Pedro Calderón De La Barca
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

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, and writer. He is known as one of the most distinguished poets and writers of the
Spanish Golden Age The Spanish Golden Age (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Siglo de Oro'', , "Golden Century"; 1492 – 1681) was a period of literature and the The arts, arts in Spain that coincided with the political rise of the Spanish Empire under the Catholic M ...
, especially for the many verse dramas he wrote for
the theatre The Theatre was an Elizabethan playhouse in Shoreditch (in Curtain Road, part of the modern London Borough of Hackney), just outside the City of London. Built in 1576, after the Red Lion, it was the first permanent theatre built exclusiv ...
. Calderón has been termed "the Spanish
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
", the
national poet A national poet or national bard is a poet held by tradition and popular acclaim to represent the identity, beliefs and principles of a particular national culture. The national poet as culture hero is a long-standing symbol, to be distinguished ...
of Spain, and one of the greatest poets and
playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...
s in the history of
world literature World literature is used to refer to the world's total national literature and the circulation of works into the wider world beyond their country of origin. In the past, it primarily referred to the masterpieces of Western European literature. ...
. Calderón de la Barca was born into the minor
Spanish nobility The Spanish nobility are people who possess a title of nobility confirmed by the Spanish Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, as well as those individuals appointed to one of Spain's three highest orders of knightho ...
in
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
, where he lived for most of his life. He served as soldier and a
knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
of the military and religious
Order of Santiago The Order of Santiago (; ) is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the patron saint of Spain, ''Santiago'' ( St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgrims on the Way of S ...
, but later became a
Roman Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' re ...
. His theatrical debut was a
history play History is one of the three main genres in Western theatre alongside tragedy and comedy, although it originated, in its modern form, thousands of years later than the other primary genres. For this reason, it is often treated as a subset of trage ...
about the life of King
Edward III of England Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...
, was first performed on 29 June 1623 at the Royal Alcázar of Madrid, during the surprise visit to Spain of
Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, a ...
to negotiate for a dynastic marriage alliance with the Spanish Habsburgs. As he continued writing verse dramas, Calderón's favorite theatrical genres included
mystery play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represe ...
s illustrating the doctrines of
Transubstantiation Transubstantiation (; Greek language, Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of sacramental bread, bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and ...
and the
Real Presence The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, sometimes shortened Real Presence'','' is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically, but in a true, real and substantial way. Th ...
for performance during the Feast of Corpus Christi and both comedy of intrigue and tragic theatre rooted in many of the same plot devices as Shakespeare's plays and in ethical dilemmas under the
Spanish nobility The Spanish nobility are people who possess a title of nobility confirmed by the Spanish Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, as well as those individuals appointed to one of Spain's three highest orders of knightho ...
's code of honour. Born while the unwritten rules of Spanish Golden Age theatre were still being defined by
Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque literature. In the literature of ...
, Calderón pushed their limits even further by introducing radical and pioneering innovations that are now termed
metafiction Metafiction is a form of fiction that emphasizes its own narrative structure in a way that inherently reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story ...
and
surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...
. His masterpiece, ''La Vida es Sueño'' (" Life is a Dream"), combines a
beauty and the beast "Beauty and the Beast" is a fairy tale written by the French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in (''The Young American and Marine Tales''). Villeneuve's lengthy version was abridged, rewritten, and publish ...
plotline, a disguised woman reminiscent of
Viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...
from Shakespeare's ''
Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...
'', surrealist concepts, romantic complications, and the threat of a dynastic civil war, while exploring the philosophical question of whether each individual's fate has already been written without their involvement or if the future can be altered by
free will Free will is generally understood as the capacity or ability of people to (a) choice, choose between different possible courses of Action (philosophy), action, (b) exercise control over their actions in a way that is necessary for moral respon ...
. Calderón's poetry and plays have since wielded an enormous global influence upon
Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...
, symbolism,
literary modernism Modernist literature originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is characterised by a self-conscious separation from traditional ways of writing in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented with literary form a ...
,
expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...
,
dystopia A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmen ...
n
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
, and even
postmodernism Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, Culture, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting ...
. His many admirers have included August Wilhelm Schlegel,
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
,
John Dryden John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration (En ...
,
Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...
,
Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame durin ...
, Fr. Félix Sardà y Salvany, Hugo von Hoffmannsthal, Vyacheslav Ivanov,
Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...
, Konstantin Stanislavsky, and
Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (30 May 1960) was a Russian and Soviet poet, novelist, composer, and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pasternak's first book of poems, ''My Sister, Life'', was published in Berlin in 1922 and soon became an imp ...
. In 1881, the
Royal Spanish Academy The Royal Spanish Academy (, ; ) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with national language academies in 22 other Hispanophon ...
awarded a gold medal to Irish poet Denis Florence MacCarthy for his highly praised and accurate
literary translation Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...
s of Calderón's verse dramas into English. In 2021, a renewed search for Calderón's missing remains gained media attention worldwide.“WITH THE SEARCH FOR THE REMAINS OF CALDERÓN WE REMEMBER A FIGURE THAT UNITED ALL THOSE WHO WERE DIFFERENT”
Fundación Hispano Británica, March 2021.


