LOPE DE RUEDA
Lope de Rueda (c.1510–1565) was
a Spanish dramatist and author, regarded by some as the
best of his era. A very versatile writer, he also
wrote comedies, farces, and pasos. He was the precursor to what
is considered the golden age of Spanish literature.
LIFE
He was born early in the
sixteenth century in Seville, where, according to Cervantes, he
worked as a metal-beater. His name first occurs in 1554 as acting at Benavente,
and between 1558 and 1561 he was manager of a strolling company which
visited Segovia,
Seville, Toledo, Madrid,Valencia and Córdoba. In Córdoba,
de Rueda fell ill, and on March 21, 1565 made a will which he was too exhausted
to sign; he probably died shortly afterwards, and is said by Cervantes to have
been buried in Córdoba cathedral. He was twice married; first to actress,
singer and dancer, Mariana, who had spent six years as a performer in service
to the frail and inferm Don Gaston, Duke de Medinaceli, an avowed friar and
cleric,whose estate was the subject of a lawsuit filed by Lope de Rueda on his
wife's behalf laying claim to six years of back wages. de Rueda's second
marriage was to Rafaela Angela, a Valenciana and woman of property, who bore
him a daughter.
WORKS
His works were issued posthumously in
1567 by Timoneda, who toned down certain passages in the texts. de Rueda's
more ambitious plays are mostly adapted from the Italian; in Eufemia he
draws on Boccaccio, in Med ora he
utilizes Giancarli's Zingara, in Arinelina he
combines Raineri's Attilia with Cecchi's Servigiale,
and in Los Engañados he uses Glingannati, a comedy
produced by the Intronati, a literary society at Siena. These follow the
original so closely that they give no idea of de Rueda's talent; but in his pasos or
prose interludes he displays an abundance of riotous humour, great knowledge of
low life, and a most happy gift of dialogue.
His predecessors mostly wrote for
courtly audiences or for the study; de Rueda with his strollers created a taste
for the drama which he was able to gratify, and he is admitted both by
Cervantes and Lope de Vega to be the true founder of the national
theatre.
His works have been reprinted by the
marqués de Fuensanta del Valle in the Colección de libros raros
curiosos, vols. xxiii. and xxiv.
Modern adaptation Nineteen of the 26
pasos were translated into English between 1980 and 1990 by Joan Bucks Hansen,
and staged by Steve Hansen and the St. George Street Players of St.
Augustine,FL where they were performed nightly for five years in the city's
restored Spanish Quarter; and they presented seven of the translations in 1984
at the Ninth Siglo de Oro Festival at Chamizal.
FERNAN PEREZ GIL
He was born in Córdoba. After
studying at Salamanca, Alcalá, Paris and Rome, he was
appointed rector at Salamanca, where he died in 1530 or 1531. His Dialogo
de la dignidad del hombre (1543), an unfinished
work completed by Francisco Cervantes de Salazar, was written chiefly
to prove the suitability of Spanish as a vehicle for philosophic
discussion. He also published translations of the Amphitruo(1525),
the Electra (1528) and the Hecuba (1528).
GIL VICENTE
Gil Vicente (Portuguese: [ˈʒiɫ
viˈsẽtɨ]; c.1465 – c. 1536), called the
Trobadour, was aPortuguese playwright and poet
who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the
chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the
"Portuguese Plautus,"[3] often referred to as
the "Father of Portuguese drama" and as one of Western literature's
greatest playwrights.[1] Vicente worked in Portuguese as much
as he worked in Spanish[3] and is thus, with Juan del
Encina, considered joint-father of Spanish drama.
Vicente was attached to the courts of the Portuguese
kings Manuel I and John III. He rose to prominence as a
playwright largely on account of the influence of Queen DowagerLeonor, who
noticed him as he participated in court dramas and subsequently commissioned
him to write his first theatrical work.
He may also have been identical to an
accomplished goldsmith of the same name,[2]creator of the
famous monstrance of Belém, and master of rhetoric of
King Manuel I.
