TOREADOR...En Garde!
The most famous music in CARMEN is The Toreador Song. Escamillo, the bullfighter (toreador in French, torero in Spanish) follows a profession whose roots can be traced as far back as the 11th century AD in Spain. Although Ohioians are less familiar with bullfighting, in countries where it is practiced the respect and admiration given to the matador is very much the same as that which we might bestow on a great ball player, movie star, or musician.
As with learning any profession, becoming a licensed matador takes years of grueling training. Young men attend schools devoted to developing the skill of the torero. Here they will master spectacular cape passes with grace and elegance. They will learn daring ways to place the bandrillas into the bulls neck muscle to weaken the animal and prevent him from looking from side to side as he charges.
Here too, the torero will learn about the el toro de casta, the fierce breed of bull he must face in the plaza de toros. These savage bulls are indigenous to the Iberian Peninsula and for centuries have been carefully bred for the bullring. They are fierce and dangerous, yet noble — trained to attack the matador's red cape and not the man. The bull is attracted to the cape's movement, not its color. El toro de casta has an exceptional memory and will soon learn all the tricks in a matador's repertoire. He will face the bullring only once in his lifetime whether or not the fight is to the death. In order to save the bull, the matador must fabricate an elaborate graceful, choreographed dance that features and showcases the bull.
For a torero to earn the coveted title of matador he must serve as an apprentice in a matador's cuadrilla or team of assistants. Eventually he may be promoted to the rank of novillero, when he will be permitted to face smaller, younger bulls. Ten matadors must testify in writing as to the novillero's skill, ability and fitness before he is granted alternativa, the final test to prove he is worthy to graduate to the coveted title of matador.
The alternativa will take place at a bullfight with three toreros, the candidate, a witness torero, and an experienced, well-regarded matador, who becomes the godfather, padrino of the novillero, the matador to be. Only five percent of all toreros achieve the alternativa and the great title that goes with it, for a candidate's success is not only measured by his skill in fighting the bull, but also by his ability to entertain the crowd. He must also display pundonor, or honor, always striving to do his best at all times and to display a sense of personal pride and moral standards in the arena and in private life.
Bullfighting arouses controversy. Its fans regard the torero as an artist at the center of a drama of life and death. Others consider it a sport with a winner and a loser. People who do not understand the art of bullfighting and its place in Spanish culture consider the whole practice of killing animals for entertainment as barbaric. (Some places, such as Portugal and California, have laws that prohibit the killing of the bull.)
Still, bullfighting flourishes in both hemispheres. The first American to become a matador was a Texan, Harper Lee, in 1910. It was not until the middle of the 20th century that we would see the first female matador — or more specifically matadora. Raquel Martinez, a native of Tijuana, Mexico, was the first to earn the title in 1969. Today, more and more women have become revered toreras.
It is no wonder that Carmen is attracted to Escamillo! He has spent years to become an accomplished torero and has earned the admiration of adoring crowds who cheer (in the French words of librettists, Meilhac and Halevy), "Toreador...En Garde!"
Spanish Words:
Torero: Bullfighter male.
Torera: Bullfighter - female.
Matador: The male bullfighter who kills the bull.
Matadora: The female bullfighter who kills the bull.
Bandrilla: Decorated barbed stick which is placed in the bull.
El toro: The bull.
Toro de casta: A specific breed of bull.
Plaza de toros: The bullfight arena.
Iberian Peninsula: The Peninsula consisting of Spain and Portugal.
Cuadrilla: The matador's team of assistants.
Novillero: A professional apprentice bullfighter who faces smaller, younger animals.
Alternativa: A graduation ceremony from Novillero to Matador.
Padrino: Godfather.
Pundonor: Honor. The torero's sense of obligation always to do one's best.
French Words
Toreador: Bullfighter.
En garde!: Prepare to fight!
To discover more about bullfighting and Spain, visit this web site:http://www.red2OOO.com/spain/index.html
