Martinez Sierra, Maria 1874-1974
Martinez Sierra, Maria 1874-1974
(Gregorio Martínez Sierra, a joint pseudonym, María de la O'eJárraga Martínez Sierra)
PERSONAL:
Born December 28, 1874, in San Millan de la Cogolla, Spain; died June 28, 1974, in Buenos Aires, Argentina; married Gregorio Martínez Sierra (a writer and theater producer), 1900 (marriage ended).
CAREER:
Writer. Worked for the Spanish Parliament as Socialist party deputy, c. 1930s.
WRITINGS:
La mujer española ante la republica; conferencias leídas en el Ateneo de Madrid, en los días 4, 9, 11, 15, y 18 de mayo de 1931, Ediciones de la Esfinge (Madrid, Spain), 1931.
Una mujer por caminos de España; recuerdos de propagandista, Editorial Losada (Buenos Aires, Argentina), 1952.
Gregorio y yo; media siglo de colaboració, Biografías Gandesa (Mexico City, Mexico), 1953.
Tragedia de la perra vida; Sueños en la venta; La abuela vuelve en sí; La última confidencia; Es así, edited by Eduardo Pérez-Rasilla, Asociación de Directores de Escena de España (Madrid, Spain), c. 1996.
WITH HUSBAND, GREGORIO MARTINEZ SIERRA; UNDER HUSBAND'S NAME
Diálogos fantástícos (prose poems), 1899.
Sol de la tarde (short stories), 1904, 2nd edition, Renacimiento (Madrid, Spain), 1911.
Teatro de ensueño (dialogues), 1905, reprinted, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1926.
Tú eres la paz (novella), 1906, reprinted, Renacimiento (Madrid, Spain), 1918, translated as Ana María, R.G. Badger (Boston, MA), 1921.
Motivos, Garnier Hermanos (Paris, France), 1906.
La humilde verdad (novella), 2nd edition, Renacimiento (Madrid, Spain), 1915.
El diablo se ríe (novellas), Renacimiento (Madrid, Spain), 1916.
La vida inquieta. glosario espiritual, 2nd edition, Renacimiento (Madrid, Spain), 1917.
Cartas a las mujeres de España, 2nd edition, Renacimiento (Madrid, Spain), 1918.
Pascua florida, P. Salvat (Barcelona, Spain), 1919.
El peregrino ilusiondado, illustrated by Laura Albeniz, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1921.
Feminismo, femindidad, españolismo (essays), 1920.
La feria de Neuilly, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1920.
Obras completas (complete works), fourteen volumes, 1920–30.
Nuevas cartas a las mujeres, Renacimiento (Madrid, Spain), 1932.
Cartas a las mujeres de América (essays), 1941.
(Author of libretto) José María Usandizaga, Las golondrinas: ópera en tres actos, Instituto Complutense de Ciencias Musicales (Madrid, Spain), 1999.
(Author of libretto) Joaguín Turina, Margot: comedia lírica en dos actos, Instituto Complutense de Ciencias Musicales (Madrid, Spain), 2001.
PLAYS; WITH HUSBAND, GREGORIO MARTINEZ SIERRA; ALL UNDER HUSBAND'S NAME
(With Santiago Rusinol y Prats) Vida y dulzura (also see below), 1907.
El amor catedrático, 1907, reprinted, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1926.
La sombra del padre (also see below), 1909.
El ama de la casa (also see below), 1910, reprinted, B.H. Sanborn (New York, NY), 1926.
Canción de cuna; comedia en dos actos y en prosa, R. Velasco (Madrid, Spain), 1911, translated as The Cradle Song (also see below), 1917, translated by John Garrett Underhill as The Cradle Song, Comedy in Two Acts with an Interlude in Verse, Samuel French (New York, NY), 1934.
Lirio entre espinas, 1911, translated as A Lily among Thorns, 1930.
Primavera en otoño, 1911, translated as Spring in Autumn, 1933.
Mamá: comedia en tres actos (also see below), Renacimiento (Madrid, Spain), 1912.
Madrigal (also see below), 1913.
Madame Pepita (also see below), 1913.
Los pastores; comedia en dos actos, original de Gregorio Martínez Sierra, R. Velasco (Madrid, Spain), 1913, translated as The Two Shepherds (also see below).
La mujer del héroe; sainete en dos actos, el segundo dividido en dos cuadros (also see below), R. Velasco (Madrid, Spain), 1914, translated as Wife to a Famous Man (also see below).
El palacio triste (also see below), Renacimiento (Madrid, Spain), 1914.
El amor brujo, music by Manuel de Falla, 1915.
La pasión; comedia en dos actos y en prosa, R. Velasco (Madrid, Spain), 1915.
Amanecer (three-act), R. Velasco (Madrid, Spain), 1915.
El reino de Dios, 1915, reprinted, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1922, translated as The Kingdom of God (also see below).
El sombrero de tres picos, music by Manuel de Falla, 1916.
Esperanza nuestra, 1917.
La adúltera penitente; adaptación libre de la comedia del título original de Moreto, Cáncer, y Matos, Renacimiento (Madrid, Spain), 1917.
