Life, Works, and Theater of Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Pedro Calderón de la Barca: Life and Works
Early Life and Career
Born in 1600 to a noble family, Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s father served as clerk of the royal treasury. He was the second of three brothers. After studying with the Jesuits and at the Universities of Alcalá and Salamanca, Calderón abandoned his studies around 1620, possibly due to debt, and returned to Madrid. He began writing plays soon after, premiering his first in 1623.
Calderón’s early life was marked by several tumultuous incidents. In 1621, he and his brothers were involved in a fatal altercation, resulting in the family paying compensation to the victim’s parents. In 1629, after his brother was shot, Calderón entered a convent in pursuit of the offender, violating ecclesiastical sanctuary. By this time, he was already a known writer.
Over the next thirty years, Calderón’s behavior moderated. His literary importance grew, becoming the most esteemed playwright in court. His influence in courtly theater rivaled that of Velázquez in painting. Calderón consistently championed the monarchy in his works. He also participated in military campaigns, including the Catalan War in 1640.
The political climate and personal circumstances contributed to a pessimistic and disillusioned outlook. In 1651, Calderón was ordained as a priest. He died in Madrid in 1681. Throughout his life and work, a capacity for reflection, serenity, and a tendency towards solitude are evident, despite his status as a court writer. A man of considerable knowledge, he remained influenced by Jesuit thought and logical speculation.
Dramatic Works
Calderón wrote prolifically, though less so than Lope de Vega, producing 120 plays, 80 autos sacramentales (religious plays), and over 20 short pieces. His work can be divided into two distinct phases. The first features realist dramas, closer to Lope de Vega’s “new comedy.” The second, beginning with Life is a Dream, leans towards philosophical drama with elaborate construction, symbolic elements, and allegory.
A threefold distinction can be made between comedy, tragedy, and autos sacramentales, acknowledging that the Baroque theater rarely maintained absolute distinctions between comedy and tragedy. Comedies can be further categorized into those for public theaters and those for courtly performances at Buen Retiro. Tragedies can be classified by theme: conflicts between freedom and fate, conflicts of honor, and the nature of power. Some dramas with tragic elements explore religious themes. Notable autos sacramentales include The Great Theater of the World, The Great Market of the World, and The Charm of Sin.
Theatrical Style and Characteristics
Calderón generally respected the unity of action, simplifying plots and avoiding excessive subplots. He limited the number of characters, emphasizing one as the central figure around whom the action revolves. These characters are often intellectual and express their ideas through extended speeches, a hallmark of Calderón’s theater, though he strives for balance between monologues and dialogues. These characters are often bound by a moral code that dictates their behavior.
The courtly nature of many of his plays explains other characteristics, such as elaborate sets, flamboyant costumes, music, alternating recited and sung texts, and a heightened stylistic and dramatic development. The use of symbol and allegory to convey meaning and explore universal themes is particularly characteristic of Calderón’s work. He transforms philosophical reflections into compelling dramatic themes, dissecting the complexities of human consciousness with remarkable acuity.
Calderón’s texts have captivated thinkers from the German Romantics to modern figures like Walter Benjamin, Albert Camus, and Jerzy Grotowski. His theater is a product of a specific historical moment—the dawn of modernity—anticipating the 18th-century clash between faith and reason. The order of the cosmos is justified by the existence of a supreme being, God. Rationality grapples with questions of conscience, which Calderón masterfully explores. While a religious worldview prevails, some characters experience tragedy arising from the conflict between free will and destiny.
Calderón skillfully embodies abstract theological and metaphysical conflicts in living characters. His deep theological knowledge, intellectual abstraction, understanding of human nature, talent for allegory and symbolism, and dramatic intuition made him uniquely suited to the auto sacramental form. The interplay of tragic, comic, and ironic elements is also noteworthy. Calderón’s worldview is unified, and his ideological traits permeate his work, regardless of genre, even in forms like the interlude, which might seem at odds with his perspective.