Era el remedio olvidar once more

Bulletin Of The Comediantes Vol. IX Fall, 1957 No. 2 Era el remedio olvidar once more Warren T. McCready, University of Toronto The additional information supplied by Frank T. Piatt on the song "Era el remedio olvidar" (BCom, Spring 1957, p. 10) leads me to offer a few more details, which have been accumulating in the "fichero." In a note that seems to have escaped attention ,1 R. Foulché-Delbosc points out the occurrence of the verses in La casa de locos de amor, attributed to Quevedo; in Moreto's El parecido en la corte (1652); and in Los tres afectos de amor by Calderón (1658), where they are referred to as "una coplilla de Gil." Finally, Foulché announces his discovery of the "coplilla" in an undated manuscript of the Biblioteca Nacional. In none of these works does the redondilla quoted by Professor Piatt ("Corazón, buscad un medio") appear. The earliest datable play in which the couplet "Era el remedio olvidar, / y olvidóseme el remedio" has been found is Lope's La villana de Getafe (161 0-14),2 where it is already mentioned as a song: Presto vendrás a tener el corazón sosegado, y más si pones en medio amor en otro lugar. —Era el remedio olvidar, y olvidóseme el remedio. —Ansí dice la canción . . . (Ac. N., X, 370b) The latest is El alcázar del secreto of Solís, dated about 1660-62 by J. H. Parker.3 Within this span of some fifty years these same verses are encountered in Püsoseme el sol, idióme la luna (Ac. N., IX, 4a), El ingrato (Ac. N., VI, 490a) of which Matos' play is a refundición, the plays mentioned by Professor Piatt, and Gracián's Arte del ingenio* The same thought is expressed, but in different verses, in the following plays by or attributed to Lope: El padrino desposado (1598-1600): De remedio de amor puedes leer un rato en Ovidio, que te enseñará a olvidar. (Ac. N., Vili, 311b) Lo que pasa en una tarde ( 1617) : Fingir amor fué venganza; tomarla será buen medio de amor y temor en medio con olvidar y callar; mas si es remedio olvidar es muy costoso remedio! (Ac. N., II, 318a) Engañar a quien engaña (1625-35?): No es buen remedio, Tacón. —Para el mal que tú padeces, no hay cosa como olvidar. (Ac. N., V, 181a) Los nobles como han de ser ( 1625-35 ? ) : (The Prince has a servant bring him a copy of Ovid, then apostrophizes the author). Diréis, astuto y sagaz, que es el remedio olvidar, pues no la puede alcanzar mi deseo pertinaz. (Ac. N., VIII, 106a-b) It thus appears that the song "Era el remedio olvidar" was very popular during the first half of the 17th century, being known and sung for at least fifty yean 17 BULLETIN OF THE COMEDIANTES Published in the Spring and Fall by the Comediantes, an informal, international group of all those interested in the comedia. Editor Everett W. Hesse University of Wisconsin Madison 6, Wis. Assistant Editor John E. Keller University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, N. C. Subscription: $1 a year (about 1610-1660). Lope de Vega in particular seems to have taken it to heart. Unfortunately , the music for this Number One song on the aureosecular "Hit Parade" is not known to exist. 1ReV. hisp., XIV (1906), 607-10. 2 The date· of the plays mentioned are from Ruth Lee Kennedy, The Dramatic Art of Morete \ H. W. Hilborn, A Chronology of the Plays of D. Pedro Calderón de la Barca; and, of courte, Morley and Bruerton, The Chronology of Lope de Vega's Comedias. 3 "The Versification of the comedias of Antonio de Solís y Rivadeneyra," HR, XVII (1949), 312. * Baltasar Gracián, Oráculo manual, ed. M. Romera -Navarro (Madrid, 1954), p. 506, note 5, My thanks to Professor Robert R. Bishop for this item. Minutes of the Madison Meeting The annual meeting of the Comediantes was held on Tuesday, September 10, in the Memorial Union of the University of Wisconsin . Chairman Rozzell called the discussion meeting to...