Biography

Pedro Calderón de la Barca was born in
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
on Friday 17 January 1600, and was baptized in the parish of San Martín. His father, Diego Calderón, was a mountain hidalgo with family origins in Viveda,
Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...
and had inherited his own father's position of secretary of the Council and Chief Accounting Office of the Treasury, serving in it the Spanish Habsburg Kings Felipe II and Felipe III, died in 1615. The playwright's mother, Ana Gonzalez de Henao (or Henaut, Hainaut), had family roots in the
Spanish Netherlands The Spanish Netherlands (; ; ; ) (historically in Spanish: , the name "Flanders" was used as a '' pars pro toto'') was the Habsburg Netherlands ruled by the Spanish branch of the Habsburgs from 1556 to 1714. They were a collection of States of t ...
and was of either Flemish or Walloon descent. According to James Fitzmaurice-Kelly, she claimed origin from the De Mons of Hainault. His parents married in 1595. Pedro was the third of the six children that the marriage produced (three boys and three girls), of whom only four survived childhood: Diego, the first-born; Dorotea — nun in Toledo—; Pedro and Jusepe or José. These brothers were always welcome, as Diego Calderón stated in his will (1647): However, they also had a natural brother, Francisco, who hid under the surname of "González" and was expelled from the father's house by Don Diego, although he left written in 1615 that he be recognized as legitimate unless he had married "with that woman he tried to marry", in which case he would be disinherited. His mother died when Calderón was ten years old, in 1610. Calderón was then educated at the
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
Collegio in
Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
, the Colegio Imperial, with a view to taking orders; but instead, he studied law at
Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...
. Between 1620 and 1622 Calderón won several poetry contests in honor of the
feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...
of St. Isidore, the
patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, fa ...
of Madrid. Calderón's debut as a playwright was ''Amor, honor y poder'' ("Love, honor, and power"), about the life of King
Edward III of England Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...
, was performed at the Royal Alcázar of Madrid during the visit of
Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, a ...
to unsuccessfully negotiate for a
dynastic marriage Royal intermarriage is the practice of members of ruling dynasties marrying into other reigning families. It was more commonly done in the past as part of strategic diplomacy for national interest. Although sometimes enforced by legal requiremen ...
with '' Infanta'' Maria Anna of Spain, on 29 June 1623. This was followed by two other plays that same year: ''La selva confusa'' and ''Los Macabeos''. Over the next two decades, Calderón wrote more than 70 plays, the majority of which were secular dramas written for the commercial theatres. Calderón served in the Spanish Royal Army in Italy and
Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...
between 1625 and 1635. By the time
Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque literature. In the literature of ...
died in 1635, Calderón was recognized as the foremost Spanish dramatist of the age. Calderón had also gained considerable favour in the court, and in 1636–1637 he was made a knight of the
Order of Santiago The Order of Santiago (; ) is a religious and military order founded in the 12th century. It owes its name to the patron saint of Spain, ''Santiago'' ( St. James the Greater). Its initial objective was to protect the pilgrims on the Way of S ...
by Philip IV, who had already commissioned from him a series of spectacular plays for the royal theatre in the newly built Buen Retiro palace. On 28 May 1640 he joined a company of mounted cuirassiers recently raised by
Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, 1st Duke of Sanlúcar, 3rd Count of Olivares, , known as the Count-Duke of Olivares (taken by joining both Count of Olivares, his countship and Duke of Sanlúcar la Mayor, subsequent dukedom) (6 January 1587 – 2 ...
, took part in the Catalan campaign, and distinguished himself by his gallantry at
Tarragona Tarragona (, ; ) is a coastal city and municipality in Catalonia (Spain). It is the capital and largest town of Tarragonès county, the Camp de Tarragona region and the province of Tarragona. Geographically, it is located on the Costa Daurada ar ...
. His health failing, Calderón retired from the army in November 1642, and three years later was awarded a special military pension in recognition of his services in the field. Calderón's biography during the next few years is obscure. His brother, Diego Calderón, died in 1647. A son, Pedro José, was born to Calderón and an unknown woman between 1647 and 1649; the mother died soon after. Calderón committed his son to the care of his nephew, José, son of Diego. Perhaps for reasons relating to these personal trials, Calderón became a tertiary of the order of St Francis in 1650, and then finally joined the priesthood. He was ordained in 1651 and served as a parish priest at San Salvador Church in Madrid, which was later demolished as part of the 19th-century
Spanish confiscation The Spanish confiscation was the Spanish government's seizure and sale of property, including from the Catholic Church, from the late 18th century to the early 20th century. It was a long historical, economic, and social process beginning with ...
s. According to a statement Calderón made a year or two later, he decided to give up writing secular drama for the commercial theatres. Though he did not adhere strictly to this resolution, he now wrote mostly mythological plays for the palace theatres, and '' autos sacramentales''—one-act allegories illustrating the
Real Presence The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, sometimes shortened Real Presence'','' is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically, but in a true, real and substantial way. Th ...
in the
Eucharist The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...
—for performance during the feast of Corpus Christi. In 1662, two of Calderón's ''autos'', ''Las órdenes militares'' and ''Mística y real Babilonia'', were the subjects of an investigation by the
Spanish Inquisition The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition () was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile and lasted until 1834. It began toward the end of ...
; the former was censored, its manuscripts confiscated, and it remained banned until 1671. Even so, Calderón was appointed honorary chaplain to Philip IV in 1663, and continued as chaplain to his successor. In his eighty-first year he wrote his last secular play, ''Hado y Divisa de Leonido y Marfisa'', in honor of Charles II's marriage to Maria Luisa of Orléans. Notwithstanding his position at court and his popularity throughout Spain, near the end of his life Calderón struggled with financial difficulties, but with the motivation of the Carnival of 1680 he wrote his last work of comedy, ''Hado y divisa de Leonido y de Marfisa''. He died on 25 May 1681, leaving only partially complete the '' autos sacramentales'' that he had been working on for that year. His burial was austere and unembellished, as he desired in his will: "Uncovered, as if I deserved to satisfy in part the public vanities of my poorly spent life". In this manner he left the theatres orphaned in which he was considered one of the best dramatic writers of his time.


