Baroque Theater in Spain: Lope de Vega and Calderón de la Barca

Posted on Dec 20, 2024 in Arts and Humanities

Baroque Theater in Spain

A. National Theater

In the hands of comedy, driven by Lope de Vega, the theater achieved a fixed scenic place: the corral de comedias (which were backyards of houses). In Madrid, the Teatro de la Cruz and the Teatro del Príncipe stand out. They were built in imitation of the palace theater.

The theater was a playful, social, and cultural act consisting of several pieces that lasted two to three hours. The public paid more or less depending on where they were placed in the corral.

B. Palace Theater

With Philip II, the theater faced many obstacles because the king was not very fond of it. Under Philip IV, the palace theater began its splendor. A luxurious theater developed. The highlight was the scenery and scenic effects, such as props, the trapdoor, the box, and appearances.

C. Auto Sacramental

For the religious, it was especially dedicated to the Eucharist. On the day of Corpus Christi, after eating, the auto sacramental was performed outdoors. It had an introductory loa explained with simple characters what the public would see. Entremeses, masquerades, and dances were interspersed, giving a festive and humorous tone. The authors, to facilitate the understanding of texts, explained the dimensiones, which were technical requirements for staging. The mystery plays continued until the 18th century when they were banned.

Baroque Theater Features

The players were grouped in theater groups called companies. These were engaged during Lent. The theater went from a representation on Sundays and holidays to two per week, and in big cities, to one daily. The entry was paid twice: once at the entrance to the corral and then again upon going to the chosen place. There was dual censorship: the published text and what was done during the presentation at the premiere.

Lope de Vega’s New Art of Making Comedies

In New Art, Lope claims that in ancient comedies, comedy used to be humble and plebeian, and tragedy was for the high-ranking. Lope links both in tragicomedy. He defends popular theater and the pleasure of the people. Therefore, he introduces people of all social classes and puts a servant as a confidant of a nobleman. The tense moments are diluted with the graces of the servant.

Characteristics of Lope de Vega’s Theater:

  1. Dramatic Units: He defends the unity of action but breaks with time and place. He recommends dividing the argument into three acts, each developing within one day.
  2. Language: Castilian conceptual style mixed with Italianate, avoiding bombastic language and cultism. The language of the characters conforms to their social position.
  3. Development of Dramatic Action:
    • Act 1: Approach
    • Act 2: Knot
    • Act 3: Denouement (late)
  4. Metrics: He proposes polymetry, namely, the mixing of different verses for each situation. He uses traditional Spanish metrics alongside Italian metrics.
  5. Rhetoric: Repetitions, anaphora, ironies, exclamations, rhetorical questions.
  6. Crowd-Pleasing Tricks: Favorite themes are honor and virtuous actions.

Dramatic Works of Lope de Vega

Topics in Lope de Vega’s Theater:

  1. Honor and Dishonor: The character plays a role imposed by the code of honor and acts as others want him to act.
  2. Comedies of Love and Tangles: Comedies designed to entertain the public. These comedies are called entanglement, customs, or swashbuckling. They stage love as the engine and reveal the social reality of the moment. La dama boba, The Dog in the Manger.
  3. Restoration of Order and Justice: Considered Lope’s master dramas: The Best Mayor, the King; Peribáñez and the Commander of Ocaña; Fuenteovejuna. In the three works, the same argument is repeated: the nobleman abuses his power and confronts the commoner, who, by his honesty and purity of blood, goes to the king for justice. The king absolves the commoner and punishes the nobleman.

Followers of Lope de Vega

Tirso de Molina

Characteristics of Tirso de Molina’s Theater:

  1. Psychological Depth of Characters: He emphasizes the creation of female characters who show strong character and are reluctant to accept the passive role imposed on them by society. They affirm their spirit again and again, fighting with the male.
  2. He proposes a stylized view of reality that never deepens.
  3. Clarity of narrative and ideological precision.
  4. Satirical wit, linguistic wealth.
  5. Comedies of Intrigue: The action revolves around a character who, to achieve their ends, conceals their true personality from others, or around a character who forces others to take off their masks.

Dramatic Works of Calderón de la Barca

  1. A Single Character at the Center: The use of monologue is essential. Other times, he uses parallel structures where contrasts between protagonists or antagonists are highlighted. Life is a Dream.
  2. Characters: The author tends to stylize everything. Thus, he repeats type-characters and stereotypical characters. The relationships between the characters revolve around honor, faith, fidelity, and love.
  3. Asides: Confabulation between actors and the audience. They aim to clarify internal aspects of the characters’ actions and provide clues for a better understanding of the plot.
  4. Presence of Lyricism in the Work: He uses verse in the play. He does not fully comply with the rules proposed by Lope de Vega in New Art. There is a match between meter and character.
  5. Sets: He enhances the show combined with music, color, movement, exoticism, and so on.

Genres and Themes in Calderón de la Barca’s Theater

  1. Comedy of Manners and Swashbuckling: In the first stage of Calderón’s theater, convoluted episodes always end happily, with an easy and simple technique. Theatrical types are always repeated (one suitor, the lady, the fool), the mixture of comedy and tragedy, the failure of the classical unities, and so on.
  2. Mythological Comedy: Represented in the palace. Comedy and spectacle are always attached.
  3. Historical and Legendary Reality: The themes are nationalist revival, social conflicts, the search for prestige, and so on.
  4. Tragedies of Honor and Jealousy: Honor is personal and subjective. It is the assessment that every man makes of himself.
  5. Religious and Philosophical Dramas: Focused with an exemplary intention. It shows the viewer the dogmas of the Church, the road to salvation, and truth.
  6. Autos Sacramentales: He achieves the perfect fusion between story and allegory, the artistic and technological, and religious drama.
  7. Minor Theater:
    • a. The Entremés: Text of one act inserted between acts of a comedy. Burlesque and parodic characters.
    • b. La Jácara: The protagonists are unsavory characters, with a degraded and unheroic life.
    • c. The Masquerade: Performed on the street during Carnival. A short piece of coarse matter where the characters dress up as animals.
    • d. La Zarzuela: Argument focused on figures of monarchs, heroes, and mythological figures.