua més val no fer-ho de l'ampolla al mig de l'escena i davant el públic. Per una qüestió de respecte i d'estètica. I ja sé que cada vegada ho veiem més fins i tot al Liceu. 

En resum, recital de gran nivell el que hem pogut escoltar avui en aquesta nit desagradable pel temps a Sant Pere tant pel programa delicat i essencialment bell com per les seves intèrprets que ens han il·luminat una hora de la nostra vida amb la seva -amb la nostra- música. Per molts anys!