Style


Theatrical innovator

Calderón initiated what has been called the second cycle of
Spanish Golden Age The Spanish Golden Age (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Siglo de Oro'', , "Golden Century"; 1492 – 1681) was a period of literature and the The arts, arts in Spain that coincided with the political rise of the Spanish Empire under the Catholic M ...
theatre. Whereas his predecessor,
Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque literature. In the literature of ...
, pioneered the dramatic forms and genres of Spanish Golden Age theatre, Calderón polished and perfected them. Whereas Lope's strength lay in the spontaneity and naturalness of his work, Calderón's strength lay in his capacity for poetic beauty, dramatic structure and philosophical and theological depth. Calderón was a perfectionist who often revisited and reworked his plays, even long after they were first performed. His perfectionism was not just limited to his own work: several of his plays adapt and reimagine existing plays or scenes by other dramatists, improving their depth, complexity, and unity. Calderón excelled above all others in the genre of the "auto sacramental", in which he showed a seemingly inexhaustible capacity to giving new dramatic forms to a given set of theological and philosophical constructs. Calderón wrote 120 "comedias", 80 "autos sacramentales" and 20 short comedic works called ''entremeses''. As
Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
notes, Calderón tended to take special care with the dramatic structures of his plays. He usually included fewer scenes than other contemporary playwrights (such as
Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque literature. In the literature of ...
) so as to avoid any superfluous distractions from the essential focus of the plays. He also worked towards a greater stylistic uniformity by reducing the number of different
metre The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...
s in his plays. Calderón realized that any play was a work of fiction, and that the structure of the baroque play was entirely artificial. He therefore, probably influenced by
Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( ; ; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best known for his no ...
, made regular use of
metafiction Metafiction is a form of fiction that emphasizes its own narrative structure in a way that inherently reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story ...
al techniques, such as making his characters joke about the
cliché A cliché ( or ; ) is a saying, idea, or element of an artistic work that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning, novelty, or literal and figurative language, figurative or artistic power, even to the point of now being b ...
s they are expected to slavishly follow. Most famously in his masterpiece, '' La Vida es Sueño'', Calderón uses an astrological prophecy made decades before the beginning of the play as a way to deliberately mislead the audience about how the plot will unfold. Calderón intended to subtly defend the Catholic doctrine of
free will Free will is generally understood as the capacity or ability of people to (a) choice, choose between different possible courses of Action (philosophy), action, (b) exercise control over their actions in a way that is necessary for moral respon ...
against the
Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...
doctrine of
predestination Predestination, in theology, is the doctrine that all events have been willed by God, usually with reference to the eventual fate of the individual soul. Explanations of predestination often seek to address the paradox of free will, whereby Go ...
and to depict the unwritten nature of each individual's future based on their choices. Although his poetry and plays leaned towards culteranismo, Calderón usually reduced the level and obscurity of that style by avoiding metaphors and references that uneducated viewers would not understand. However, he had a great influence anyway in later centuries upon Symbolism, for example by making a fall from a horse a
metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...
for a fall into disgrace or dishonour.


