Spanish Renaissance
The desire for art - and the need
to please the audience
Social Ideas
• The Christian Project
– Preservation of Spain to the “true Roman Catholic
Church”
– Casting out of ‘infidels”
– Formation of the Inquisition: the source of
standards of approved behavior encompassing
social as well as religious concepts.
– 1492 all Jews were ordered to convert or leave.
1502 Muslims same order.
– Rise of Protestant thought in countries that had
traditionally been enemies meant viewpoint as the
“saviours of the true faith”.
Social Ideas
• Expansion and Withdrawal
– 16th century brought tremendous riches from overseas
exploration.
– Influence and presence was dominate in European affairs.
– Spain controlled: South America, Central American, Mexico,
signifigant portions of North America, and most of the South
Pacific.
– Fearing Europe’s growing placing of secular over sacred
duties, in 1599 Kin Felipe II bans Spanish students from
attending foreign universities.
– By 1588 the defeat of the Spanish Armada causes Felipe to
turn his attentions inward.
– This isolationism caused (ironically) an explosion in the arts
in a separate way from the rest of Europe.
Painting
• El Greco (1541-1614) Captures the religious intensity of the
times. Not content in the Renaissance interest in perspective
and verisimilitude, he focuses on the unseen realities of the
spiritual realm.
Painting
• Velasquez (1599-1660) Almost totally ignored religious
figures/issues. Hired as a court painter. Tends to paint portraits.
Literature
• Cervantes (1547-1616)
– Don Quixote (1605) most famous
– Rode in the Last Crusade
– Also a playwright - although not successful.
– Mostly wrote entremeses - short comic
pieces performed between acts of a play
Theatre
• Interested in the classical rules
• Strove to strike a balance between
secular and religious
• 2 types
– Auto sacramental - religious plays written
for the Feast of Corpus Christi
– Various forms of secular drama
Auto Sacramentales
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Written specifically for Feast of CC
Mounted at great expense and care
Highlight of the theatre year
Sources of civic pride: each municipality
attempted to outdo its neighbors
• Encompassed 8 days
• Premier performance for king, 2-3 for state and
local officials, 1-2 public performances
• In terms of time, energy, and talent invested they
were a significant endeavor.
Secular
• Fully commercial entreprise
• Troupes licensed to perform for a specific
length of time in each city
• Performances were given all year (except
during Lent)
• Fall/Winter 2pm and Summer/Spring 4pm
• Sunday was the popular day for theatre-going
Locations (Theaters)
• Autos were performed in open,
unadorned platforms with a large
decorated carro on either side.(Large
pillars on mobile platforms).
• Used for entrances/exits, musicians,
special effects
• Mostly standing audience.
Locations (Theaters)
• Secular was performed in a corrales essentially remodelings of existing inn yards
with a rectangular shape.
• 3 story façade w/stage at the far end of the
yard. (similar to Globe)
• Stage (28X25) w/curtain and trap doors
(sometimes as many as 7) with stage
machinery for flying effects.
Performers
• On the “wrong edge” of social respectability.
• Enjoyed ‘professional’ status
• Companies organized by actor-managers licensed by the city
(autor)
• As early as 1550 woman appear on stage - although only
married (and not widows)
• Most companies consisted of 10-20 performers (including
musicians) and 3-4 actresses
• Hired to play a particular type of role for the entire season
• Paid well - bit actors earned as much as ‘average’ worker but
many time unexpected closure of theatres.
Performers
• Plays of the period indicate a certain level of
formality in the voice and body.
• Later the presence of comedia troupes
indicate the physicality of these performers
was adopted into the acting style.
• Several writers of the time wrote treaties that
praise a naturalistic style, arguing that the
audience needs to identify the actor with real
life.
Playwrights
• More popular than individual actors,
often times befriended by nobility
• Capable of earning up to 20 times the
average salary
• Once a play was sold to an autor all
rights were relinquished and the author
received no other payment
Technical Theatre
• Scenery - emphasis on special effects rather than
representation of a certain local.
• Simple props in the secular with some simply painted
flats in later years
• Costuming was elaborate with no concern for
historical accuracy but garments did indicate social
status and character types. Actors were responsible
for their own costumes. Some nationalities were
dressed appropriately. When a script did require a
woman to cross-dress she was only allowed to do so
above the waist - doublet and hose thought to be
indecent on a woman.
Standards of Judgement
• The beginning of the “critic”
• De Vega’s treaty - dismisses demands
for pure genre (combos of tragedy and
comedy ok), urges the action of a play
to be completed in as little time as
possible, focus on honor, virtue, and wit,
warns against the use of impossible
things or inconsistent characters
Lope de Vega
• Considered a national hero
• Wrote at least 800 dramatic works and may have
written around 1800 plays
• Over 450 plays still exist today
• Scandal plagued his personal life
• Wrote several plays w/woman
as lead character
Calderon de la Barca
• Ranked w/de Vega
• Born to low nobility
• Studied at university in prep to take religious vows but a
variety of person and family reasons forced him to
change his mind and be took to the stage at age 23
• Authored more than 200 stage works - 200 of which still
survive
• Most famous play is Life is a Dream
Life is a Dream
• Explores several themes
– Divine right of kings
– Nature of reason and passion
– Role of divine providence
– Chance in human affairs
– Concept of honor