Chapter XXVI

CHARACTER OF THE SPANISH DRAMA.--THE AUTOR, OR MANAGER.--THE WRITERS FOR THE STAGE.--THE ACTORS, THEIR NUMBER, SUCCESS, AND CONDITION.--PERFORMANCES BY DAYLIGHT.--THE STAGE.--THE COURT-YARD, MOSQUETEROS, GRADAS, CAZUELA, AND APOSENTOS.--THE AUDIENCES.--PLAY-BILLS, AND TITLES OF PLAYS.--REPRESENTATIONS, BALLADS, LOAS, JORNADAS, ENTREMESES, SAYNETES, AND DANCES.--BALLADS DANCED AND SUNG.--XACARAS, ZARABANDAS, AND ALEMANAS.--POPULAR CHARACTER OF THE WHOLE.--GREAT NUMBER OF WRITERS AND PLAYS.

The most prominent, if not the most important, characteristic of the Spanish drama, at the period of its widest success, was its nationality. In all its various forms, including the religious plays, and in all its manifold subsidiary attractions, down to the recitation of old ballads and the exhibition of popular dances, it addressed itself more to the whole people of the country which produced it than any other theatre of modern times. The Church, as we have seen, occasionally interfered, and endeavoured to silence or to restrict it. But the drama was too deeply seated in the general favor, to be much modified, even by a power that overshadowed nearly every thing else in the state; and during the whole of the seventeenth century,--the century which immediately followed the severe legislation of Philip the Second and his attempts to control the character of the stage,--the Spanish drama was really in the hands of the mass of the people, and its writers and actors were such as the popular will required them to be.[721]

[721] Mariana, in his treatise “De Spectaculis,” Cap. VII.,
(Tractatus Septem, Coloniæ Agrippinæ, 1609, folio), earnestly
insists that actors of the low and gross character he gives to
them should not be permitted to perform in the churches, or to
represent sacred plays anywhere; and that the theatres should be
closed on Sundays. But he produced no effect against the popular
passion.

At the head of each company of actors was their _Autor_. The name descended from the time of Lope de Rueda, when the writer of the rude farces then in favor collected about him a body of players to perform what should rather be called his dramatic dialogues than his proper dramas, in the public squares;--a practice soon imitated in France, where Hardy, the “Author,” as he styled himself, of his own company, produced, between 1600 and 1630, about five hundred rude plays and farces, often taken from Lope de Vega, and whatever was most popular at the same period in Spain.[722] But while Hardy was at the height of his success and preparing the way for Corneille, the canon in Don Quixote had already recognized in Spain the existence of two kinds of authors;--the authors who wrote, and the authors who acted;[723]--a distinction familiar from the time when Lope de Vega appeared, and one that was never afterwards overlooked. At any rate, from that time actors and managers were quite as rarely writers for the stage in Spain as in other countries.[724]

[722] For Hardy and his extraordinary career, which was almost
entirely founded on the Spanish theatre, see the “Parfaits,” or
any other history of the French stage. Corneille, in his “Remarks
on Mélite,” says, that, when he began, he had no guide but a
little common sense and the example of Hardy, and a few others
no more regular than he was. The example of Hardy led Corneille
directly to Spain for materials.

[723] D. Quixote, Parte I. c. 48. The _Primera Dama_, or the
actress of first parts, was sometimes called the _Autora_. Diablo
Cojuelo, Tranco V.

[724] Villegas was one of the last of the authors who were
managers. He wrote, we are told, fifty-four plays, and died about
1600. (Roxas, Viage, 1614, f. 21.) After this, the next example
of any prominence is Diamante, who was an actor before he wrote
for the stage, and died about 1700. The managing _autor_ was
sometimes the object of ridicule in the play his own company
performed, as he is in the “Tres Edades del Mundo” of Luis Vélez
de Guevara, where he is the _gracioso_. Comedias Escogidas, Tom.
XXXVIII., 1672.

The relations between the dramatic poets and the managers and actors were not more agreeable in Spain than elsewhere. Figueroa, who was familiar with the subject, says that the writers for the theatre were obliged to flatter the heads of companies, in order to obtain a hearing from the public, and that they were often treated with coarseness and contempt, especially when their plays were read and adapted to the stage in presence of the actors who were to perform them.[725] Solorzano--himself a dramatist--gives similar accounts, and adds the story of a poet, who was not only rudely, but cruelly, abused by a company of players, to whose humors their _autor_ or manager had abandoned him.[726] And even Lope de Vega and Calderon, the master-spirits of the time, complain bitterly of the way in which they were trifled with and defrauded of their rights and reputation, both by the managers and by the booksellers.[727] At the end of the drama, its author therefore sometimes announced his name, and, with more or less of affected humility, claimed the work as his own.[728] But this was not a custom. Almost uniformly, however, when the audience was addressed at all,--and that was seldom neglected at the conclusion of a drama,--it was saluted with the grave and flattering title of “Senate.”

[725] Pasagero, 1617, ff. 112-116.