Themes

Some of the most common themes of his plays were heavily influenced by his Classical Christian education by the
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
s. For example, as a reader and great admirer of Scholastic
theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...
s Saint Thomas Aquinas and Francisco Suárez, Calderón liked to confront reason against emotion, intellect against instinct, love against vengeance, and understanding against the will. This is not to say, however, that Calderón has never had his critics. In an article for the 1911
Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...
,
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
Professor Jeremiah Ford wrote, "Were one to contrast
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
with
Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio (; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist who was a key figure in the Spanish Golden Age (1492–1659) of Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque literature. In the literature of ...
, he would discover that, while Shakespeare belongs to all men and all time, Lope is the particular property of Spain, and is bounded by national limitations. The character of Calderón is even more limited still; he is not only Spanish rather than universal, but, as a Spaniard, he typifies the sentiments and ideals of a narrowly restricted period, the seventeenth century. It may be added that in his theatre and in his daily life he was a model of the truly Christian and knightly poet of his period. The ideas most distinctive of his age which we see reflected in Calderón's dramatic works are intense devotion to the Catholic Faith; absolute and unquestioning loyalty to the Spanish sovereign; and a highly developed, even much exaggerated, feeling of honour."Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...
.
According to Richard E. Chandler and Kessel Schwartz, it is vital to realize, that despite the end of the
Reconquista The ''Reconquista'' (Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese for ) or the fall of al-Andalus was a series of military and cultural campaigns that European Christian Reconquista#Northern Christian realms, kingdoms waged ag ...
in 1492 many elements of Islamic Spain rooted in
Sharia Law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, inta ...
still persisted among the Christian population during the lifetime of Calderón; "One must understand the point of honor (''pundonor'') and resulting social complications to understand the theatre of Calderón, or, in fact, any of the Golden Age dramatists. A man's honor was a touchy point, based primarily upon a highly refined sentiment of conjugal fidelity but extended to include a man's daughters, married or unmarried, or any other woman in his household. Also, honor had to be kept inviolate -- an extremely difficult thing to accomplish -- and if sullied, had to be avenged. Arising from the Spaniard's sense of personal dignity and his desire to protect his reputation, it became a matter of pride and self-respect to cleanse tarnished honor, which even gossip could blemish. All male members of the household were responsible for protecting the family's name, and no honorable gentleman could leave family honor unavenged. In relationships between the sexes, the code of honor became especially sinister and led to the most barbarous cruelties. A husband was permitted to kill his wife if she was even suspected of infidelity, and her lover had to be murdered to avoid a scandal. Love was the great game, and the responsibilities of a household of an attractive woman was a terrible burden and source of worry for the husband or father. One bloody vengeance called for another, and bloody
feud A feud , also known in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, private war, or mob war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially family, families or clans. Feuds begin ...
s raged through entire families. The ladies, especially those of Calderón and Tirso, were highly susceptible to risqué situations and quite unafraid to run the risk of a compromising and dishonoring one. Calderón was a court poet and was consequently versed in all the intricacies of the honor code." Jeremiah Ford continued, "The point of honour, often carried to morbid extremes, provides the motif in such characteristic pieces as the ''Alcade de Zalamea'', the ''Pintor de su deshonra'', the ''Médico de su honra'', and ''A secreto agravio secreta venganza''. The actuating principle in these works can hardly appeal to us; we can feel little sympathy with a personage who methodically and in cold blood slays the one by whom his honour has been affronted. For us such an action is a perversion of the ideals of
chivalry Chivalry, or the chivalric language, is an informal and varying code of conduct that developed in Europe between 1170 and 1220. It is associated with the medieval Christianity, Christian institution of knighthood, with knights being members of ...
." In contrast, Alexander A. Parker has argued, in an article of his own for
Encyclopedia Britannica An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...
, that Calderón was actually a very harsh moral critic of Spanish culture at the time in which he lived, "Accepting the conventions of the comedy of intrigue, a favourite form on the Spanish stage, he used them for a fundamentally serious purpose. ''La dama duende'' (1629; 'The Phantom Lady') is a neat and lively example. In ''Casa con dos puertas, mala es de guardar'' (1629; 'A House with Two Doors Is Difficult to Guard'), the intrigues of secret
courtship Courtship is the period wherein some couples get to know each other prior to a possible marriage or committed romantic, ''de facto'' relationship. Courtship traditionally may begin after a betrothal and may conclude with the celebration of marri ...
and the disguises that it necessitates are so presented that the traditional seclusion of women on which these intrigues are based is shown to create social disorder by breeding enmity and endangering love and friendship. ''No siempre lo peor es cierto'' (c. 1640; 'The Worst Is Not Always True') and ''No hay cosa como callar'' (1639; 'Silence Is Golden') mark the peak of this development; although the conventions of comedy remain, the overtones are tragic. Both plays also implicitly criticize the accepted code of honour. Calderón’s rejection of the rigid assumptions of the code of honour is evident also in his tragedies. In the famous ''El alcalde de Zalamea'', the
secrecy Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controver ...
and the vengeance demanded by the code are rejected. This play also presents a powerful contrast between the
aristocracy Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense Economy, economic, Politics, political, and soc ...
and
the people The People may refer to: Legal jargon * The People, term used to refer to the people in general, in legal documents * "We the People of the United States", from the Preamble to the U. S. Constitution * In philosophy, economics, and political scienc ...
: the degeneration of the aristocratic ideal is exposed, wealth is associated with manual labour, and honour is shown to be the consequence and prerogative of moral integrity regardless of class." According to Richard E. Chandler and Kessel Schwartz, "''El médico de su honra'' is the most extreme of his honor tragedies. It revolves around a point of honor and recounts how a husband, suspecting his wife of infidelity, causes her veins to be opened. She bleeds to death, washing his dishonor away with her blood." While acknowledging that the plot of the same play has caused Calderón's humanity to be questioned, Alexander A. Parker has written, "The critics who allege that he approves of the murder of an innocent wife because honour demands it overlook the fact that the horror one feels at this deed is precisely what he intended." In common with many writers from the
Spanish Golden Age The Spanish Golden Age (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Siglo de Oro'', , "Golden Century"; 1492 – 1681) was a period of literature and the The arts, arts in Spain that coincided with the political rise of the Spanish Empire under the Catholic M ...
, his plays usually show his vital pessimism, that is only softened by his rationalism and his faith in the Christian God; the anguish and distress usually found his ''œuvre'' is better exemplified in one of his most famous plays, ''La vida es sueño'' ('' Life Is a Dream''), in which Segismundo claims:


Comedy of Intrigue

According to Richard E. Chandler and Kessel Schwartz, "Calderón's 'cape and sword' plays represent the perfection of a type introduced by Lope. They illustrate the type carried to the extreme of its possibilities, with unbelievably complicated plots worked out with mathematical precision. Lovers' intrigues, honor complications, sudden appearances, and many other tricks and devices are resorted to by the playwright to complicate and then to disentangle the story. In these plays, as well as in the honor tragedies, Calderón, the most profoundly Spanish poet of his epoch, speaks so intimately to the passions and ideals of the time that he often lacks the little universality which his contemporaries achieved... Although he lacked the spontaneity and variety of the Phoenix, he frequently equaled him and at times surpassed him in sheer beauty of poetry with rapturous heights which even Lope could not equal. He was more profound and philosophical than Lope. He was an aristocratic poet and, unlike Lope, did not slavishly cater to the demands of the public. Lope was the improviser, Calderón was the planner."


''Autos Sacramentales''

Indeed, his themes tended to be complex and philosophical, and express complicated states of mind in a manner that few playwrights have been able to manage. Like
Baltasar Gracián Baltasar Gracián y Morales (; 8 January 16016 December 1658), better known as Baltasar Gracián, was a Spanish Jesuit priest and Spanish Baroque literature, Baroque prose writer and philosopher. He was born in Belmonte de Gracián, Belmonte, n ...
, Calderón favoured only the deepest human feelings and moral dilemmas. Since Calderón's plays were usually produced at the court of the King of Spain, he had access to the most modern techniques regarding scenography. He collaborated with Cosme Lotti in developing complex scenographies that were integrated in some of his plays, specially his most religious-themed ones such as the ''Autos Sacramentales'', becoming extremely complex allegories of moral, philosophical and religious concepts. According to Richard E. Chandler and Kessel Schwartz, "As a writer of ''Autos Sacramentales'', Calderón is supreme. The ''Auto'', cultivated since the time of Gil Vicente, is a one act play, generally allegorical in nature, which at one time or another treats the miracle of
Transubstantiation Transubstantiation (; Greek language, Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of sacramental bread, bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and ...
. ''Autos'' were performed in Spain's large cities during the Corpus Christi festival in the open air on temporary stages set up in some public square. Everyone, including the royalty, attended the public performances, which followed the Processional of the
Host A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places * Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County * Host Island, in the Wilhelm Archipelago, Antarctica People * ...
through the streets to the church. Some believe that these short pieces represent the best of the Calderonian theatre where his fertile imagination had free rein and his sincere religious motives and faith found their purest expression." According to Russian Symbolist poet and dramatic theorist Vyacheslav Ivanov, "Let us take a look at drama, which in modern history has replaced the spectacles of universal and holy events as reflected in miniature and purely signifying forms on the stages of the
mystery play Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represe ...
s. We know that classical French tragedy is one of triumphs of the transformational , decisive idealistic principle. Calderón, however, is different. In him, everything is but a signification of the objective truth of Divine Providence, which governs human destiny. A pious son of the Spanish Church, he was able to combine all the daring of naive individualism with the most profound realism of the mystical contemplation of divine things."


