El sí de las niñas, segundo centenario

Abstract

The first steps of El sí de las niñas’s career are evoked from the author’s diary and the work realized by Juan Pérez de Guzmán in 1906 about the first century of comedy, in particular the different lectures, public and private, that the author delivered from 1801 in contemplation of the publication and the premiere, the choice of the actors and the rehearsals, the audience’s reaction in Madrid, Zaragoza, Cádiz, Barcelona in 1806 and the following decades, as much as the indubitable attraction of the misalliance theme. There is then a suggestion of the possibility to clarify the old man’s “generosity”, he who is able to “sacrifice” himself, triumphing over his passions, as embodied by Don Diego’s character, “man of good will” according to Moratín and many historians, depending on an outcome which achieves to reconcile generally irreconcilable interests, that are parental authority and the freedom to love.