Francisco Avellaneda (c. 1622 – c. 1684) was a playwright of the Spanish Golden Age.

Biography

Little record survives of Avellaneda's early life, although he achieved notoriety in his time as a playwright. In 1660, he is known to have been in

Valladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ...

for the festivities surrounding the transfer of the holy image of

María de la Soledad Our Lady of Solitude ( es, María de la Soledad; pt, Nossa Senhora da Soledade) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus and a special form of Marian devotion practised in Spanish-speaking countries to commemorate the solitude of Mary on Holy Satur ...

(English: "Our Lady of Solitude"). In 1664, he published an account of the festival, along with his comedy ''El divino calabrés.'' ''El divino calabrés'' was a collaboration with

Juan de Matos Fragoso Juan de Matos Fragoso (c. 1608 - 1689?), a Spain, Spanish dramatist of Portugal, Portuguese descent, was born about 1608 at Alvito (Portugal), Alvito (Alentejo). After taking his degree in law at the University of Evora, he proceeded to Madrid, whe ...

. Avellaneda later became well known as a specialist in collaborative comedies.

Works

Avellaneda became known for writing smaller pieces, such as short farces, dances, ''loas'', ''

entremés Entremés, is a short, comic theatrical performance of one act, usually played during the interlude of a performance of a long dramatic work, in the 16th and 17th centuries in Spain. Later it became the sainete. Dictionary of the Literature of the ...

'', and the farcical puppet shows known as ''mojigangas''. He also wrote several pieces in collaboration with a number of partners.

was a frequent collaborator; they worked together on ''El divino calabrés'' as well as ''San Francisco de Paula.'' In 1661, he published ''Cuantas veo tantas quiero'' with Sebastián de Villaviciosa. Working with Fragoso and Villaviciosa, he published ''La Corte en el valle'', which was performed for King Philip IV in Valladolid in 1660, and ''Solo el piadoso es mi hijo'', released in Madrid in 1661. Many of his shorter theatrical pieces have been at times incorrectly attributed to other authors. ''Las casas de placer'', for example, is often attributed to

Pedro Calderón de la Barca Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño (, ; ; 17 January 160025 May 1681) was a Spanish dramatist, poet, writer and knight of the Order of Santiago. He is known as one of the most distinguished Baroque ...

, while ''La boda de Juan Rana'' has been ascribed to

Jerónimo de Cáncer Jerónimo de Cáncer y Velasco (c. 1599 – 1655) was a playwright of the Spanish Golden Age The Spanish Golden Age ( es, Siglo de Oro, links=no , "Golden Century") is a period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding wi ...

. Other, better-remembered solo works include ''Lo que es Madrid'', ''Los gansos'', and ''El niño de la Rollona''. ''El plenipapelier'' was presented in 1667 at the court of

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, accompanied by a Calderón play entitled ''Amado y aborrecido''. ''El hidalgo de la Membrilla'' was first presented in 1661, also accompanied by a work of Calderón, ''El hijo del Sol''. He also wrote the

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''Loa por papeles para palacio''. Dances he is known to have composed include ''Las casas y El tabaco'', the jácara ''La Flores y el Zurdillo'' and ''La Rabilla'', and the mojiganga ''El titeretier'', for the 1678 festival of Carnival. He also composed ''El capuchino escocés'', ''Volverse el rayo en laurel'', and the mythologically-inspired zarzuela ''El templo de Palas'', with music by

Juan Hidalgo de Polanco Juan Hidalgo de Polanco (28 September 1614 – 31 March 1685) was a Spanish composer and harpist who became the most influential composer of his time in the Hispanic world writing the music for the first two operas created in Spanish. He is cons ...

. ''El templo de palas'' was presented on July 26, 1675, at the court of

Mariana of Austria Mariana of Austria ( es, Mariana de Austria) or Maria Anna (24 December 163416 May 1696) was Queen of Spain as the second wife of her uncle Philip IV of Spain from their marriage in 1649 until Philip died in 1665. She was then appointed regent f ...

. The play deals with a war between the children of

Oedipus Oedipus (, ; grc-gre, Οἰδίπους "swollen foot") was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus accidentally fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby ...

Eteocles In Greek mythology, Eteocles (; ) was a king of Thebes, the son of Oedipus and either Jocasta or Euryganeia. Oedipus killed his father Laius and married his mother without knowing his relationship to either. When the relationship was revea ...

and Polinices. On the same occasion, he also presented a ''loa'', ''La flor del sol'', an ''entremés'', ''El triunfo del vellocino'', and a ''mojiganga'', ''El mundi novi''. This set was later published in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

in 1675.

Bibliography

* Javier Huerta, Emilio Peral, Héctor Urzaiz, ''Teatro español de la A a la Z''. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 2005, p. 51. * Gema Cienfuegos Antelo, ''El teatro breve de Francisco de Avellaneda: estudio y edición'', Madrid, Fundación Universitaria Española, 2006. * Gema Cienfuegos Antelo, "Francisco de Avellaneda", in ''Historia del Teatro Breve en España'', Madrid, Iberoamericana-Verbuert, 2008, pp. 409–420. * Héctor Urzáiz Tortajada y Gema Cienfuegos Antelo, "Francisco de Avellaneda: entremesista y censor de comedias 'por Su Majestad', Carlos II", in ''Teatro y poder en la época de Carlos II. Fiestas en torno a reyes y virreyes'', Judith Farré ed., Madrid, Universidad de Navarra-Iberoamericana Verbuert, 2007, pp. 305–327. {{DEFAULTSORT:Avellaneda, Francisco 1622 births 1684 deaths Spanish male dramatists and playwrights 17th-century Spanish writers 17th-century Spanish dramatists and playwrights 17th-century male writers