User:James Fahringer/draft article on Spanish Golden Age Theatre

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Calderon de la Barca, a key figure in the theatre of the Spanish Golden Age

During its Golden Age, roughly from 1590 to 1681[1], Spain saw a monumental increase in the production of live theatre as well as the in importance of theatre within Spanish society. It was an accessible art form for all participants in Renaissance Spain, being both highly sponsored by the aristocratic class and highly attended by the lower classes.[2] The volume and variety of Spanish plays during the Golden Age was unprecedented in the history of world theatre, surpassing, for example, the dramatic production of the English Renaissance by a factor of at least four.[3][2][1] Although this volume has been as much a source of criticism as praise for Spanish Golden Age theatre, for emphasizing quantity before quality,[4] a large number of the 10,000[2] to 30,000[4] plays of this period are still considered masterpieces.[5][6]

In its own time, this prolific production helped to contribute to theatre's accessibility in Spain.[2] For modern theatre historians, however, it has contributed to the difficulty of researching theatre from this period in Spain, as the vast majority of plays remain virtually untouched, in terms of both production and scholarly analysis, since the seventeenth century. Combined with the error prone printing techniques that plagued the publication of Spanish plays, this has vastly undercut the study of Spanish Golden Age theatre.[2] Although a thorough inclusive analysis remains difficult or even impossible, Spanish Golden Age theatre represents an area of active and productive research for theatre historians.[1][2]

Also noted for its variety, the theatre of Renaissance Spain was the only in Europe to simultaneously include secular and religious dramas.[4] Additionally, state sponsored drama existed harmoniously alongside popular for-profit theatre[7], with many theatre artists contributing significantly to both. Stylistically, plays ranged from straight plays to operas and from bawdy comedies to epic tragedies.[8] Spain also introduced its own forms and genres of theatre with the development of the Comedia nueva[9] and the zarzuela.[10]

Major artists of the period included Lope de Vega, a contemporary of Shakespeare, often, and contemporaneously, seen his parallel for the Spanish stage,[11] and Calderon de la Barca, inventor of the zarzuela[10] and Lope's successor as the preeminent Spanish dramatist[12]. Gil Vicente, Lope de Rueda, and Juan del Encina helped to establish the foundations of Spanish theatre in the mid-sixteenth centuries,[9][13][14], while Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla and Tirso de Molina made significant contributions in the later half of the Golden Age.[15][16] Important performers included Lope de Rueda (previously mentioned among the playwrights) and later Juan Rana[17][18]

The sources of influence for the emerging national theatre of Spain were as diverse as the theatre that nation ended up producing. Storytelling traditions originating in Italian Commedia dell'arte[19] and the uniquely the Spanish expression of Western Europe's traveling minstrel entertainments[20][21] contributed a populist influence on the narratives and the music, respectively, of early Spanish theatre. Neo-Aristotelian criticism and liturgical dramas, on the other hand, contributed literary and moralistic perspectives.[22][8] In turn, Spanish Golden Age theatre has dramatically influenced the theatre of later generations in Europe and throughout the world. Spanish drama had an immediate and significant impact on the contemporary developments in English Renaissance theatre.[5] It has also had a lasting impact on theatre throughout the Spanish speaking world.[23] Additionally, a growing number of works are being translated, increasing the reach of Spanish Golden Age theatre and strengthening its reputation among critics and theatre patrons.[24]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Fredson Bowers and the Editing of Spanish Golden Age Drama on JSTOR" (PDF).
  2. ^ a b c d e f Thacker, Jonathan (1 January 2007). "A Companion to Golden Age Theatre". Boydell & Brewer Ltd – via Google Books.
  3. ^ "Compleat Catalogue of Plays that Were Ever Printed in the English Language". W. Mears. 1 January 1719 – via Google Books.
  4. ^ a b c "Introduction to Theatre -- Spanish Renaissance Theatre".
  5. ^ a b "Golden Age".
  6. ^ "Lope de Vega and the Golden Age on JSTOR" (PDF).
  7. ^ McKendrick, Melveena (26 March 1992). "Theatre in Spain, 1490-1700". CUP Archive – via Google Books.
  8. ^ a b "westerntheatrehistory.com".
  9. ^ a b "Gil Vicente and the "Comedia" Tradition in Iberian Theater on JSTOR" (PDF).
  10. ^ a b DiPuccio, Denise M. (1 January 1998). "Communicating Myths of the Golden Age Comedia". Bucknell University Press – via Google Books.
  11. ^ "Redirect support".
  12. ^ "Calderon and Lope de Vega".
  13. ^ Hesler, Richard (1 January 1964). "A New Look at the Theatre of Lope de Rueda". Educational Theatre Journal. 16 (1): 47–54. doi:10.2307/3204377 – via JSTOR.
  14. ^ Sullivan, Henry W. (1 January 1976). "Juan Del Encina". Twayne – via Google Books.
  15. ^ "Recent Publications concerning Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla on JSTOR" (PDF).
  16. ^ Wade, Gerald E. (1 January 1949). "Tirso de Molina". Hispania. 32 (2): 131–140. doi:10.2307/333062 – via JSTOR.
  17. ^ Hochman, Stanley; inc, McGraw-Hill (1 January 1984). "McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Drama: An International Reference Work in 5 Volumes". VNR AG – via Google Books. {{cite web}}: |last2= has generic name (help)
  18. ^ "La boda de Juan Rana de Cáncer y Velasco: el travestismo y la identidad matrimonial-sexual on JSTOR" (PDF).
  19. ^ http://www.coursesindrama.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=82
  20. ^ Burningham, Bruce R. (1 January 2007). "Radical Theatricality: Jongleuresque Performance on the Early Spanish Stage". Purdue University Press – via Google Books.
  21. ^ "Minstrels in Spanish Churches, 1400-1600 on JSTOR" (PDF).
  22. ^ http://www.bristol.ac.uk/hispanic/current/undergrad/courses/golden.html#drama
  23. ^ Doggart, Sebastian (1 January 1996). "Latin American Plays: New Drama from Argentina, Cuba, Mexico and Peru". Nick Hern Books – via Google Books.
  24. ^ "Translating Golden Age Plays: A Reconsideration on JSTOR" (PDF).
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