Legacy

Calderón's fame dwindled during the 18th-century due to the anti-religious currents of both the Bourbon Reforms and the
Enlightenment in Spain The ideas of the Age of Enlightenment () came to History of Spain, Spain in the 18th century with the Spanish royal family, new Bourbon dynasty, following the death of the last House of Habsburg#Spanish Habsburgs: Kings of Spain, Kings of Portugal ...
and, in 1765, a law was passed forbidding the performance of ''Autos'' on the Feast of Corpus Christi, officially for being, "sacrilegious and in bad taste." Within mere decades, though, Calderón was rediscovered in the Germanosphere by highly influential Jena Romantic poet and Indologist August Wilhelm Schlegel. Schlegel's
literary translation Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...
s and high critical praise rekindled interest in Calderón, who, along with
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
, became a banner figure, first for
German Romanticism German Romanticism () was the dominant intellectual movement of German-speaking countries in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, influencing philosophy, aesthetics, literature, and criticism. Compared to English Romanticism, the German vari ...
, and then for
Romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...
in many other countries and languages. E. T. A. Hoffmann based his 1807
singspiel A Singspiel (; plural: ; ) is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera. It is characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with ensembles, songs, ballads, and arias which were often strophic, or folk- ...
''
Liebe und Eifersucht ''Liebe und Eifersucht'' (''Love and Jealousy'') is a ''Singspiel'', an opera with spoken dialogue, in three acts by the German composer and author E. T. A. Hoffmann, composed in 1807 on his own libretto based on the translation by August Wilhel ...
'' on a stage play by Calderón, '' La banda y la flor'' (''The Scarf and the Flower''), as translated by Schlegel. In subsequent decades, Calderón was repeatedly translated into German, most notably by Johann Diederich Gries and Joseph von Eichendorff, and had an enthusiastic reception on the German and Austrian stages, particularly under the direction of
Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
, and Joseph Schreyvogel. Later significant German-language adaptations include the work of highly influential Austrian Symbolist poet,
metafiction Metafiction is a form of fiction that emphasizes its own narrative structure in a way that inherently reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and story ...
al playwright, and
Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...
' favorite
opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
librettist
Hugo von Hofmannsthal Hugo Laurenz August Hofmann von Hofmannsthal (; 1 February 1874 – 15 July 1929) was an Austrian novelist, libretto, librettist, Poetry, poet, Playwdramatist, narrator, and essayist. Early life Hofmannsthal was born in Landstraße, Vienna, th ...
; who made
literary translation Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...
s of '' La vida es sueño'' and '' El gran teatro del mundo''. During the 19th century in his homeland, Calderón de la Barca was embraced by adherents of
Carlism Carlism (; ; ; ) is a Traditionalism (Spain), Traditionalist and Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the Bourbon dynasty, one descended from Infante Carlos María Isidro of Spain, Don Carlos, ...
and other opponents of the 1798-1924 mass confiscation and sale of Church property by the State, the expulsion of the
religious orders A religious order is a subgroup within a larger confessional community with a distinctive high-religiosity lifestyle and clear membership. Religious orders often trace their lineage from revered teachers, venerate their founders, and have a d ...
, the ban on Classical Christian education, and the many other
anti-Catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics and opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and its adherents. Scholars have identified four categories of anti-Catholicism: constitutional-national, theological, popular and socio-cul ...
policies of Liberal Spanish monarchs and their ministers. In 1881, during a controversial gathering at El Retiro, an
urban park An urban park or metropolitan park, also known as a city park, municipal park (North America), public park, public open space, or municipal gardens (United Kingdom, UK), is a park or botanical garden in cities, densely populated suburbia and oth ...
on the site of the demolished Royal palace where many of his plays were first performed, on the two hundredth anniversary of Calderón's death, Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo raised a toast to the religious values of Calderón's Spain and the supremacy of the Latino race over "Germanic barbarity", by which Menéndez Pelayo meant anti-Catholic Spanish Krausist and the Hegelianist intellectuals. Félix Sardà y Salvany, the author of the book '' Liberalism Is a Sin'', and his fellow integrists and Carlists considered Calderón de la Barca to embody the most brilliant incarnation of the Spanish Catholic literary tradition. During the pre-1917
Silver Age of Russian Poetry Silver Age (Сере́бряный век) is a term traditionally applied by Russian philologists to the last decade of the 19th century and first two or three decades of the 20th century. It was an exceptionally creative period in the history o ...
, highly influential Russian Symbolist poet and dramatic theorist Vyacheslav Ivanov, who was heavily influenced by German Romanticism, was accordingly an enthusiast for Calderón. On 19 April 1910, Vsevolod Meyerhold even staged Konstantin Balmont's
literary translation Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...
of Calderón's ''Adoration of the Holy Cross'' during the weekly literary salon held inside Ivanov's flat overlooking the Tauride Palace in
St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
. Many of the most important figures in
Russian literature Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia, its Russian diaspora, émigrés, and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. Major contributors to Russian literature, as well as English for instance, are authors of different e ...
at the time were either present or acting in the play. Although he is best known abroad as the
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...
-winning author of '' Doctor Zhivago'', Soviet dissident intellectual and former Ivanov protege
Boris Pasternak Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (30 May 1960) was a Russian and Soviet poet, novelist, composer, and literary translator. Composed in 1917, Pasternak's first book of poems, ''My Sister, Life'', was published in Berlin in 1922 and soon became an imp ...
produced acclaimed Russian translations of Calderón's plays during the late 1950s. According to his mistress, Olga Ivinskaya,
In working on Calderón he received help from Nikolai Mikhailovich Liubumov, a shrewd and enlightened person who understood very well that all the mudslinging and commotion over the novel would be forgotten, but that there would always be a Pasternak. I took finished bits of the translation with me to Moscow, read them to Liubimov at Potapov Street, and then went back to Peredelkino, where I would tactfully ask oris Leonidovichto change passages which, in Liubimov's view departed too far from the original. Very soon after the "scandal" was over, oris Leonidovichreceived a first payment for the work on Calderón.
Following the end of the
Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...
, Calderón was embraced as a
national poet A national poet or national bard is a poet held by tradition and popular acclaim to represent the identity, beliefs and principles of a particular national culture. The national poet as culture hero is a long-standing symbol, to be distinguished ...
by the Francoist government. This, however, has not harmed his popularity in Spain in the years since the transition back to
constitutional monarchy Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...
.


