Baroque theater: general characteristics

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In the seventeenth the Spanish theater was booming. With the appearance of Lope de Vega's "New Art of Making Comedies", theatrical productions underwent a great change and became much more popular and closer to the public. With the arrival of the next century, the seventeenth, the cultivation of the theater was massive among the authors of the time and, little by little, the works were nuanced and perfected. In this lesson from a TEACHER we want to show you what are the general characteristics of the baroque theater that will show you how the theatrical pieces of the seventeenth century were produced and how the theater genre was constituted.

Index

1. Summary of baroque theater
2. Appearance of theatrical spaces in the Baroque
3. The musical, one of the characteristics of baroque theater
4. Events that were theatrical parties
5. The auto sacramental in the theater of the baroque

Before entering fully to analyze the characteristics of Baroque theater, it is important that we contextualize the time and the moment in which we find ourselves. We have to bear in mind that, during the 16th century, a writer like Lope de Vega was the cause of revolutionizing the theatrical genre by publishing the "

This publication, which appeared at the beginning of the 17th century, greatly influenced the authors of the Baroque and, therefore, the authors of the Baroque. In fact, it was in this century when the theatrical genre lived its maximum splendour and it turned into a great show. In the Baroque it was when the first national theaters were built in all of Europe and where the works of many authors shone, such as, for example, the Spanish. Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina and Calderón de la Barca or, outside our borders, authors such as Shakespeare, Molière or Corneille.

During the seventeenth century the theater that began its heyday in the Golden Age was perfected and it was then that theatrical elements began to develop that gave it more prestige to the productions: development of the scenography and props, creation of musical pieces for the works, the inclusion of pictorial works of art to reinforce the intensity of the dramatic show, and so on. All this made, little by little, new theatrical genres appeared, such as zarzuela in Spain, opera or ballet.

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But let's start with the characteristics of the Baroque theater to better understand the innovations that were carried out during the seventeenth century. It is important that we keep in mind that the beginning of the theatrical revolution was promoted by the work of Lope de Vega. With him began to innovate within the theatrical genre and the foundations of what would be the theater for centuries to come were created.

The main difference that we find in the Baroque is that, while in the XVI the works were represented in the Corrales de Comedias, during the seventeenth century, build the first buildings thought for the exhibition and the diffusion of the theatrical spectacles. The fact that the works were represented in fixed spaces allowed some basic aspects of the genre to evolve, such as the scenography. Calderón de la Barca He was the author of Baroque theater who managed to evolve the most in relation to scenography, managing to create authentic shows that left the public with their mouths open.

During this century it was when the theater continued to professionalize, something he had started in the Golden age but that, in the baroque it continued to evolve. Over time, professional positions and commercial works could be created with the objective of making money. At the same time, plays were still being performed in squares and towns, however, the theater took a step further in professionalization.

Another of the most important innovations that took place in the Baroque theater with respect to the previous century is that, during the seventeenth century, a new theatrical genre appeared that became an emblem of this period: musical theater. Specifically, the appearance of opera and zarzuela was one of the most characteristic elements of the period.

But let's not get confused: from the beginning, the theater included musical pieces and songs in the pieces. For this reason, it was common for the works to have pieces of Christmas carols, songs, couplets, etc., which were part of the theatrical production of the Renaissance. However, in the seventeenth century what happens is that this music was strongly influenced by Italian productions where the first opera with musicians like Monteverdi or Galilei began to appear.

The Italian influence in Spain was very notorious due to the fact that many Italian stagehands worked in the Spanish court who brought this new style to Spanish production. In 1627, what is considered to be the first Spanish opera: "La selva sin amor", written by Lope de Vega. However, other critics consider that the first opera did not appear until 1659 with Calderón de la Barca's "The purple of the rose".

La zarzuela, the Spanish musical theater

The musical production most typical of Spanish theatrical works was the zarzuela, a theatrical subgenre in which dialogue, music and imposing scenes were mixed. However, the proportions of these pieces were much more humble than the Italian operas and the Calderón semi-operas. The name "zarzuela" comes from Zarzuela Palace since this was the enclosure in which these first works could be seen.

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We continue with this list of the characteristics of the baroque theater to mention, now, the great importance that the theatrical genre adopted in the society of the time. Whether the pieces were developed in the corrals or if they were made in theaters or in court spaces, these events were not like the ones we know today. That is, the public did not go to the theater for a couple of hours to see a play and go home. Absolutely. On the days when there was a performance, a real party was organized and, throughout the day, they went representing different works of disparate genres although, in general, comedy was the main protagonist.

Among the acts of the main play it was also common to entertain the public with other short theater pieces that were known as "hors d'oeuvres". One of the best known Spanish authors in the production of this type of theater piece was Miguel de Cervantes that, in fact, has a successful publication that is precisely known as the "Entremeses".

Normally, the distribution of theatrical days it followed a scheme similar to the following:

• Musical introduction
• Loa (short genre of theater that served to present the function that was about to begin)
• First act of the main comedy
• Entremés (short one-act comedy with satirical touches)
• Second act
• Baile (a show that mixed music and dance)
• Third act
• Jácara (short piece inspired by the popular atmosphere and that told mischief and mischief)

As we can see, it took many hours to carry out the entire theatrical party, an event that lasted until the beginning of the 18th although, yes, there were some variations.

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And we will finish this lesson with the characteristics of the Baroque theater to talk about another of the most important and popular theatrical events of the time. During the day of Corpus Christi it was customary for a sacramental auto to be performed in the open air in the vast majority of cities. It is a literary subgenre that was only represented for religious reasons and during the Corpus Christi day celebration, It only had 1 single act and since the 13th century it was a tradition in Spanish cities.

The themes that were treated in these representations were always of a sacred theme and that spoke about religious aspects. In the baroque theater it was Calderón de la Barca who managed to give these representations a completely allegorical character, thus revitalizing the genre and giving it a totally artistic and spectacular touch.

By means of the introduction of the allegory In these productions, Calderón managed to ensure that the most abstract and philosophical ideas of religion could be represented in a very visual and direct way. Subjects such as envy or thought were personified on stage thanks to the performance of actors. Thanks to the development of the scenography, Calderón managed to create imposing works that attracted a large number of audiences.

Therefore, during the seventeenth century, a genre as popular and mundane as the auto sacramental was raised to its maximum exponent thanks to the work of Calderón.

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