The Spanish Lamento: Discourses of Love, Power, and Gender in the Musical Theatre (1696-1718)

Weeping male characters dominated lamenting scenes in the mythological zarzuela during the tumultuous years surrounding the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14). Always played by a woman en travesti, the lamenting male became a stock character in this musical genre, entertaining audiences while allegorically reflecting Madrid’s elite at the turn of the eighteenth century. This dissertation uncovers an as yet unexplored proliferation of male laments in staged drama of the period while addressing a cross-dressing phenomenon in the zarzuela, an aspect that has until now received little attention. Extant zarzuelas from the period 1696–1718 form the core of the dissertation. I explore lamenting traditions in this repertory in relation to contemporary cross-dressing practices, and to contemporary philosophical, literary, gender, and medical discourses. Among the numerous male laments occurring in this repertory, I identify two types: Cupid’s laments, and their allegorical representation of the Spanish monarch and of his struggle for power, and male amorous complaints as a manifestation of philosophical perceptions about love. Finally, discourses of gender inequality are revealed in the analysis of the few female laments appearing in the genre. I suggest that a proliferation of male lamentos during this period is symptomatic of the political tensions felt at court. Moreover, I contend that the male lyrical voice that had long dominated the tradition of amorous suffering found a safe conduit for theatrical and lamenting expression in the female performer. Women’s voices and bodies softened the dangerous overtones of feminization carried in the male lamento, thus allowing the lamenting male to become widely accepted. An examination of the zarzuela and its laments helps bring a rich literary, theatrical, and musical tradition into the mainstream while illuminating an under-explored period in the history of Spanish music.

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