Juan Moreira: la transformación de un gaucho cuchillero en personaje de ópera italiana

Abstract

Resumen: Juan Moreira fue un personaje de la vida real, que vivió enfrentado con las autoridades de su comarca. Sus acciones fueron escritas por Eduardo Gutiérrez, idealizando el personaje hasta hacerlo arquetipo del gaucho y creando muchas situaciones de su vida que no tuvo realmente. Sobre este tema se compuso un libreto para escenificarlo. El éxito de la representación escénica llevó a la popularización del personaje. De este modo habría de merecer convertirse en personaje de ópera, expresión de la mayor importancia en la cultura de occidente en su momento.

Abstract: Juan Moreira was a real person, though some life circumstances and actions attributed to him have never happened. He was a quarrelsome man who confronted the authorities of his community. Eduardo Gutierrez wrote about him and due to the idealization of his life, Moreira is now cited as the prototype of the “gaucho”. A theatrical script was written based on Moreira’s life. The play was so successful and the character so popular that he soon became an opera character. At that time, the opera was one of the major artistic expressions of Western culture. This article describes the process through which juan Moreira became not only the gaucho’s prototype but also an opera character.