1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Saavedra, Angel de

SAAVEDRA, ANGEL DE, Duke of Rivas (1791-1865), Spanish poet and politician, was born at Cordova on the 19th of March 1791. He fought in the war of independence, was a prominent member of the advanced Liberal party from 1820 to 1823, and in the latter year was condemned to death. He escaped to London and lived successively in Italy, Malta and France, until the amnesty of 1834, when he returned to Spain, shortly afterwards succeeding his brother as duke of Rivas. In 1835 he became minister of the interior under Istúriz, and along with his chief had again to leave the country. Returning in 1837, he joined the moderate party, became prime minister, and was subsequently ambassador at Paris and Naples. He died on the 22nd of June 1865. In 1813 he published Ensayos poéticos, and between that date and his first exile several of his tragedies (the most notable being Alatar, 1814, and Lanuza, 1822) were put upon the stage. Traces of foreign influence are observable in El Moro Expósito (1833), a narrative poem dedicated to John Hookham Frere; these are still more marked in Don Alvaro ó La Fuerza del sino (first played on the 22nd of March 1835), a drama of historical importance inasmuch as it established the new French romanticism in Spain.

Bibliography.—Obras completas del Duque de Rivas (Madrid, 1894-1904); L. A. de Cueto, “ Discurso, " in Memorias de la academia española (Madrid, 1870); M. Cañete, Escritores españoles é hispanoamericanos (Madrid, 1884); J. Valera in El Ateneo (Madrid, December 1888-February 1889); E. Piñeyro, El Romanticismo en España (Paris, 1904).