His plays and poetry, written in both Portuguese and
Spanish, were a reflection of the changing times during the transition
from Middle Ages to Renaissance and created a balance
between the former time of
rigid mores and hierarchical social structure and the
new society in which this order was undermined.
While many of Vicente's works were composed to
celebrate religious and national festivals or to commemorate events
in the life of the royal family, others draw upon popular cultureto
entertain, and often to critique, Portuguese society of his day.
Though some of his works were later suppressed by
the Portuguese Inquisition, causing his fame to wane, he is now recognised
as one of the principal figures of the Portuguese Renaissance.
LIFE
The year 1465, the date proposed by Queirós Veloso, is
the commonly accepted year of Vicente's birth. However, Braamcamp Freire
proposes the year 1460, while de Brito Rebelo proposes between 1470 and 1475.
Vicente's own works indicate contradictory dates. The Velho da Horta ("Old
Man of the [Vegetable] Garden"), the Floresta de Enganos ("Forest
of Mistakes"), and the Auto da Festa ("Act of
the Party") indicate 1452, 1470, and before 1467, respectively. Since
1965, when official festivities commemorating the 500th birthday of the writer
were held, the date of 1465 has been almost universally accepted.
Though Frei Pedro de Poiares
conjectured Barcelos was Vicente's birthplace, evidence for this is
scarce. Pires de Lima, on the other hand, proposed Guimarães, which better
accounts for Vicente's identification as a jeweller. The people of
Guimarães have embraced this theory; a municipal school in Urgezes is
named after the playwright. There's some stories about Gil Vicente's
father,that was from this parish in Guimarães, so, people believe that Gil
Vicente have lived here too. Another conjecture places his birthplace
at Lisbon. The Beira region is also a candidate because of
various references to it in his plays, more exactly the location
of Guimarães de Tavares, that has been mistaken with Guimarães.
Gil Vicente married Branca Bezerra, who bore him two
sons: Gaspar Vicente (died 1519) and Belchior Vicente (born 1505). After her
death, he married Melícia or Milícia Rodrigues (abbreviated as Roiz), of whom
were born Paula Vicente (1519–1576), Luís Vicente de Crasto (who organised the
compilation of Vicente's works), married to Mór de Almeida and had issue, Joana
de Pina (died 1584) (daughter of Diogo de Pina de Baião and wife Mécia Barreto,
daughter of Francisco de Aguiar and wife Madalena Barreto) and had issue, and
Isabel de Castro, without issue, and Valéria Borges (or Vicente), who was
married firstly to Pero Machado, without issue, and secondly to Dom António de
Meneses, son of Dom Luís de Meneses, of the bastards of the Lords
de Cantanhede, and wife Brites de Aguiar, and had issue .
Vicente died in an unknown location, some
say Évora. The year of his death is commonly recorded as 1536, the year
after which he ceased writing; no further reference to him is found in
subsequent documents of the era. His place of burial is unknown. No surviving
portraits of Gil Vicente remain.
CAREER
As a writer
His first known work, O Monólogo do vaqueiro ("Monologue of
the Cowherd"), was written in Spanish and acted in the rooms of Maria
of Aragon, wife of King Manuel, to celebrate the birth of Prince John
(later John III of Portugal). The first performance, recited by the
playwright himself, took place on the night of June 8, 1502, in the presence of
the king; the queen; Leonor of Viseu, former Queen of Portugal and widow
of John II; and Beatriz of Portugal, mother of the King.
O Monólogo do vaqueiro contains several elements clearly inspired by the Adoration
of the Shepherds which takes place in accounts of Christ's birth. Its
staging included offerings of simple and rustic gifts, such as cheese, to the
future king, from whom great achievements were expected.
Though Leonor asked him to give an encore performance
of the play at the Christmasmatins, Vicente decided to write a new play
for the occasion, the Auto Pastoril Castelhano ("Castilian
Pastoral Act"). Because of the influence of Queen Leonor, who would become
his greatest patron in the years to come, Gil Vicente realized that his talent
would allow him to do much more than simply adapt his first work for similar
occasions.