English

The persistent influence of both anti-Catholicism and anti-Spanish sentiment rooted in the Black Legend still means that even the existence of the
Spanish Golden Age The Spanish Golden Age (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Siglo de Oro'', , "Golden Century"; 1492 – 1681) was a period of literature and the The arts, arts in Spain that coincided with the political rise of the Spanish Empire under the Catholic M ...
, let alone its literary, artistic, and cultural achievements, remain widely unknown in the
English-speaking world The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English language, English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the ...
. Both this ignorance and its cultural fallout were criticized even during the Black Legend's
Elizabethan era The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female ...
inception by Sir
Philip Sidney Sir Philip Sidney (30 November 1554 – 17 October 1586) was an English poet, courtier, scholar and soldier who is remembered as one of the most prominent figures of the Elizabethan era, Elizabethan age. His works include a sonnet sequence, ' ...
, whose 1580
essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...
''
An Apology for Poetry ''An Apology for Poetry'' (or ''The Defence of Poesy'') is a work of literary criticism by Elizabethan poetry, Elizabethan poet Philip Sidney. It was written in approximately 1580 and first published in 1595, after his death. It is generally b ...
'' expressed very high praise for the verse dramas he had attended during diplomatic missions in France, Spain, and Italy. Playwrights in
Catholic Europe The Catholic Church in Europe is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See in Rome, including represented Eastern Catholic Catholic missions, missions. Demographically, Catholics are the largest religious group in ...
during the
Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...
had revived
Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
's three Classical unities and Sidney for these and many other reasons considered them vastly superior to all the plays then being written and performed in England. Despite this, Calderón's plays were first translated and performed in English during his lifetime. For instance, the diary of
Stuart Restoration The Stuart Restoration was the reinstatement in May 1660 of the Stuart monarchy in Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, and Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland. It replaced the Commonwealth of England, established in January 164 ...
courtier
Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys ( ; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English writer and Tories (British political party), Tory politician. He served as an official in the Navy Board and Member of Parliament (England), Member of Parliament, but is most r ...
describes attending
stage play A play is a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between characters and is intended for theatrical performance rather than mere reading. The creator of a play is known as a playwright. Plays are staged at various levels, ranging ...
s in London during 1667 which were free translations from Calderón. During the same era, Calderón's many emulators in writing for the English stage included Poet Laureate of England
John Dryden John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration (En ...
. Centuries later, like his German Romantic colleagues, English Romantic poet
Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824) was an English poet. He is one of the major figures of the Romantic movement, and is regarded as being among the greatest poets of the United Kingdom. Among his best-kno ...
repeatedly referenced Calderón, whom he viewed as "a romantic figure". Byron's friend and fellow Romantic poet
Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame durin ...
similarly had very high praise in his essays for Calderón and personally translated a substantial portion of ''El Mágico prodigioso''. Despite this, in his essay '' A Defence of Poetry'', Shelley, as a staunch and vocal believer in
Atheism Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the Existence of God, existence of Deity, deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the ...
,
feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
, and the rejection of
Christian morality Christian ethics, also known as moral theology, is a multi-faceted ethical system. It is a Virtue ethics, virtue ethic, which focuses on building moral character, and a Deontological ethics, deontological ethic which emphasizes duty according ...
, also expressed very harsh criticism for Calderón's religious beliefs and his regular decision to confront the human mind and conscience successfully against the emotions, "Calderón, in his religious ''autos'', has attempted to fulfill some of the high conditions of dramatic presentation neglected by Shakespeare; such as establishing a relation between drama and religion, and the accommodating them to music and dancing; but he admits the observation of conditions still more important, and more is lost than gained by the substitution of the rigidly defined and ever-repeated idealism of a distorted superstition for the living impersonations of the truth of human passion."A Defence of Poetry
by
Percy Bysshe Shelley Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 1792 – 8 July 1822) was an English writer who is considered one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame durin ...
, The Poetry Foundation.
Later in the same essay, however, Shelley concluded, "The exertions of Locke, Hume,
Gibbon Gibbons () are apes in the family Hylobatidae (). The family historically contained one genus, but now is split into four extant genera and 20 species. Gibbons live in subtropical and tropical forests from eastern Bangladesh and Northeast Indi ...
,
Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...
,
Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher ('' philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects ...
, and their disciples, in favor of oppressed and deluded humanity, are entitled to the gratitude of mankind. Yet it is easy to calculate the degree of moral and intellectual improvement which the world would have exhibited, had they never lived. A little more nonsense would have been talked for a century or two; and perhaps a few more men, women, and children burnt as heretics. We might not at this moment have been congratulating each other on the abolition of the Inquisition in Spain. But it exceeds all imagination to conceive what would have been the moral condition of the world if neither
Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...
,
Petrarch Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists. Petrarch's redis ...
,
Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was s ...
,
Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer ( ; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He ...
,
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
, Calderón, Lord Bacon, nor Milton, had ever existed; if
Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino (; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), now generally known in English as Raphael ( , ), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. List of paintings by Raphael, His work is admired for its cl ...
and
Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...
had never been born; if the
Hebrew poetry {{Short description, Disambiguation page Hebrew poetry is poetry written in the Hebrew language. It encompasses such things as: * Biblical poetry, the poetry found in the poetic books of the Hebrew Bible * Piyyut, religious Jewish liturgical poe ...
had never been translated; if a revival of the study of
Greek literature Greek literature () dates back from the ancient Greek literature, beginning in 800 BC, to the modern Greek literature of today. Ancient Greek literature was written in an Ancient Greek dialect, literature ranges from the oldest surviving wri ...
had never taken place; if no monuments of ancient sculpture had been handed down to us; and if the poetry of the religion of the ancient world had been extinguished together with its belief. The human mind could never, except by the intervention of these excitements, have been awakened to the invention of the grosser sciences, and that application of analytical reasoning to the aberrations of society, which it is now attempted to exalt over the direct expression of the inventive and creative faculty itself." The poetic and accurate
Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the ...
translations of
Irish Catholic Irish Catholics () are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland, defined by their adherence to Catholic Christianity and their shared Irish ethnic, linguistic, and cultural heritage.The term distinguishes Catholics of Irish descent, particul ...
poet Denis Florence MacCarthy were commenced because MacCarthy was a great admirer of Shelley and therefore took the latter's high critical praise of Calderón in multiple essays very seriously. George Ticknor declared in his ''History of Spanish Literature'' that MacCarthy "has succeeded in giving a faithful idea of what is grandest and most effective in alderón'sgenius... to a degree which I had previously thought impossible. Nothing, I think, in the English language will give us so true an impression of what is most characteristic of the Spanish drama, and of Spanish poetry generally." So highly regarded were MacCarthy's translations that in 1881, he was awarded a medal by the
Royal Spanish Academy The Royal Spanish Academy (, ; ) is Spain's official royal institution with a mission to ensure the stability of the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, and is affiliated with national language academies in 22 other Hispanophon ...
on the two-hundredth anniversary of Calderón's death. Other translators of Calderón's works into English have included Edward FitzGerald, Roy Campbell, Edwin Honig, Kenneth Muir & Ann L. Mackenzie, Adrian Mitchell, Gwynne Edwards, and Jo Clifford. A recent revival of interest in Calderón scholarship can be attributed to British reception, namely through the works of A. A. Parker (who considered ''La hija del aire'' to be his finest work), A. E. Sloman and more recently Bruce Wardropper.