[726] “Garduña de Sevilla,” near the end, and the “Bachiller
Trapaza,” c. 15. Cervantes, just as he is finishing his “Coloquio
de los Perros,” tells a story somewhat similar; so that authors
were early ill-treated by the actors.

[727] See the Preface and Dedication of the “Arcadia,” by Lope,
as well as other passages, noted in his Life;--the letter of
Calderon to the Duke of Veraguas;--his Life by Vera Tassis, etc.

[728] Thus, Mira de Mescua, at the conclusion of “The Death of
St. Lazarus,” (Comedias Escogidas, Tom. IX., 1657, p. 167),
says:--

Here ends the play
Whose wondrous tale Mira de Mescua wrote
To warn the many. Pray forgive our faults.

And Francisco de Leyba finishes his “Amadis y Niquea” (Comedias
Escogidas, Tom. XL., 1675, f. 118) with these words:--

Don Francis Leyba humbly bows himself,
And at your feet asks,--not a victor shout,--
But rather pardon for his many faults.

In general, however, as in the “Mayor Venganza” of Alvaro
Cubillo, and in the “Caer para levantarse” of Matos, Cancer,
and Moreto, the annunciation is simple, and made, apparently,
to protect the rights of the author, which, in the seventeenth
century, were so little respected.

Nor does the condition of the actors seem to have been one which could be envied by the poets who wrote for them. Their numbers and influence, indeed, soon became imposing under the great impulse given to the drama in the beginning of the seventeenth century. When Lope de Vega first appeared as a dramatic writer at Madrid, the only theatres he found were two unsheltered court-yards, which depended on such strolling companies of players as occasionally deemed it for their interest to visit the capital. Before he died, there were, besides the court-yards in Madrid, several theatres of great magnificence in the royal palaces, and multitudinous bodies of actors, comprehending in all above a thousand persons.[729] And half a century later, at the time of Calderon’s death, when the Spanish drama had taken all its attributes, the passion for its representations had spread into every part of the kingdom, until there was hardly a village, we are told, that did not possess some kind of a theatre.[730] Nay, so pervading and uncontrolled was the eagerness for dramatic exhibitions, that, notwithstanding the scandal it excited, secular comedies of a very equivocal complexion were represented by performers from the public theatres in some of the principal monasteries of the kingdom.[731]

[729] Don Quixote, ed. Pellicer, 1797, Tom. IV. p. 110, note.
One account says there were three hundred companies of actors
in Spain about 1636; but this seems incredible, if it means
companies of persons who lived by acting. Pantoja, Sobre
Comedias, Murcia, 1814, 4to, Tom. I. p. 28.

[730] Pellicer, Orígen de las Comedias, 1804, Tom. I. p. 185.

[731] Ibid., pp. 226-228. When Philip III. visited Lisbon
in 1619, the Jesuits performed a play before him, partly
in Latin and partly in Portuguese, at their College of San
Antonio;--an account of which is given in the “Relacion de la
Real Tragicomedia con que los Padres de la Compañía de Jesus
recibieron á la Magestad Católica,” etc., por Juan Sardina
Mimoso, etc., Lisboa, 1620, 4to,--its author being, I believe,
Antonio de Sousa. Add to this that Mariana (De Spectaculis, c.
7) says that the _entremeses_ and other exhibitions between the
acts of the plays, performed in the most holy religious houses,
were often of a gross and shameless character,--a statement which
he repeats, partly in the same words, in his treatise “De Rege,”
Lib. III. c. 16.

Of course, out of so large a body of actors, all struggling for public favor, some became famous. Among the more distinguished were Agustin de Roxas, who wrote the gay travels of a company of comedians; Roque de Figueroa and Rios, Lope’s favorites; Pinedo, much praised by Tirso de Molina; Alonso de Olmedo and Sebastian Prado, who were rivals for public applause in the time of Calderon; Juan Rana, who was the best comic actor during the reigns of Philip the Third and Philip the Fourth, and amused the audiences by his own extemporaneous wit; the two Morales and Josefa Vaca, wife of the elder of them; Barbara Coronel, the Amazon, who preferred to appear as a man; María de Córdoba, praised by Quevedo and the Count Villamediana; and María Calderon, who, as the mother of the second Don John of Austria, figured in affairs of state, as well as in those of the stage. These and some others enjoyed, no doubt, that ephemeral, but brilliant, reputation which is generally the only reward of the best of their class; and enjoyed it to as high a degree, perhaps, as any persons that have appeared on the stage in more modern times.[732]

[732] C. Pellicer, Orígen, Tom. II., _passim_, and Mad. d’Aulnoy,
Voyage en Espagne, ed. 1693, Tom. I. p. 97. One of the best-known
actors of the time was Sebastian Prado, mentioned above, the
head of a company that went to France after the marriage of
Louis XIV. with María Teresa, in 1659, and performed there some
time for the pleasure of the new queen;--one of the many proofs
of the spread and fashion of Spanish literature at this period.
(C. Pellicer, Tom. I. p. 39.) María de Córdoba is mentioned with
admiration, not only by the authors I have cited, but by Calderon
in the opening of the “Dama Duende,” as Amarilis. For the names
of other actors in the seventeenth century, see Don Quixote, ed.
Clemencin, Parte II. c. 11, note.