Vicente, who was in charge of organizing events in the
palace, also directed the commemoration in honour of Eleanor of Spain, the
third wife of Manuel I, in 1520. In 1521, he began serving John III of
Portugal, and soon achieved the social status necessary
to satirize the clergy and nobility with
impunity. His popularity even enabled him to contradict the opinions of the
king, as he did in a 1531 letter defending the New Christians.
WRITTEN WORKS
Vicente's oeuvre spans the years
between 1500 and 1536. Most of his plays were intended for performance
at court, where he and the ladies and gentlemen of the court participated
in their production. He wrote no fewer than forty-four pieces, ten of which are
in Spanish, fourteen in Portuguese, and the remainder in mingled Portuguese and
Spanish. His plays may be grouped into four main categories: acts,
or devotional plays;comedies tragicomedies; and farces.
Like Spain's classical dramas, his
plays are often in verse form. In addition, they feature his
own musical compositions and well as popular lyrics and melodies of
the time.
He was also a noted lyric
poet in both Portuguese and Spanish, as represented by several poems
in the Cancioneiro of Garcia de Resende. He wrote a
number ofvilancetes and cantigas ("songs")
which were influenced by a palatial style and the themes of
the troubadours.
Some of his works are profoundly
religious, while other are particularly satirical, particularly when commenting
upon what Vicente perceived as the corruption of the clergy and the superficial
glory of empire which concealed the increasing poverty of
Portugal's lower classes
Comedies and farces
Many of Vicente's plays were composed in order to
celebrate religious festivals; these seventeen plays are called his "Obras
de devoção" ("Devotional works").[1] In these
plays, also called "autos", or "acts", Vicente blended
themes from Medieval morality playswith
theatrical mumming and the liturgical dramas that were used
in Corpus Christi festivals.
One of his first devotional plays was Auto da
Fé ("Act of Faith") in 1510. Like a morality play, it
explores the journey of the Soul as it travels to the arms of
the Mother Church. On its way, it is waylaid by the Devil and
led to goodness by an Angel.
His magnum opus is considered to be
the Triologia das Barcas ("Trilogy of the Ships"),
which consists of the three plays Auto da Barca do Inferno ("Act
of the Ship of Hell"), written 1516; Auto da Barca do
Purgatório ("Act of the Ship of Purgatory"), written in
1518; andAuto da Barca da Glória ("Auto of the Ship
of Heaven"), written in 1519. These plays combine morality narratives
with criticism of 16th-century Portuguese society by placing stereotypical
characters on a dock to await the arrival of one of the ships which will take
them to their eternal destination. The characters are of a variety of
social statuses; for example, in Auto da Barca do Inferno, those
awaiting passage include a nobleman, a madam, a corrupt judge and
prosecutor, a dissolute friar, a dishonest shoemaker, a hanged man, and
aJew (who would have been considered bound for Hell in Vicente's
time).
His religious lyricism shows the influence of
the Cantigas de Santa Maria ("Songs of Saint Mary")
and is exemplified in such works asAuto de Mofina Mendes ("Act
of Mofina Mendes", literally, in the Portuguese of that time, "Act of
Disgrace [Mofina] It Self [Mendes]),Anunciação ("Annunciation"),
and in the prayer of Saint Augustine in Auto da Alma ("Act
of the Soul"). For this reason, Vicente is sometimes called the "Poet
of the Virgin."
His other notable religious works include Auto
Pastoril Castelhano ("Castilian Pastoral Act") written in
1502; Auto dos Reis Magos ("Act of
the Magi Kings") written in 1503 for Christmas celebrations;
and Auto da Sibila Cassandra ("Act of
the Sibyl Cassandra") written in 1503, a play which announced
the Renaissance ideals in Portugal.