Selected Works

See also the List_of_Calder%C3%B3n%27s_plays_in_English_translation


Plays

*''Amor, honor y poder'' (''Love, Honor and Power'') (1623) *''El sitio de Breda'' (''The Siege of Breda'') (1625) *''La dama duende'' ('' The Phantom Lady'') (1629) *''Casa con dos puertas'' (''The House with Two Doors'') (1629) *''La vida es sueño'' ('' Life is a Dream'') (1629–1635) *''El purgatorio de San Patricio'' (''The Purgatory of St. Patrick''), inspired by the Lough Derg, County Donegal pilgrimage shrine of the same name, (before 1635) *''El mayor encanto, amor'' (''Love, the Greatest Enchantment'') (1635) *''Los tres mayores prodigios'' (''The Three Greatest Wonders'') (1636) *''La devoción de la Cruz'' (''Devotion to the Cross'') (1637) *''El mágico prodigioso'' (''The Mighty Magician'') (1637) *''A secreto agravio, secreta venganza (Secret Vengeance for Secret Insult)'' (1637) *'' El médico de su honra'' (''The Surgeon of his Honor'') (1637) *'' El pintor de su deshonra'' (''The Painter of His Dishonor'') (1640s) *''El alcalde de Zalamea'' ('' The Mayor of Zalamea'') (1651) *''La hija del aire'' (''The Daughter of the Air'') (1653) *''Eco y Narciso'' (''Eco and Narcissus'') (1661) *''La estatua de Prometeo'' (''Prometheus' Statue'') *''El prodigio de Alemania'' (''The Prodigy of Germany'') (in collaboration with Antonio Coello)


Operas

*'' Celos aun del aire matan'' 1660


Autos Sacramentales (Sacramental plays)

*'' La cena del rey Baltasar'' ('' Belshazzar's_Feast'') *'' El gran teatro del mundo'' ('' The Great Theater of the World'') *''El gran mercado del mundo'' (''The World is a Fair'') * ''Las órdenes militares'' * ''Mística y real Babilonia''


Comedies

For a time the comedic works of Calderón were underestimated, but have since been reevaluated and have been considered as masterfully composed works as being classified in the genre of '' comedias de enredo'', such as his works '' La dama duende ( The Phantom Lady), Casa con dos puertas, mala es de guardar (A house with two doors is difficult to guard), or El galán fantasma (The Heroic Phantom).''


In popular culture

* The 1997
Alejandro Amenábar Alejandro Fernando Amenábar Cantos (born 31 March 1972) is a Chilean-Spanish film director, screenwriter and composer. He has won nine Goya Awards—including Best Director for his 2001 film '' The Others''—and two European Film Awards amon ...
science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
film '' Open Your Eyes'', which was later remade in Hollywood as '' Vanilla Sky'', has drawn many comparisons to Calderón's ''La vida es Sueño''. * Calderón de la Barca appears in the 1998 Captain Alatriste novel '' The Sun over Breda'' by Arturo Pérez-Reverte, which takes up the assumption that he served in the Spanish Royal Army at Flanders and depicts him helping the local librarian save books from the library in the burning town hall during the sack of Oudkerk.


