Calderon is best known for his theological theater or 'autos sacramentales', religious pieces put on the scene for the main religious festivities, like eastern and Christmas. The protagonists often bring to the stage an intellectual struggle with problems radically human,  like free will or resistance to authority. The autos are where his theater best combines the allegorical and musical elements in a highly elaborate scenic setting, full of tricks and mechanisms to produce a better visual effect. Also, Calderón stands out for the structural perfection of his theatrical pieces, where order and hierarchy encompass all the elements of the play's argument. He is fully aware of the meticulous process of progressive stylization with which he composes his theatrical creations, frequently making self-critical observations on the mechanisms, techniques, and dramatic motifs. 

Regarding the layout of the plot, each action is rigorously subordinated to the main one, exercising speculative or contrasting functions, each scene responding to a perfectly locked coherence. Calderon's poetic language offers a complete overview of all the stylistic resources of his time, and of all the current codes, from the Petrarchism of the loving discourse of gallants and ladies to the burlesque tone of the funny ones, passing through the serious philosophical discourse of the tragic protagonists. This syllogistic language with an abundance of linguistic structures of scholastic reasoning is the main characteristic of the Calderonian style. The lyrical elements, along with the music, respond to true dramatic integration and are inseparable from the action and the stage. With his extensive work of theatrical plays, he is perhaps the Spanish Golden Age author who has most influenced European culture in the last three centuries.

Amor, honor y poder

El sitio de Breda

La vida es sueño

La dama duende

El mágico prodigioso

El gran teatro del mundo

La hija del aire

El príncipe Segismundo se cuestiona sobre el sentido de su vida mientras se encuentra en cautiverio. Su padre, el rey Basilio de Polonia, lo ha encerrado desde el nacimiento por miedo a que se cumplan las predicciones de su carta astral que dicen que su hijo será un tirano.

Drama

The Baroque is period characterized by a cultural development unwind due to the Counter-Reformation and the Council of Trent. In many respects, Baroque supposes a  return to the Middle Ages, ceasing the clear Renaissance separation between the natural and the supernatural. The Inquisition watches over any intellectual activity that does not highlight or otherwise avoids the transcendental. Scientific research and rational philosophy practically end in Spain, with Theology taking their place. Superstition supplants religiosity in people's minds and so-called miracles ubiquitously flourish. 

In this context, the Spanish genius, unable to create intellectually in other areas, takes refuge in the aesthetic task, with an impressive list of painters, sculptors, and architects who live in this era. The literature demonstrates the same splendor. When Cervantes was still alive,  other outstanding authors such as Lope de Vega, Góngora, and Quevedo wrote their literary masterpieces. Shortly after this giants of the Spanish literature history died, began his careers the last genius of the Baroque era, Calderón de la Barca and Gracián. Somehow, the limitation in freedom of expression is offset by an increase in artifice and exaggeration in style, subjecting the language of the Renaissance to an intense elaboration that gives rise to the two great movements of the time: the 'culteranismo' and the 'conceptismo'.

Baroque

Publication of the Romancero general

Second part of Guzmán de Alfarche,  by Mateo Alemán

Second parto fo Guzmán de Alfarche,  by Mateo Alemán

Propaplladia, by Bartolomé de Torres Naharro

Retrato de la Lozana andaluza, by Francisco Delicado

Flores de poetas ilustres, compiled by Pedro de Espinosa

Arte nuevo de hacer comedias, and second part of Comedies, by Lope de Vega

The Polifemo, by Luis de Góngora

Novelas ejemplares, by Miguel de Cervantes

Rimas sacras and fourth part of Comedies, by Lope de Vega

Viaje del Parnaso, by Miguel de Cervantes

Fuenteovejuna, by Lope de Vega

The Buscón, by Quevedo

La dama duende, and Casa con dos puertas mala es de guardar, by Calderón

El burlador de Sevilla, by Tirso de Molina

El burlador the Sevilla, by Tirso de Molina

La vida es sueño, by Calderón de la Barca

Soledades, by Góngora

Empresas políticas, by Saavedra Fajardo

Closing of the theaters until 1649

El Parnaso español, by Quevedo

Las Meninas by Velazquez

Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake

King Lear and Macbeth, by William Shakesperare

Spanish Bites

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La vida es sueño (1635)

By Pedro Calderón de la Barca

Time Period: Baroque

Genre: Drama

Spanish Bites

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