SPAIN AND SEVILLE

Spain has always has a fascination for opera composers from other countries. While, The Barber of Seville by Rossini and The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni by Mozart are set in Seville, Spain, there is nothing truly Spanish about them. (So that their political and social undertones would be less offensive to the French, Beaumarchais changed the locale of his plays from Paris to Seville.) Bizet's Carmen, although written by a Frenchman, has a very Spanish feeling. The stories for Verdi's Il trovatore, Don Carlo(s) and Massenet's Don Quichotte, are Spanish in origin.

For more on Spain and the history and background for various operas, see the following articles:

Barbary Corsairs
Cervantes
The Spanish Inquisition

The city of Seville is one of the most interesting in Spain to visit, and it has played a very important role in Spanish history, especially in its relations with the New World. It stands about fifty-five miles from the mouth of the Guadalquivar River. Beginning as the Iberian town of Hispalis, it was seized by the Vandals in the fifth century and, after the fall of Rome, became the capital of the Visigoths. The Moors captured the site in 711 and held it until it was freed by Ferdinand III of Castile in 1248.

It was to Seville that Columbus and Pizarro brought back their reports on their discoveries. There is a magnificent tomb for Columbus in the Seville cathedral, one of the largest in the world, but whether or not his are the remains buried there had been disputed. However, recent DNA studies on some bone fragments confirm that at least a part of the remains are his. Others may be in the Dominican Republic.

The Casa de Contratación (Exchange) which controlled trade with the Americas was located in Seville; princely foreign merchants made Seville their home, and many of their palaces still survive. In 1795, the Archivo de Indias was founded there. It contains some 36,000 files of documents relating to the discovery of America and the history of Spain's colonies. Many of them are still unread and every year brings the discovery of new historical treasures.

The appearance of the picturesque old quarters is very Moorish, and the climate allows flowers to grow year around. The oldest standing building is the Alcázar, started by the Moors in 1181 and added to over the years. The Old Cigarette Factory, built from 1750-66, the site of the first act of Carmen, is now part of the University of Seville.

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Revised July 2010
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