Notes


References

* * Calderón de la Barca, Pedro
''Life's a Dream: A Prose Translation''
Trans. and ed. Michael Kidd (Boulder, Colorado, 2004). Forthcoming in a bilingual edition from Aris & Phillips (U.K.). * Calderón de la Barca, Pedro. ''Obras completas / don Pedro Calderon de la Barca''. Ed. Angel Valbuena Briones. 2 Vols. Tolle: Aguilar, 1969–. * Cotarelo y Mori, D. Emilio. ''Ensayo sobre la vida y obras de D. Pedro Calderón de la Barca''. Ed. Facs. Ignacio Arellano y Juan Manuel Escudero. Biblioteca Áurea Hispánica. Madrid;Frankfurt: Iberoamericana; Veuvuert, 2001. * Cruickshank, Don W. "Calderón and the Spanish Book trade." ''Bibliographisches Handbuch der Calderón-Forschung / Manual Bibliográfico Calderoniano''. Eds Kurt y Roswitha Reichenberger. Tomo III. Kassel: Verlag Thiele & Schwarz, 1981. 9–15. * Cruickshank, Don W. ''Don Pedro Calderón''. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009. * De Armas, Frederick A. ''The Return of Astraea: An Astral-Imperial Myth in Calderón''. Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1986. * * Greer, Margaret Rich. ''The Play of Power: Mythological Court Dramas of Calderón de la Barca''. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP, 1991. * * Muratta Bunsen, Eduardo. "Los topoi escépticos en la dramaturgia calderoniana". ''Rumbos del Hispanismo'', Ed. Debora Vaccari, Roma, Bagatto, 2012. 185–192. * Parker, Alexander Augustine. ''The Allegorical Drama of Calderon, an introduction to the Autos sacramentales''. Oxford, Dolphin Book, 1968. * * Regalado, Antonio. "Sobre Calderón y la modernidad." ''Estudios sobre Calderón''. Ed. Javier Aparicio Maydeu. Tomo I. Clásicos Críticos. Madrid: Istmo, 2000. 39–70. * Kurt & Roswitha Reichenberger: "Bibliographisches Handbuch der Calderón-Forschung /Manual bibliográfico calderoniano (I): Die Calderón-Texte und ihre Überlieferung". Kassel, Edition Reichenberger 1979. * Kurt & Roswitha Reichenberger: "Bibliographisches Handbuch der Calderón-Forschung /Manual bibliográfico calderoniano (II, i): Sekundärliteratur zu Calderón 1679–1979: Allgemeines und "comedias". Estudios críticos sobre Calderón 1679–1979: Generalidades y comedias". Kassel, Edition Reichenberger 1999. * Kurt & Roswitha Reichenberger: "Bibliographisches Handbuch der Calderón-Forschung /Manual bibliográfico calderoniano (II, ii):Sekundärliteratur zu Calderón 1679–1979: Fronleichnamsspiele, Zwischenspiele und Zuschreibungen. Estudios críticos sobre Calderón 1679–1979: Autos sacramentales, obras cortas y obras supuestas". Kassel, Edition Reichenberger 2003. * Kurt & Roswitha Reichenberger: "Bibliographisches Handbuch der Calderón-Forschung /Manual bibliográfico calderoniano (III):Bibliographische Beschreibung der frühen Drucke". Kassel, Edition Reichenberger 1981. * Rodríguez, Evangelina y Antonio Tordera. ''Calderón y la obra corta dramática del siglo XVII''. London: Tamesis, 1983. * Ruano de la Haza, José M. "La Comedia y lo Cómico." ''Del horror a la Risa / los géneros dramáticos clásicos''. Kassel: Edition Reichenberger, 1994. 269–285. * Ruiz-Ramón, Francisco ''Calderón y la tragedia''. Madrid: Alhambra, 1984. * Roger Ordono, "Conscience de rôle dans ''Le Grand Théâtre du monde'' de Calderón de la Barca", Le Cercle Herméneutique, n°18 – 19, ''La Kédia. Gravité, soin, souci'', sous la direction de G.Charbonneau, Argenteuil, 2012. * * Sullivan, Henry W. ''Calderón in the German Lands and the Low Countries: His Reception and Influence 1654–1980."Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. * ;Attribution *


Sources

;Corrections have been made to biographical information using: *Cotarelo y Mori, D. Emilio. ''Ensayo sobre la vida y obras de D. Pedro Calderón de la Barca''. Ed. Facs. Ignacio Arellano y Juan Manuel Escudero. Biblioteca Áurea Hispánica. Madrid;Frankfurt: Iberoamericana; Veuvuert, 2001. ;The style section uses the following bibliographical information: *Kurt & Roswitha Reichenberger: "Bibliographisches Handbuch der Calderón-Forschung /Manual bibliográfico calderoniano (I): Die Calderón-Texte und ihre Überlieferung durch Wichser". Kassel, Edition Reichenberger 1979. *Enrique Ruul Fernandez, "Estudio y Edición crítica de Celos aun del aire matan, de Pedro Calderón de la Barca", UNED, 2004. *"A Hundred Years dressing Calderón", Sociedad Estatal para la acción cultural exterior, 2009.


External links

* * * * A site in Spanish about Calderón at th
Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes
Includes texts, video, images, and more biographical information. {{DEFAULTSORT:Calderon De La Barca, Pedro 1600 births 1681 deaths 17th-century Roman Catholics 17th-century Spanish dramatists and playwrights 17th-century Spanish poets Spanish Baroque writers Spanish Catholic poets Spanish Golden Age Spanish male dramatists and playwrights Spanish male poets Spanish people of Dutch descent Spanish people of Flemish descent Spanish Roman Catholic priests Spanish Roman Catholic writers University of Salamanca alumni Writers from Madrid