Real and Imaginary Voyages of Hernán Cortés at the Court of Emperor Moctezuma II

Abstract

The voyage of Hernán Cortés to the Mexica court of Emperor Moctezuma II, although historically real, varies every time it is re-told. Three versions of this voyage are analyzed in this study: the first one is the one narrated in the History of the Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards (Madrid, 1684), a panegyric written by Antonio Solís y Rivadeneira; the second is the one sung in the dramma per musica of Antonio Vivaldi called Montezuma (Venice, 1733), a ‘comedy’; the third one, also based on Solis’ History, is the one represented in the tragedia per musica named Montezuma (Berlin, 1755), composed by Carl Heinrich Graun and Friedrich II (der Groβe) of the House of Hohenzollern. Hence, we have three radically different but acceptable visions of Cortés’ voyage in the Americas: an encomiastic one, a tragic one, and a consolatory one.