Vicente's comedies and farces were likely influenced
by indigenous popular entertainment. Contemporaneous Spaniards, like Lucas
Fernandez and Torres Naharro, may also have influenced his style.
Vicente's comedies blended slapstick and
satire; in addition, his use of dialect clearly delineated the social classes
of his characters. The staging of these plays maintained the
simplicity of morality plays. For example, two
simultaneous scenes might utilize a single curtain to divide them.
Auto da Índia ("Act of India"), written in 1509, was one of his first
comedies. This play, which shows his proficiency with the form, is comparable
to a modern bedroom farce. Vicente wrote farces throughout the rest of his
life; one notable example is Farsa de Inês Pereira ("Farce
of Inês Pereira"), written in 1523.
FERNANDO DE ROJAS
Fernando de Rojas (c. 1465/73 – April 1541) was a Spanish author and dramatist,
known for his only surviving work, La Celestina (originally
titled Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea), first published in 1499.
It is variously considered "the last work of the Spanish Middle Ages or
the first work of the Spanish Renaissance".
Rojas wrote La Celestina while still
a student. After graduating he practised law and is not known to have written
any further literary works, although La Celestina achieved
widespread success during his lifetime. Despite difficulties with
the Inquisition on account of his Jewish descent, Rojas was a
successful lawyer and became mayor of Talavera de la Reina, where he lived
for the last three decades of his life.
LIFE AND CAREER
Rojas was born at La Puebla de
Montalbán, (Toledo), to a family of Jewish descent. Contemporary documents
refer to Rojas as "converso", but scholarly opinion differs on
whether this means that he himself converted from Judaism to Christianity or
whether the term implied that he was "de linaje de conversos" – of
convert descent.hidalgos for at least three
generations. Nevertheless, converso families lived under the shadow of
the Inquisition and were vulnerable to accusations of secretly
practising Judaism.
Jewish descent was
not a bar to social advancement, and Rojas's family had been recognised
as Rojas studied law at
the University of Salamanca, graduating around 1498. While at the
university he began writing La Celestina(originally titled Tragicomedia
de Calisto y Melibea), which was published in 1499. The work has been
variously described as a drama, a dramatic poem, a dialogued novel, a
novel-drama, and as 'ageneric' – a genre entirely of its own. It was never
staged during Rojas's lifetime, but the majority of modern scholars consider it
a drama. It describes a love affair, with much bawdy and comic detail,
before a tragic ending. The scholar Dorothy Severin has written that
it may be considered as either the last Spanish work of the Middle Ages or the
first of the Renaissance. As far as is known it is Rojas's only work of
literature or drama. The writer Keith Gregor calls La Celestina "vastly
influential" but "his only literary testament".
On returning to the family home after
leaving the university Rojas found his relations under scrutiny from the
Inquisition; he himself was never suspected of Judaism. Many conversos
chose to marry into families of unquestioned Christian descent, and by Rojas's
time many noble families were of mixed Christian and Jewish ancestry, as
was Tomás de Torquemada, the first Grand Inquisitor of Spain.Rojas,
however, married into another converso family. His wife was Leonor Alvarez de
Montalbán. They had four sons and three daughters.
In about 1507 Rojas moved to the city
of Talavera de la Reina, where he practised law.When his father-in-law,
Alvaro de Montalbán, was accused of secretly returning to Judaism in 1525, the
Inquisition refused to allow Rojas to act as defending lawyer, but this was
evidently on account of Rojas's status as a converso rather than from any
suspicion that he might be secretly practising Judaism. He was allowed to
testify on Montalbán's behalf, and the charge was dropped. Rojas served as
mayor of Talavera de la Reina in the 1530s.
The writer Gordon Campbell observes
that during Rojas's lifetime La Celestina achieved rapid
success: "in the course of the sixteenth century some 60 editions and six
sequels were published. Its sexual explicitness and amoral pessimism did not
trouble the Spanish Inquisition, which was content simply to excise
anticlerical passages."
