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que no quieran tanto aviro como esclavo (typo?)
c.i.d. del deudor

Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

loa

English translation:

(dramatic) prologue

Added to glossary by Charles Davis
Apr 25, 2012 15:02
12 yrs ago
3 viewers *
Spanish term

loa

Spanish to English Art/Literary Poetry & Literature Lope de Vega
Title of a ? called "Loa entre un villano y una labradora" by Lope as introduction to an Auto Sacramental
Proposed translations (English)
5 +6 prologue
5 +1 loa (Spanish play)
5 +1 Laud, eulogy,praise
Change log

Apr 27, 2012 08:45: Charles Davis changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/1356391">Ann Hannigan Breen's</a> old entry - "loa"" to ""prologue""

Apr 27, 2012 08:45: Charles Davis changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/1321043">Charles Davis's</a> old entry - "loa"" to ""dramatic prologue""

Discussion

lorenab23 Apr 25, 2012:
@ Charles You certainly do not have to be sorry (thank you for being so polite), I stand corrected, instead of relying on my bad recollection of what an Auto Sacramental is I should have looked it up first before opening my mouth. I am going to remove my comments, thank you for the thorough explanation as always
Charles Davis Apr 25, 2012:
And the trouble is that if you call it a "playlet" or a "play", you are not conveying its essential introductory function, and not distinguishing it from the other kinds of playlet (principally the entremés, also the mojiganga). In all cases the loa was performed immediately before the main play.
Charles Davis Apr 25, 2012:
@Lorena I'm sorry, but for once you've got this wrong. An auto sacramental most certainly is a play (an allegorical Corpus Christi play), and the Loa entre un villano y una labradora, despite what the title suggests, is not a playlet, it's a verse prologue or lead-in to the auto. It has no plot as such, or at least none that is separable from the main play that follows it. The villano and the labradora, his wife, are actually spectators waiting for the auto sacramental to begin on Corpus Christi day, and they discuss autos sacramentales, so apart from the fact it's a dialogue, not a monologue, it's really rather like the Prologue to Shakespeare's Henry V, with its famous reference to the actual theatre where the audience is waiting for the play to begin: "this wooden O".

Proposed translations

+6
5 mins
Selected

prologue

Literally "praise", because it was originally in praise of the audience or patron. It's a brief verse piece spoken before the play proper.

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Note added at 25 mins (2012-04-25 15:27:35 GMT)
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"On the prologue see Jean-Louis Flecniakoska, La loa (Madrid: Sociedad General Espafiola de Libreria, 1975)"
Bruce W. Wardropper, "The Dramatic Epilogue in Golden-Age Spain"
http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2905761?uid=3737952&ui...

"Huerta wrote for one of these pieces a prologue (loa) in the old style."
http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/friedrich-bouterwek/hi...

It is quite true that in academic writing in English on Golden Age drama intended for specialists, it is called a loa (in italics), just as you refer to "the comedia", but the translation is prologue (or more precisely dramatic verse prologue). In your context, "Title of a ? called "Loa entre un villano y una labradora" (written) by Lope as introduction to an Auto Sacramental", it would sound a bit silly to put "Title of a loa<(i> called Loa entre [...]", and I think you should use "Title of a prologue called Loa entre [...]". The use of "Loa" in the title itself will clarify what sort of prologue it is talking about.

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Note added at 35 mins (2012-04-25 15:38:12 GMT)
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"Loa, prologue or compliment to the audience which preceded the early Spanish theatrical performance. It ranged from a short introductory monologue to a miniature drama having some bearing on the play which was to follow."
PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND, The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Loa.aspx

"Loa ('praise', a theatrical prologue used first in a sacred context in the earliest autos sacramentales [...]"
Philip Ward, The Oxford Companion to Spanish Literature, p, 333.

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Note added at 55 mins (2012-04-25 15:57:30 GMT)
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I think it would actually be better to put dramatic prologue (see my discussion comments).

A loa can be a separate playlet, but this one isn't.

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Note added at 1 hr (2012-04-25 16:34:35 GMT)
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In early modern English drama the term "prologue", which Shakespeare himself used, covers all kinds of introductory pieces, whether monologues or dialogues, and whether or not separable from the main play. Lope's loa is a "theshold" text, "ushering the audience to the play", as a certain kind of prologue has appropriately been termed; see the following interesting discussion:
http://www.ashgate.com/pdf/SamplePages/Framing_Text_in_Early...
Peer comment(s):
agree philgoddard
35 mins
Thanks, Phil!
agree Noni Gilbert Riley : Vague memories that I used to know this too!
43 mins
Ah, happy days! (?). Thanks, Noni :)
agree Letredenoblesse
1 hr
Thanks, Agnes :)
agree franglish : An erudite contribution; I've learned something today!
1 hr
Many thanks, franglish :)
agree Evans (X) : Excellent stuff!
4 hrs
Many thanks, Gilla!
agree Yvonne Gallagher : echo comments of Franglish and Gilla
6 hrs
Thanks very much, gallagy :)
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4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you. This really was very helpful."
+1
4 mins

loa (Spanish play)

This kind of Spanish play is usually not traslated. You may also write a footnote.
Peer comment(s):
agree lorenab23 : maybe "playlet" as it is a very short play?
24 mins
Yes, maybe. Thanks a lot, Lorena.
Something went wrong...
+1
7 mins

Laud, eulogy,praise

It literally means praise. In literture is called a Laud or eulogy. See definition following. From Wikkipedia: Se trata de una composición breve en verso (de arte menor: quintillas al comienzo, [[RomXVII) que se escenificaba antes que el primer acto o jornada de una comedia. Al principio era un monólogo; luego se transformó en un diálogo con una mínima acción dramática. Se precedía de unos tonos musicales, cantados a veces, con guitarras, vihuela y arpa, que se reiteraban tras su fin.
Servía de preámbulo a la pieza teatral para predisponer positivamente al público (mediante el tópico literario de la captatio benevolentiae) elogiando el lugar y a sus vecinos y al santo del día; encarecía el mérito de los actores o de la compañía, presentaba su repertorio, pedía indulgencia ante los posibles errores, y resumía o explicaba brevemente el contenido de la pieza sin anticipar su conclusión. Muchas veces, si la compañía venía de otro lugar, solía encomendarse a algún poeta local. Solía tener la función práctica de aplacar el natural bullicio de la gente congregada para asistir a la representación teatral. La solía recitar el autor o empresario de la compañía.
Con posterioridad a Lope de Vega la loa se fue independizando por contagio de otras formas de teatro menor, como el entremés, pasó del monólogo al diálogo y adquirió una cierta acción dramática y heterogeneidad de temas (las mujeres feas, la espada, los días de la semana, animales e insectos...), terminando por ser una breve composición dramática que se representaba antes de la comedia.
Peer comment(s):
agree GUR CAKE
9 hrs
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