Blood Wedding (Lorca)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blood Wedding ( Spanish : Bodas de sangre ) is a tragedy by Federico García Lorca .

It is the Spanish author's first lyrical tragedy. Lorca wrote the play in 1933. In the same year it premiered on March 8th in Madrid. The first production in German-speaking countries took place in Zurich in 1944. In addition to Yerma and Bernarda Alba's house , it belongs to the so-called farmer trilogy.

Lorca thematizes the conflict between feeling and reason in the constraints of an archaic and morally strict society. Lorca was inspired for this piece by a newspaper report from June 1928 about a crime in the Spanish province, when a wedding party came across the body of their cousin in search of the bride. While the play was not allowed to be performed during the Franco dictatorship , it made Lorca well known in German-speaking countries.

roll

  • mother
  • bride
  • mother-in-law
  • Mrs. Leonardos
  • Maid
  • neighbor
  • Leonardo
  • groom
  • Father of the bride
  • moon
  • Death (disguised as a beggar)
  • several lumberjacks
  • several girls

content

The tragedy takes place in a village in Andalusia in the 1930s.

1st act

1st picture

The mother and the groom are talking in the living room. He asks her for a knife, whereupon she is generally upset about knives and weapons. We also learn that her husband and her older son probably perished in a family dispute with the Félix family. But the son manages to calm her down, directs the subject to his upcoming wedding and agrees with his mother to go to his bride soon to ask for her hand. Finally the son leaves and a neighbor comes to visit. Since the mother hardly knows the bride, she asks the neighbor if she knows something and learns from her that the bride has already been engaged to Leonardo, which worries the mother very much.

2nd picture

At the beginning the mother-in-law and the wife sing an Andalusian lullaby to make the child fall asleep. Now Leonardo is coming home. His wife asks him if he was at the end of the plain, which he denies. He seems quite distracted and behaves unfriendly and unfriendly. Then Leonardo's wife tells about her cousin and her upcoming wedding. Leonardo reacts rather annoyed and rules at her, not mentioning that he was engaged to that woman for three years. The picture ends with a repetition of the Andalusian lullaby.

3rd picture

The bridegroom and the mother have ridden to the bride's house and are received by the maid. The father soon joins them and there is a conversation in which the father and mother are already discussing the future of the couple. Then the bride appears and is critically examined by the mother. Finally, an appointment is made for the wedding and the mother and groom set off to return home. Only the bride and the maid remain. The bride is very frustrated and doesn't seem to be looking forward to the wedding at all. When the servant tells her that Leonardo was in front of her window the previous night, she does not want to believe it at first, but then you hear a horse and they realize that it is Leonardo again.

2nd act

1st picture

The final preparations for the wedding are being made and the maid is preparing the bride. Suddenly there is a knock on the door and Leonardo enters the scene. He reminds the bride of their time together and provokes her, but the bride refuses to agree and continues to insist on adapting and getting married. Then there is a dialogue between several people about the bride and the marriage, meanwhile the other wedding guests have also arrived and everything seems to take its usual course. All wedding guests except for Leonardo and the woman leave. At first, Leonardo doesn't want to go to church with his wife, but rather alone, but eventually he gives in.

2nd picture

Further preparations for the wedding follow and the guests appear. The mother and father come and talk about the wedding, the mother being unable to hide her anger and bitterness, and constant references to the past. In this picture there is a constant coming and going and all guests are in a good mood and are exuberant, only the bride seems depressed and depressed. She tells her bridegroom that she will lie down for a moment and leaves. Then Leonardo's wife comes and asks where her husband and his horse are. She is the only one who foresees the fateful events. The mother of the groom, the father of the bride and the groom seek the bride, unsuccessfully. Shortly afterwards it is discovered that the bride is missing. Then Leonardo's wife enters the scene and reports that her husband has fled with the bride, whereupon the chase begins.