But, regarded as a body, the Spanish actors seem to have been any thing but respectable. In general, they were of a low and vulgar caste in society,--so low, that, for this reason, they were at one period forbidden to have women associated with them.[733] The rabble, indeed, sympathized with them, and sometimes, when their conduct called for punishment, protected them by force from the arm of the law; but, between 1644 and 1649, when their number in the metropolis had become very great, and they constituted no less than forty companies, full of disorderly persons and vagabonds, their character did more than any thing else to endanger the privileges of the drama, which with difficulty evaded the restrictions their riotous lives brought upon it.[734] One proof of their gross conduct is to be found in its results. Many of them, filled with compunction at their own shocking excesses, took refuge at last in a religious life, like Prado, who became a devout priest, and Francisca Baltasara, who died a hermit, almost in the odor of sanctity, and was afterwards made the subject of a religious play.[735]

[733] Alonso, Mozo de Muchos Amos, Parte I., Barcelona, 1625, f.
141. A little earlier, viz. 1618, Bisbe y Vidal speaks of women
on the stage frequently taking the parts of men (Tratado de
Comedias, f. 50); and from the directions to the players in the
“Amadis y Niquea” of Leyba, (Comedias Escogidas, Tom. XL., 1675),
it appears that the part of Amadis was expected to be played
always by a woman.

[734] C. Pellicer, Orígen, Tom. I. p. 183, Tom. II. p. 29; and
Navarro Castellanos, Cartas Apologéticas contra las Comedias,
Madrid, 1684, 4to, pp. 256-258. “Take my advice,” says Sancho to
his master, after their unlucky encounter with the players of the
_Auto Sacramental_,--“take my advice and never pick a quarrel
with play-actors: they are privileged people. I have known one of
them sent to prison for two murders, and get off scot-free. For
mark, your worship, as they are gay fellows, full of fun, every
body favors them; every body defends, helps, and likes them;
especially if they belong to the royal and privileged companies,
where all or most of them dress as if they were real princes.”
Don Quixote, Parte II. c. 11, with the note of Clemencin.

[735] C. Pellicer, Orígen, Tom. II. p. 53, and elsewhere
throughout the volume.

They had, besides, many trials. They were obliged to learn a great number of pieces to satisfy the demands for novelty, which were more exacting on the Spanish stage than on any other; their rehearsals were severe, and their audiences rude. Cervantes says that their life was as hard as that of the Gypsies;[736] and Roxas, who knew all there was to be known on the subject, says that slaves in Algiers were better off than they were.[737]

[736] In the tale of the “Licenciado Vidriera.”

[737] Roxas, Viage, 1614, f. 138. The necessities of the actors
were so pressing, that they were paid their wages every night, as
soon as the acting was over.

Un Representante cobra
Cada noche lo que gana.
Y el Autor paga, aunque
No hay dinero en la Caxa.

El Mejor Representante, Comedias Escogidas, Tom. XXIX., 1668, p.
199.

The Actor gets his wages every night;
For the poor Manager must pay him up,
Although his treasure-chest is clear of coin.

To all this we must add that they were poorly paid, and that their managers were almost always in debt. But, like other forms of vagabond life, its freedom from restraints made it attractive to not a few loose persons, in a country like Spain, where it was difficult to find liberty of any sort. This attraction, however, did not last long. The drama fell in its consequence and popularity as rapidly as it had risen. Long before the end of the century, it ceased to encourage or protect such numbers of idlers as were at one time needed to sustain its success;[738] and in the reign of Charles the Second it was not easy to collect three companies for the festivities occasioned by his marriage.[739] Half a century earlier, twenty would have striven for the honor.

[738] “Pondus iners reipublicæ, atque inutile,” said Mariana, De
Spectaculis, c. 9.

[739] Hugalde y Parra, Orígen del Teatro, p. 312.

During the whole of the successful period of the drama in Spain, its exhibitions took place in the day-time. On the stages of the different palaces, where, when Howell was in Madrid, in 1623,[740] there were representations once a week, it was sometimes otherwise; but the religious plays and _autos_, with all that were intended to be really popular, were represented in broad daylight,--in the winter at two, and in the summer at three, in the afternoon, every day in the week.[741] Till near the middle of the seventeenth century, the scenery and general arrangements of the theatre were probably as good as they were in France when Corneille appeared, or perhaps better; but in the latter part of it, the French stage was undoubtedly in advance of that at Madrid, and Madame d’Aulnoy makes herself merry by telling her friends that the Spanish sun was made of oiled paper, and that in the play of “Alcina” she saw the devils quietly climbing ladders out of the infernal regions, to reach their places on the stage.[742] Plays that required more elaborate arrangements and machinery were called _comedias de ruido_,--noisy or showy dramas,--and are treated with little respect by Figueroa and Luis Vélez de Guevara, because it was thought unworthy of a poetical spirit to depend for success on means so mechanical.[743]

[740] Familiar Letters, London, 1754, 8vo, Book I. Sect. 3,