In the course of a long fair like the April fair in Seville (not as long, of course, as that of San Isidro) and between the unavoidable personal and professional tasks of each one, finding minutes, perhaps hours, for peace and in it reading , becomes a goal that is most often unattainable, at least for the person who signs this. But here it is, at least on this occasion, achieved, although with a book on – it would be a surprise – bullfighting themes.
This is Bullfighting Interlude, by Rafael Sánchez Ferlosio (El Paseo ed., older brother of El Paseíllo), which includes, along with other texts, a compilation of his collaborations in Diario 16 during the San Isidro Fair in 1980.
In one of these and under the heading “The forging of a connoisseur”, he writes:
“One of the greatest incentives of bullfighting, perhaps the decisive one, without which there would be no God who could withstand five brainwashings in a row, such as five bullfights one after the other with only one night in between, is without a doubt, that of being able to exercise immense intimate and public satisfaction of being a connoisseur… Connoisseurship is the same as the Artistic Heritage law, which cannot declare buildings with less than a century of existence as national monuments.”
Understood with pretensions and fans without them – also, on both sides, the specialized critics – are experiencing an April Fair with afternoons and tasks to remember and others, less fortunately, to be forgotten, agreeing with Jean Cau: Going to the bullfights is every afternoon, around five o’clock (half past six in La Maestranza), going to meet the Three Wise Men.
And at that hour exactly, in the ninth of the Fair and another full of “there are no seats” (there are already five) José María Manzanares, Alejandro Talavante (the second in the fair for both of them) and Tomás Rufo (the first of the two in which it is announced) with Jandilla bulls waiting in the pigsties.
He left Jandilla first, for Manzanares, and took the cape, throwing his hands in front of him without allowing the man from Alicante to show off. He knocked down the chopping horse in the first attempt and after the second rod he entered Talavante by tight gaoneras.
At the beginning of the work, the bull slipped through the right piton (he already did it in the cape) and on that same side he slowly took him around, in rounds finished off with long chest passes.
He ran his hand well in a natural round and back to the right the attacks had greater force, but as that did not reach greater heights he went for the sword, which he handled with his usual forcefulness, happily recovered. The applause of the public recognized what had been done. Nor did the second give Talavante any options in the capotero receipt.
Tomás Rufo made his appearance in the afternoon with a takeover for chicuelinas and after the banderillas (well Álvaro Montes) everything was now in the hands of Talavante, who doubled low with the bull at the beginning of the muleta.
With this on the right, the jandilla was never used in the attacks and more of the same when he used the left. So if the bad is brief, the better, and the man from Extremadura sent him to the mules with an accurate sword blow.
Tomás Rufo, so new, already knows and also twice the glory of the Puerta del Príncipe (in 2022 and 2023) and with such a successful background he heard the olés of La Maestranza in the calls to the veronica with which he greeted the third pm.
Rufo put the bull ahead and it quickly went towards the horse, without actually knocking it down thanks to the skill of the piquero, helped by Manzanares who was quick to take off, literally mounting himself on the nag. In the same way, the bull went from afar to receive a second blow, also injured. Hopes from the public placed on the bull and also from Rufo, who offered it from the media.
And there he stayed, on his knees, to endure a break after the first round and culminate the series with the chest, raising applause and making the music play.
A mounted bull, vibrant in its attacks, which Rufo, already standing, bullfighted with adjustment and temperance with his right hand, also with his left, although the bull fell shorter there.
Intense work by the young right-hander from Toledo that was not rounded off, who after hitting at first left a lunge above. A set that earned him a loud ovation, which also went to the bull in the drag.
By the way, as the bullfight progressed the wind increased in intensity, conditioning the course of the fight.
The room was extremely serious and there was rejoicing among the audience when, in the announcement of the change of third, the clarion player missed a note. That would be the only moment to review in the first thirds.
Already in the last of them, Manzanares looked for the terrain where Eolo was least bothering (a saying) and began to fight with right blows that the bull took without saying anything and neither did he make a peep when he rehearsed the natural one. With good judgment, he shortened Manzanares and went for the sword and here peace and then glory, the prelude to silence.
Having reached the fifth, many nuances and some reproaches could be put into the bullfight, but none in terms of presentation, such as that of the second of Talavante’s batch, who left a good bunch of speedwells as a greeting, before he took both punches with certainty. fixity and in the Rufo outfit, cape on his back, he passed the pins with adjustment.
Two extraordinary pairs of banderillas from Javier Ambel forced him to dismount and genuflecting, Talavante began the task, who was met with attacks without the slightest dedication and so, it is better not to pretend that it is done. He plunged the sword in the first time and it was over.
There was one cartridge left to end the afternoon, the sixth, and Rufo went to light the fuse by going to the bullpen door to welcome him to the porta gayola, which turned out to be clean and then, once on his feet, bullfighting for aprons.
The horse’s procedure was just that, a procedure and Fernando Sánchez placed, in the media, a superb pair of trademark flags, walking in to square the face, nail it high and get out of luck bullfightingly.
Rufo went to the middle and handled the crutch in his right hand with the desire to improve discontinuous attacks and without the minimum delivery, same defects that he demonstrated when he changed hands. So Rufo said that’s it and went for the rapier.
The best thing is the duration, just two hours. And the crowd leaving the lines quickly, quickly. Some to the fair and others to watch football. Although (even on adverse afternoons) where the bulls are…
