131
In Vitoria, Pamplona and other cities of Carlist tradition the Church had organized all out campaigns against the performance of the play, Doña Perfecta, in 1896 because of its anticlerical thesis. See the letters from Emilio Mario, director of the Comedia, to Galdós in Cartas a Galdós (Madrid, Revista de Occidente, 1964), pp. 391-397 and 401.
132
Final del siglo XIX y principios del XX, Obras Completas (Madrid, Biblioteca Nueva, 1949) VII, 741-742. Baroja's memoires are not always accurate, but in this case the newspaper articles corroborated him in almost every detail. We cannot be assured that it was Maeztu who started the anticlerical rampage, but we do have the following report by José de Laserna: «Algún grito imprudente excitó más los ánimos, y se dieron mueras a la reacción y al clericalismo. La efervesencia y la agitación eran tales que parecía el teatro un club revolucionario.» («Los teatros», El Imparcial, 31-I-1901). This coupled with Maeztu's public attitude toward the play leads us to believe that in this too Baroja's account is true.
133
«A propos de l'Electra», Bulletin Hispanique, III (1901), 195-202.
134
In La Época (2-II-1901) Electra was called an esperpento and this epithet became common in later articles. Although Corominas tells us that the word was first used in 1891, we wonder if Electra is the first play to be so termed. Of course, it is only used in the conservative press, referring to the fact that it is a deformation of reality.
135
El Siglo Futuro also lambastes Menéndez y Pelayo for favorably receiving Galdós' play -in spite of what he might have said about him in Historia de los heterodoxos. Also remember that Menéndez y Pelayo was defeated in his candidacy for President of the Real Academia in 1906... by Pidal y Mon!
136
The reader should note that this article deals with the final dress rehearsal and should not be confused with reports on the opening performance.
137
This article was reproduced by Sergio Beser in a note «Un artículo de Maeztu contra Azorín», Bulletin Hispanique, LXV (1963), 329-332, and is included here for the convenience of the reader. Professor Beser only states his curiosity concerning the disparity in the opinions of the two writers of '98.
138
This article was written in Spain without access to the interesting chapter on Electra in H. Chanon Berkowitz, Galdós, The Spanish Liberal Crusader. After the first number of Anales galdosianos was already in press, I was able to consult Berkowitz in Edinburgh and it is evident that we have touched on many of the same points. However, while he goes into greater detail on the actual performances of the revolutionary play and its success in both Madrid and the provinces, I have tried to clarify points of political history, develop the facts of the Ubao case, and outline the reaction and the reasons for such in two of the important writers of 1898, all of which were not sufficiently studied by Berkowitz.
139
Todas las citas de Ortega se refiere a la edición de Obras Completas, nueve volúmenes: I (Madrid, 1957), II (1963), III (1962), IV (1962), V (1964) VI (1961), VII (1964), VIII (1965), IX (1962). La irregularidad de los años obedece a que los volúmenes se editan por separado en sucesivas ediciones, conforme se van agotando. Es útil señalar el año de cada volumen, porque las páginas no se corresponden en las distintas ediciones.
140
J. Marías, Ortega, I, Circunstancia y vocación (Madrid, 1960), p. 169.