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Knights at the Opera, Part 5 - Spain and Portugal

© Iris Bass

We think of 1492 at the year when Columbus discovered America. But also the 400-year-long Spanish Reconquista -- in which the Christian kings of the Spanish kingdoms strove to force the Moors from southern Spain (as much a racial as a holy war) -- coincidentally ended in 1492. Granada had been the last holdout, for many years. As we explore this geographical region in opera, it is important to note that Spanish knights differed from Crusaders in that they swore allegiance to a king, often to the king of Castile, and not to the Church.

Cherubini's 1813 Les Abençerages -- the name derives from Yusuf ben-Serragh, patriarch of the famed Moors of Granada -- was based upon Jean-Pierre-Claris de Florian's 1793 Gonzalve de Cordova. The plot relates to the downfall of the final Abenceragi warrior, Almansor, to Spanish forces in 1492.

In Donizetti's 1822 Zoraida di Grenata, drawn from the same text, Almuzir, a Moor who murders the king of Granada and thereby seizes his power, wishes to marry his victim's daughter, Princess Zoraida. But she is in love with Abenamet, leader of the Abencerages (and, incidentally, a heroic travesti role for a contralto, due to the untimely death of the intended tenor Abenamet during rehearsals...even then, apparently, a good tenor was hard to find!). To thwart his rival, Almunir makes him leader of the Moorish army and send him away on an impossible mission, one that will lead only to failure. When Abenamet returns in shame, Zoraida accepts Almunir's proposal on the condition that Abenamet not punished for his military failure. This agreement does not sit well with her beloved, who privately confronts her...and the pair is caught together. Zoraida is accused of unfaithfulness, which amounts to treason being as Almunir is now king (this must ring a bell for you folks familiar with the "three British queens" operas of Donizetti though, in truth, it was the behavior of European royalty and not Donizetti's fondness for the device, that makes this such a popular plot twist). Now we get more onto Wagnerian territory: Zoraida must die unless someone will come forth to champion her. Abenamet does so, disguised as an unknown knight. Not only does he force a confession out of Almunir as regards the murdered king, but he defends his enemy's regime against an uprising by the local population. Grateful for this latter rescue, Almunir allows Zoraida to marry the noble Abenamet after all. (Whew!)