El Retablo de Maese Pedro - Synopsis

Synopsis

Time: 1615

Place: Setting: the courtyard of an inn at an undetermined place in La Mancha, Spain (possibly Ossa de Montiel).

El Pregón (The announcement)

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza witness a puppet show presented by Master Peter the puppeteer. He appears ringing a bell, with a monkey on his shoulder. He calls for attention and announces the performance of "The Tale of Melisendra", a story about the adoptive daughter of Charlemagne who has been abducted by the Moors and taken to Saragossa. The show, performed by smaller puppets, enacts the following.

"Vengan, vengan, a ver vuesas mercedes..." (Come, come and see, mylords).

La Sinfonía de maese Pedro (Master Peter's symphony)

The audience comes in, Don Quixote being bowed to a place in the front row, his long legs stretched in front of him or crossed during the following performance.

Historia de la libertad de Melisendra (Tale of the rescue of Melisendra, introduction)

The narration is sung by Master Peter's apprentice (the Boy or Trujamán): he begins introducing the subject. "Esta verdadera historia..." (This true story...).

Scene 1. La corte de Carlomagno (Charlemagne's court)

The palace of Charlemagne. Melisendra, the emperor’s adoptive daughter, is held captive in Saragossa by the Moorish king Marsilio. Her husband Don Gayferos, however, remains idle, preoccupied with his games of chess. The scene is now revealed of the court of Charlemagne, where Don Gayferos is playing chess with Don Roland. The boy draws attention to Charlemagne himself, who is angry and urges Don Gayferos to action. The latter refuses the help of Roland and will set out himself to rescue Melisendra. The scene is acted after the narrative explanation, the two knights rising from their game as the Emperor enters to appropriately stately music and confronts Don Gayferos, striking him with his sceptre, before turning away. Left alone, the two knights quarrel and Don Gayferos storms out in anger.

Scene 2. Melisendra

"Ahora verán la torre del Alcázar de Zaragoza..." (Now, you are seeing the tower of the castle of Zaragoza"). A tower at the castle of Saragossa: there is the captive Melisendra thinking of her husband and Paris. A Moorish soldier approaches stealthily and steals a kiss from her. She calls for help, tearing her hair, and the Moor is seized by the guards. The boy continues the story, telling how the Moor is taken through the streets to the town square, where he will be given two hundred blows, condemned almost as soon as the crime had been committed.

The boy adds that the Moors have no due criminal process. Don Quixote takes exception to this and stands up to make his objection: Master Peter tells the boy to keep to the story, without adding his own embellishments. "Niño, niño, seguid vuestra historia en línea recta..." ("Boy, boy: follow your tale in straight way"). The puppeteer returns to his booth and Don Quixote sits down.

Scene 3. El suplicio del moro (The Moorish's punishment)

The Moorish soldier is punished: the blows of the executioners in time with the music. The Moor falls and is dragged away by the guards.

Scene 4. Los Pirineos (The Pyrenees)

Don Gayferos rides through the mountain passes of the Pyrenees. He is wrapped in a long cloak and carries a hunting-horn, which he blows now and again. The curtain closes again and the boy describes how Melisendra, at the window of her tower, talks to a stranger in the street below, asking him to ask in Paris for Don Gayferos: the knight reveals his identity and sets her on his horse, riding now to Paris once more.

Scene 5. La fuga (The escape)

Melisendra is rescued by Gayferos. They ride off toward Paris. The boy wishes them well, with happiness in lives as long as Nestor's, a comment that induces Master Peter to tell him to keep to the point. "Llaneza, muchacho, no te encumbres, que toda afectación es mala" (Simplicity, boy, don't climb too much, that any affectation is bad). The curtain now opens for the last time, showing King Marsilio summoning his guards, the boy pointing with his wand to the figures, as he tells the story. The Moors realize the escape and raise the alarm.

Scene 6. La persecución (The pursuit)

All the city is in turmoil, with bells ringing from the minarets. Don Quixote jumps up to object, since the Moors do not have church bells, but drums and shawms. ("Eso no, que es un gran disparate": "That is not, it is a great nonsense"). Master Peter pokes his head out of the booth to tell Don Quixote not to be such a stickler for accuracy, since plays are always full of inaccuracies of this kind. Don Quixote agrees and sits down again.

The Moors soldiers are pursuing them. Don Quixote is enraged to see Moors in pursuit of the Christian couple. The boy points out the figures now pursuing Don Gayferos and Melisendra, with trumpets and drums, about to catch the fugitives. At this moment, Don Quixote can't distance himself from the violence onstage: convinced the puppets are real, he leaps up, draws his sword and attacks the puppets, destroying the puppet theater. "Alto, malnacida canalla, non les sigáis" ("Stop, damned fool, don't pursue them").

Finale

He declares himself a knight errant in thrall to the fair Dulcinea. ("Y vosotros: caballero Don Gaiferos, hermosa y bella señora Melisendra..." ("And you: knight Don Gaiferos, beautiful lady Melisendra"). He sings his love for Dulcinea: "Oh, Dulcinea, señora de mi vida" ("Oh, Dulcinea, lady of my life")and his own exploit and those of the knights of old, while Master Peter can only stare in despair at the havoc wrought on his puppets.