3rd act

1st picture

At the beginning, three lumberjacks appear to comment on the situation. Then follows the appearance of the moon, which with the beggar (she represents death) contributes to the fatal fight (the moon gives the scene the necessary "blue" light, whereby one can recognize the flashing of the knives and the actors ). When the groom and a stable boy approach, the beggar crouches down, but is discovered by the two of them and wants to lead them to the refugees. Then follows a change to Leonardo and the bride. They talk about what happened but don't feel guilty, they blame fate. The bride also wants to persuade him to continue to flee alone. But he refuses and finally Leonardo and the groom kill each other.

Last picture

At the beginning several children talk about what happened at the wedding. The beggar comes to them and tells about the events at the river. Then the mother comes back with the neighbor. She seems relatively composed and callous. When the bride arrives to emphasize that she has kept her honor, the mother first beats her, but stops and falls into sarcasm, whereupon the bride tries to explain her behavior. The piece closes with a monologue by the mother on the motif of the deadly knife.

Symbolism in Lorca's work

In Lorca's blood wedding (span. Bodas de Sangre ) one encounters some “archetypal symbols” which the author uses when interpreting the text more precisely. These are symbols which the Canadian literary critic Northrop Frye defines as follows: “[…] as a repeated or recurring symbol, which, without being a commonplace, tends to enrich tradition and establish a common basis for both the poet and his reader”. Only the title with the compound blood wedding contains, on the one hand, the symbol of blood (the sap of life of all living beings on earth, which is necessary for the continued existence of human and animal life) and, on the other hand, the word wedding (the marriage of two people), which is often with love , Passion, happiness and confidence. Two elements that thus secure and characterize the social course of life. Julian Palley highlights the following noteworthy symbols in Lorca's work in his analysis of Archetypal Symbols in “Bodas de Sangre” (1967).

The knife (span. Navaja, cuchillo ): Bodas de Sangre begins and ends with the image of the knife. In the piece it stands for death, which is illustrated again in the third act with the fatal confrontation between the two protagonists, the novio and Leonardo. Palley also cites: “The archetyp cuchillo appears frequently in the Romancero gitano ”.

The horse (span. Caballo ): The horse in the piece is symbolic of masculine strength, assertiveness and potency. These are all characteristics that refer to Leonardo in this work. Julien Palley comments on this: “The […] scene opens and closes with the lullaby 'Del caballo grande ... que no quiso el agua'”.

The moon (span. Luna ): The moon is a recurring symbol in García Lorca's works. Palley adds: Luna in the pages of our Andalusian poet is nearly always a symbol of death or sterility, closer, therefore, to the Ishtar "terrible mother" or to Hecate than to Diana in her role of goddess of fertility. She appears together with muerte as early as Libro de poemas, where the moon, old and witch-like, buys "pinturas a la muerte." In Bodas de Sangre, the moon mainly represents death, sterility and violence.

The blood (span. Sangre ): The blood stands for life and at the same time for tragic death.

The wheat (span. Trigo): The wheat as well as the seed (span. Simiente) are symbolic of life or lifespan in Bodas de Sangre. Already on the first page the mother says: “Los hombres, hombres; el trigo, trigo ”.

The orange blossom (span. Azahar ): The orange blossom is first mentioned at the beginning of the second act, where the Novia's maid puts a crown of orange blossoms on her head while she helps her to get dressed. However, the bride throws it to the ground, which the Criada regards as a bad omen. The orange blossoms can stand for two things: wedding and virginity. Palley also sees parallels here with the Greek hymen .

criticism

In a description of the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus it says: Rigid traditions, social injustice, the inhuman practice of marrying women to unloved men for material reasons - this is the background against which Lorca presents the characters. Its greatness consists in creating figures, people who do not want to come to terms with the double standards, with the constraints of their society, and cost their lives.

Musical arrangements

After the year of the premiere; Original title

Radio plays

  • Blood wedding . GDR 1980. Composition: Reiner Bredemeyer , director: Achim Scholz.
  • Blood wedding. SRF 1966. Music: Emil Moser, Director: Robert Bichler.

Film adaptations

  • 1978: Blood Wedding (studio recording)
  • 1981: Bodas de sangre (Blood Wedding) - Director: Carlos Saura
  • 2015: "La novia" Director: Paula Ortiz, 93 min. (Spain)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus ( Memento from January 5, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Brockhaus Multimedia; Bibliographical Institute & FA Brockhaus AG