A la puerta del infierno

This song is a theatre scene in miniature. In the first four lines a narrator describes how General Dupont arrived at the gate of Hell and asked to speak to his “amo” Napoleon, then in the next four lines someone (a porter at the gate?) speaks to him in Andalusian dialect and says that Castaños will bring Napoleon. Then someone else speaks to Dupont (most probably Castaños), and then the last four lines may be spoken by the porter again, or perhaps still by Castaños. This song may be from the theatre of Cadiz and perhaps Castaños is here presented on stage in the same way as he had been in the play the Melo-drama in that theatre in Cadiz in July of 1808. For more details about this song, and about all the other songs in this anthology of songs from the war, please see my book España de la guerra: the Spanish political and military songs of the war in Spain 1808 to 1814 which is available in nkoda. Brian Jeffery