The Spaniards' own Romantic dramas on medieval themes when turned into
operas collaborated in the process. First,afterthe liberal restorationof 1833, came
Rivas's Don Alvaro,o lafuerza delsino (1835; = Verdi's Laforza deldestino, 1862); then
Garcia Gutierrez's El trovador (1836; = Verdi's II trovatore, 1853), and his Simon
Bocanegra(i 843; = Verdi's SimonBoccanegra, 857, revised 188 I). Hartzenbusch's Los
amantesde Teruel, the least worst of this awesomely extravagant bunch, has been
mentioned earlier. Even La traviataincludes a bullfighting episode (unknown to
Dumas) in the second party scene. One could say that Bizet's Carmenin 1875, based
on Merimee's story of 1845, which in turn had reflectedplenty of direct experience
in the country (with some details filched from Borrow), was simply waiting to
happen, flooding the theatre with local colour in all possible aspects