Sueño de una noche de agosto; novela cómoica en tres partes, Renacimiento (Madrid, Spain), 1918, translated as The Romantic Young Lady (also see below).
Rosina es frágil, comedia en un acto, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1918.
No hay burlas con el amor. La noche veneciana, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1918.
La felicidad de Antonieta: comedia en tres actos, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1919.
Mamá, Madrigal, El pobrecito Juan, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1920.
La mujer moderna, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1920.
Don Juan de España, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1921.
Kodak romantico, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1921.
La selva muda, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1921.
The Cradle Song and Other Plays, translated by John Garrett Underhill, E.P. Dutton (New York, NY), 1922.
The Kingdom of God and Other Plays (contains The Two Shepherds, Wife to a Famous Man, The Kingdom of God, and The Romantic Young Lady), translated by Helen Granville-Barker, E.P. Dutton (New York, NY), 1922.
El corazón ciego, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1922.
The Plays of Gregorio Martínez Sierra, two volumes, translated by John Garrett Underhill, essay by H. Granville Barker, E.P. Dutton (New York, NY), 1923.
Para hacerse amar locamente, Margot, El palacio triste, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1923.
Madame Pepita, La mujer del héroe, La suerte de Isabelita, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1923.
Mujer, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1925.
El hombre que guiere comer, comedia en tres actos, L. Rubio (Madrid, Spain), 1925.
Aventura, Todo es uno y lo mismo, Cada uno y su vida, Rosas mustias, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1926.
Vida y dulzura. La sombra del padre. El ama de la casa, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1926.
Holy Night, a Miracle Play in Three Scenes, translated by Philip Hereford, engravings by Gabriel Pippet, E.P. Dutton (New York, NY), 1928.
Horas del sol, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1930.
Seamos felices, Torre de marfil, comedias, Renacimiento (Madrid, Spain), 1930.
Three One-Act Plays: La suerte de Isabelita. Rosina es frágil. Cada uno y su vida, Holt (New York, NY), 1930.
Triangulo [y] La hora del diablo, Renacimiento (Madrid, Spain), 1930.
Triángulo, 1930, translated as Take Two from One: A Farce in Three Acts, Sidgwick & Jackson (London, England), 1931.
El amor y la muerta, Estrella (Madrid, Spain), 1933.
SIDELIGHTS:
María Martínez Sierra was best known for her collaborative efforts with her husband, Gregorio. Together, they wrote numerous plays that were produced or published under Gregorio's name alone. This arrangement was something that Martínez Sierra always insisted upon, even though her husband abandoned her after the Spanish Civil War, eloping with an actress and moving to Argentina. Many critics believe, too, that it was María who actually did most of the writing for the plays released under Gregorio's name, though this has never been determined with any certainty.
Also a poet, translator, and political activist, Martínez Sierra married in 1900, and in 1907 her first play, Vida y dulzura, was completed in a collaboration with Santiago Rusinol y Prats and her husband. Many more dramatic works would follow before the Spanish Civil War. Martínez Sierra became the Socialist deputy for the Spanish Parliament in the 1930s, but when the war was lost she fled Spain, living in Switzerland and France. She later settled in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
For more information on Martínez Sierra, see Sidelights on her husband, Gregorio Martínez Sierra.
OBITUARIES:
BOOKS
Boyd, Ernest, Studies from Ten Literatures, Scribner (New York, NY), 1925, pp. 114-119.
Contemporary Spanish Dramatists, translated by Charles Alfred Turrell, Gorham Press, 1919, pp. 7-22.
Corrigan, Robert W., Masterpieces of the Modern Spanish Theatre, Macmillan/Collier Books, 1967, pp. 275-350.
O'Connor, Patricia Walker, Women in the Theater of Gregorio Martínez Sierra, American Press, 1966.
O'Connor, Patricia Walker, Gregorio and María Martínez Sierra, Twayne (Boston, MA), 1977.
Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Volume 6, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1982, pp. 272-288.
Warren, L.A., Modern Spanish Literature: A Comprehensive Survey of the Novelists, Poets, Dramatists and Essayists from the Eighteenth Century to the Present Day, Volume 2, Brentano, 1929, pp. 577-584.
Young, Stark, Immortal Shadows: A Book of Dramatic Criticism, Scribner (New York, NY), 1948, pp. 101-105.
PERIODICALS
Contemporary Review, February, 1924, Walter Starkie, "Gregorio Martínez Sierra and the Modern Spanish Drama," pp. 198-205.
Hispania, November, 1922, Frances Douglas, "Gregorio Martínez Sierra: I. Stylist and Romantic Interpreter," pp. 257-268; February, 1923, Frances Douglas, "Gregorio Martínez Sierra: II. Stylist and Romantic Interpreter," pp. 1-13.
Nation and Athenaeum, November 5, 1927, Francis Birrell, review of The Kingdom of God and Other Plays.
New Statesman and Nation, July 30, 1932, Desmond MacCarthy, "Three Modern Spanish Dramatists," pp. 129-130.