Renaissance and Baroque Theater: A Historical Overview
Renaissance Theater
Origins
Renaissance theater originated in Italy during the 15th century. The burgeoning Italian bourgeoisie transformed their mansions into stages for theatrical performances. Unlike medieval theater, Renaissance theater was not primarily religious in nature.
Representative Forms
Commedia dell’arte
Commedia dell’arte emerged as an imitation of classical Latin comedy. It was a spectacle of intricate plots and romantic entanglements, aiming to provoke laughter. The scripts were improvised beforehand, and the same stock characters consistently appeared.
Italian Comedy
Two types of Italian comedy prevailed:
- Comedy of Manners: This type satirized social customs and behaviors of the era. In Spain, Lope de Rueda’s works reflected this style.
- Comedy of Intrigue: This type aimed to captivate the audience through complex plots and suspense. Torres Naharro’s works exemplify this style.
Lope de Rueda
Lope de Rueda’s theaters marked the triumph of Italian comedy in Spain. His works consisted of short plays, such as Pasos, like Olive Oil is Paid For, But Not Vinegar. He wrote in prose, employing colloquial language and consistently incorporating a comedic resolution.
Seventeenth Century: The Baroque Period
Context
The Baroque period, spanning the 17th century, was characterized by an atmosphere of pessimism and disillusionment. The death of Philip II in 1580 signaled the end of Spain’s Golden Age. The country faced a period of crisis, widespread poverty, and continuous warfare. The Protestant Reformation gained a strong foothold in Europe, challenging established Catholic authority. Social contrasts were stark, and intellectual life was dominated by empiricist and rationalist philosophies, championed by thinkers like Galileo and Newton. In art, the Renaissance aesthetic continued to evolve.
Literature
Literature underwent a significant shift in its social function, becoming a form of entertainment for a wider audience. This led to a lively literary scene, marked by controversies and rivalries among authors. There was a strong emphasis on innovation, impact, and surprise. Renaissance themes and forms were reused but taken to new extremes. Literary devices were employed abundantly.
Lope de Vega
Life and Works
Born in Madrid in 1562, Lope de Vega led a life filled with literary achievements, romantic affairs, and economic hardships. His intense personal life caused conflicts with the law and religious authorities. He was ordained as a priest and had a wide circle of influential friends. He died in Madrid in 1635.
Poetry
Lope de Vega’s poetic works encompassed a wide range of forms, including sonnets, epistles, and eclogues. He explored themes of love, mythology, religion, and art.
Narrative
His narrative works include the pastoral novel La Arcadia and the Byzantine novel El Peregrino en su Patria.
New Comedy
Lope de Vega is credited with developing the New Comedy, a genre that blended elements of Spanish Renaissance comedy and drama with Italian Commedia dell’arte.
Characteristics of New Comedy:
- Fusion of tragic and comic elements, and the blending of aristocratic and commoner characters.
- Rejection of the classical unities of time, place, and action.
- Use of diverse poetic forms to create intrigue and reflect national themes.
Stock Characters:
- The Lady
- The Gallant
- The King
- The Clown or Witty Servant
- The Powerful Figure
- The Villain
Cervantes
Life and Works
Cervantes represents the synthesis of Renaissance ideals and the pessimistic realism of the 17th century. Born in Alcalá de Henares, he received a Renaissance education and traveled to Italy. From 1570, he served as a soldier, participating in the Battle of Lepanto against the Ottoman Turks. He was captured and spent five years as a prisoner in Algiers. Upon his return to Spain, he faced further imprisonment and economic hardship. He died on April 23, 1616.
Work
Cervantes’s literary output spanned various genres.
Theater
His theatrical works encompassed classical plays, comedies, and interludes.
Poetry
Although poetry was his true calling, he primarily wrote in traditional Spanish meters. His notable poems include Canto de Calíope and La Galatea.
Pastoral Novel
La Galatea features noble characters disguised as shepherds in a prose narrative.
Novelas Ejemplares
These short stories, also known as exemplary novels, explore moral and social themes. Cervantes proposed a new model for this genre.
Byzantine Novel
Cervantes revived the Byzantine novel, a Renaissance narrative genre that had fallen into decline. His work in this genre demonstrated creative freedom and a penchant for fiction.
Don Quixote
Don Quixote is considered the first modern novel. The protagonists, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, symbolize the struggle for freedom and embody contrasting ideals. Cervantes completed the second part in 1615 after a false second part was published by Avellaneda in 1614.
Structure, Space, and Time
The novel’s structure follows the protagonist’s journey. The settings are realistically depicted.
Style
Cervantes’s style balances simple language with Renaissance themes, incorporating irony and parody.
Themes
Don Quixote critiques the idealistic world of chivalry books, denounces the social ills of Spain, identifies with the pursuit of freedom, explores the nature of truth, and presents the world as a theatrical stage.
Characters
The iconic characters of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza embody contrasting personalities and perspectives.
17th Century Lyric Poetry
Themes and Style
Baroque poets reflected the tension between classical ideals and the disillusionment of the era. Common themes included love, nature, decay, crisis, and literary debates. Baroque lyric poetry employed both traditional and popular forms, including sonnets, liras, silvas, romances, and letrillas.
Culteranismo
This style, exemplified by Luis de Góngora, is characterized by highly complex language, excessive use of literary devices, obscure vocabulary, and allusions to mythology.
Conceptismo
This style, championed by Francisco de Quevedo, emphasizes intricate wordplay, wit, and the creation of elaborate metaphors and conceits.
17th Century Theater
Europe
William Shakespeare
Shakespeare dedicated his life to acting and playwriting. His works encompass a wide range of genres, including tragedies, comedies, histories, and romances.
Molière
Molière was a French playwright and actor. His comedies are known for their insightful psychological portrayal of characters and their satirical critique of social conventions.
Spain
The evolution of Spanish theater in the 17th century was shaped by the principles of Lope de Vega’s New Comedy. These principles, combined with changes in theatrical production, laid the foundation for the Baroque drama of the era.