Two Moorish Romances Translated by R. T. Gonorsky

The article argues that R. T. Gonorsky made his translations of two Spanish Moorish romances (1816) from the Spanish originals reproduced in the fi fth volume of I. I. Eschenburg’s anthology Beispielsammlung zur Theorie und Literatur der schönen Wissenschaften (1788-94). This fact confirms K. S. Korkonosenko’s hypothesis that Gonorsky’s translations were the earliest translations of Spanish poetry into Russian made directly from the originals. It is important that, in his anthology, Eschenburg used the texts found in the book of ballads and popular songs The Reliques of Ancient English (1765) edited by Bishop Thomas Percy. Following Percy’s edition, the Spanish romance «Río verde, río verde...» was published (e. g. in Eschenburg’s anthology, 1790) and translated (e. g. in J. G. Herder’s Volkslieder, 1778) without the six lines that Percy considered superfluous. Gonorsky also used this abbreviated version of the romance.