"presentarse" as "to perform"

Question

Here is a sentence from an article about René Lavand, one of the most famous magicians with card tricks in the world: "Un año después viajó a Estados Unidos y se presentó en dos programas de relevisión."

I translated that sentence in my mind as "One year later he traveled to United States and performed in two television programs." To double check myself, I looked up "presentar" in SpanDict. Under the definitions provided for the pronomial verb (presentarse), however, I didn't see a translation for "perform." I did find that "presentar," as a transitive verb, means perform. The example given is "El grupo presentó una obra..." However, in my sentence (...se presentó en dos programas..."), the pronomial verb (presentarse) is used; that is, presentar is not used transitively. I also looked up "perform" in English and found that, depending on the person performing ( e.g., actor, singer, musician), "perform" can be variously translated as "representar," "interpretar," or "ejecutar." "Presentarse" is not given as a possible translation.

So I am left to wonder, in the sentence I quoted, doesn't "se presentó" mean "he performed"?

typo: in quoted sentence that should be televisión, not relevisión. - malbecblend, Oct 5, 2015

Answer 1

Presentarse means also . To Appear, to go, to come . In this context this means that he went, apeared, came ,to two television programs.

thank you - malbecblend, Oct 7, 2015

Answer 2

So I am left to wonder, in the sentence I quoted, doesn't "se presentó" mean "he performed"?

Yes.

If it were an actor, they we would use interpretar or actuar because the actor does not represent himself but someone else. In the case of the magician, he represents himself so we use presentarse. You are correct about the non-transitive form being used pronominally, it has to be because presentar is a transitive verb.

Anyone performing anything as himself would be a case of pronominal usage.

thank you - malbecblend, Oct 7, 2015

Answer 3

Hello:

It would be nice if you could understand the following, as it has many of the same meanings in English. This is the definition of "presentar" in Spanish.

Now you could always double check what you see here with the Spanish Central from Merrriam-Webster.

I hope it helps you.

The translation of Se presentó = He made a presentation which can be interpreted correctly as "he performed"

thank you - malbecblend, Oct 7, 2015