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Don Alvaro_, and gave clear indication that the literary revolution was complete. The temper of the time was decidedly Romantic, and the wholehearted applause that resounded through the Teatro del Principe on the night of Jan. 19, 1837, at the first performance of _Los Amantes de Teruel_ put an end to the long and laborious apprenticeship of Hartzenbusch. A few days later the warm reception given the play and its continued popularity were justified in a remarkable piece of dramatic criticism by the rival playwright and keen literary critic, Jose de Larra, known better by his journalistic pen-name, Figaro, and greatly feared by his contemporaries for his mordant criticism and stinging satire. In the opening words of his review of the play, we may see the highly favorable attitude of the critic and realize the suddenness of the fame that came to Hartzenbusch. "Venir a aumentar el numero de los vivientes, ser un hombre mas donde hay tantos hombres, oir decir de si: 'Es un tal fulano,' es ser un arbol mas en una alameda. Pero pasar cinco o seis lustros oscuro y desconocido, y llegar una noche entre otras, convocar a un pueblo, hacer tributaria su curiosidad, alzar una cortina, conmover el corazon, subyugar el juicio, hacerse aplaudir y aclamar, y oir al dia siguiente de si mismo al pasar por una calle o por el Prado: 'Aquel es el escritor de la comedia aplaudida,' eso es algo; es nacer; es devolver al autor de nuestros dias por un apellido oscuro un nombre claro; es dar alcurnia a sus ascendientes en vez de recibirla de ellos."[2] Other contemporary reviews were just as favorable, and all expressed with Figaro great hopes in the career of a dramatist that had thus begun with an acknowledged masterpiece. The _Semanario Pintoresco_, for example, a literary magazine in its second year of publication, ended its review of the play with these words: "El joven que, saliendo de la oscuridad del taller de un artesano, se presenta en el mundo literario con los Amantes de Teruel por primera prueba de su talento, hace concebir al teatro espanol la fundada esperanza de futuros dias de gloria, y de verse elevado a la altura que un dia ocupo en la admiracion del mundo civilizado." (Feb. 5, 1837.) [Footnote 2: _Obras completas de Figaro._ Paris, 1889. Vol. III, page 187.] Thus encouraged by popular applause and by the enthusiastic praise of literary critics, Hartzenbusch produced at varying intervals many excellent plays, but none of
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