Título de la obra:
Introduction to the Literature of Europe, in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth centuries,
vol. 1
Bouterwerk´s Character of Spanish Songs
“Love
songs,” says
Bouterwek,
“form by far the principal part of the old Spanish cancioneros. To read them regularly through would require a strong passion for compositions of this class, for the
monotony
of the authors is interminable. To extend and spin out a theme as long as possible, though only to seize a new modification of the old ideas and phrases, was, in their opinion, essential to the truth and sincerity of their poetic effusions of the heart. That loquacity, which is a
hereditary
fault of the
Italian
canzone, must also be endured in perusing the amatory flights of the Spanish redondillas, while in them the Italian correctness of expression would be looked for in
vain.
From the desire, perhaps, of relieving their monotony by some sort of variety, the authors have indulged in even more witticisms and plays of words than the Italians, but they also sought to infuse a more emphatic spirit into their compositions than the latter. The Spanish poems of this class exhibit, in general, all the
poverty
of the compositions of the
troubadours,
but blend with the simplicity of these bards the pomp of the Spanish
national
style in its utmost vigour. This resemblance to the troubadour songs was not, however, produced by imitation; it arose out of the spirit of romantic love, which at that period, and for several preceding centuries, gave to the
south
of Europe the same feeling and taste. Since the age of
Petrarch,
this spirit had appeared in classical perfection in Italy. But the Spanish
amatory
poets of the fifteenth century had not reached an equal degree of cultivation; and the whole turn of their ideas required rather a passionate than a tender expression. The sighs of the languishing Italians
became
cries in Spain. Glowing passion, despair, and
violent
ecstasy were the soul of the Spanish love songs. The continually recurring picture of the contest between reason and passion is a peculiar characteristic of these songs. The Italian poets did not attach so much importance to the triumph of reason. The rigidly moral Spaniard was, however, anxious to be wise even in the midst of his folly. But this
obtrusion
of wisdom in an
improper
place frequently gives an
unpoetical
harshness
to the lyric poetry of Spain, in spite of all the softness of its melody.”