reading

con la colaboración de Christoph Strosetzki
(Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, Münster)

Cualquier forma de reproducción, distribución, comunicación pública o transformación de esta obra solo puede ser realizada con la autorización de sus titulares, salvo excepción prevista por la ley. Diríjase a CEDRO (Centro Español de Derechos Reprográficos) si necesita fotocopiar o escanear algún fragmento de esta obra

La poética del ingenio en El día mayor de los días y la coherencia dramática

Claves historiales y el arte de las correspondencias (historia y alegoría): El socorro general y la guerra de Cataluña

DOCTRINA Y ESPECTÁCULO: ESCENOGRAFÍA MIMÉTICA Y ESCENOGRAFÍA MÍSTICA EN LOS AUTOS DE CALDERÓN

APUNTES SOBRE LA ORGANIZACIÓN DRAMÁTICA CALDERONIANA. MOTIVOS, FUENTES Y TRADICIONES EN SUS COORDENADAS TEATRALES

Al explicar el Amor al Hombre en el auto de El año santo de Roma¹ el funcionamiento alegórico de algunas figuras del Antiguo Testamento, como el maná, imagen de la Eucaristía, explica cómo «dando luces a las sombras» se puede comprender el verdadero sentido de estas «sombras», imágenes, visos, figuras o símbolos de una realidad mística que conduce a los espacios celestiales y al misterio del sacramento:

Tú, pues ya que tan desnudo

naces al conocimiento

desta verdad, solicita

abandonar los pretextos

de humanas comodidades,

y ya que naces a tiempo

que llueve el cielo el rocío

de sus piedades, cubriendo

no de cándido maná

las campañas del desierto,

sino de lo figurado

en él, pues con más misterio,

dando luces a las sombras,

se ve en otro blanco velo,

que, lloviéndose a prodigios,

se está agotando a portentos,

procura cogerle antes

que corrompido y deshecho

te le convierta en gusanos

la flojedad de tu afecto. (AR, vv. 297-316)

El objetivo de estas páginas es precisamente iluminar algunas de esas imágenes calderonianas, examinando ciertos mecanismos expresivos de los autos de Calderón, en distintas áreas, particularmente en lo que se refiere a la función del ingenio en la construcción simbólica y en la coherencia de los dobles planos (historial y alegórico) que componen el auto. Por debajo de la variedad de asuntos implicados pudiera decirse que las técnicas conceptistas de la agudeza (en cuanto estriban en distintas categorías de correspondencias) constituyen realmente la base de la composición dramática y literaria de estas piezas.

El volumen se abre con una introducción general que resultará poco novedosa para los especialistas. Se ha preferido en este caso publicarla a modo de pórtico en inglés, por si pudiera contribuir a que los estudiosos del teatro no español se interesen por los autos y aborden alguna vez la obra de Calderón, que bien puede, a mi juicio, codearse con Shakespeare.

Los capítulos que componen este libro constituyen, por el momento, la última reescritura —parcial— de un proceso de investigación en marcha. Algunos han aparecido en versiones primeras o resumidas, o han sido expuestos en forma de conferencia en distintas oportunidades, pero todos se revisan para esta ocasión y presentan diferencias más o menos acusadas respecto de sus versiones primeras.

El primer trabajo, «The Golden Age Sacramental Play: An Introduction to the Genre», está escrito para esta ocasión; del prólogo a mi edición revisado, aligerado en algún caso de materiales y reorganizado en sus esquemas argumentativos, procede «El ingenio, la justicia y la discreción en No hay más Fortuna que Dios». La aproximación a los elementos historiales de El socorro general reescribe levemente «Una clave de lectura para el auto historial y alegórico El socorro general de Calderón», en La rueda de la Fortuna. Estudios sobre el teatro de Calderón, ed. Juan Manuel Escudero y M. C. Pinillos, Kassel, Reichenberger, 2000, pp. 1-14. «Una dramaturgia de la coherencia: El día mayor de los días, de Calderón» se publicó en la Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos, 29, 2004, pp. 187-99. «Escenografía mimética y escenografía mística en los autos de Calderón» procede de «Doctrina y espectáculo: escenografía mimética y escenografía mística en los autos de Calderón», en Dramaturgia y espectáculo teatral en la época de los Austrias, ed. Judith Farré, Madrid/ Frankfurt, Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 2009, pp. 21-46. Inédito es «Los cuatro elementos en La vida es sueño». El capítulo sobre la alegoría del viaje presenta una redacción que reescribe dos artículos anteriores («El motivo del viaje en los autos sacramentales de Calderón. I», Revista de Literatura, LXXIII, 145, 2011, pp. 165-182; «El motivo del viaje en los autos sacramentales de Calderón. II. Viajes misionales», en Ingenio, teología y drama en los autos sacramentales de Calderón, ed. C. Pinillos, Kassel, Reichenberger, 2012, pp. 9-38), con partes nuevas.

Por fin «La cultura emblemática en los autos de Calderón y su inserción dramática» reproduce una versión que triplica la más breve ponencia plenaria del congreso de la Sociedad Española de Emblemática, que apareció en Palabras, símbolos, emblemas. Las estructuras gráficas de la representación, ed. Ana Martínez Pereira, Inmaculada Osuna y Víctor Infantes, Madrid, Sociedad Española de Emblemática/Turpin Editores, 2013, pp. 13-31.

Este trabajo se ha beneficiado del proyecto de investigación sobre autos sacramentales financiado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Gobierno de España. Dirección General de Investigación y Gestión del Plan Nacional de I+D+I. Subprograma de Proyectos de Investigación Fundamental (FFI2011-26695). Cuenta también con el patrocinio de TC-12, en el marco del Programa Consolider-Ingenio 2010, CSD2009-00033, del Plan Nacional de Investigación Científica, Desarrollo e Innovación Tecnológica.

¹ El año santo de Roma, ed. Arellano y Cilveti. En general cito los textos por las ediciones que se recogen en la bibliografía, adonde remito.

Cuando haya edición crítica en la serie de autos completos de Universidad de Navarra/Reichenberger, las indicaciones de versos y páginas se hacen por dichas ediciones; cuando no la hay se refieren a la edición de Valbuena, en Obras completas de la editorial Aguilar. En la bibliografía final se pueden comprobar los datos y existencia de las ediciones implicadas.

Scholars have attempted to determine the characteristics of the sacramental play¹. In his Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española in 1611, Sebastián de Covarrubias defines it as «La representación que se hace de argumento sagrado, en la fiesta del Corpus Christi y otras fiestas» (a representation of a sacred story for the Corpus Christi festivity and other holy days). Lope de Vega, in his Loa entre un villano y una labradora (Ode of a farmer and his wife), the prologue to his work The Sweet Name of Jesus defines these plays as:

Comedias

a honor y gloria del Pan

que tan devota celebra

esta coronada villa:

porque su alabanza sea

confusión de la herejía

y gloria de la fe nuestra

todas de historias divinas².

Comedies

in honor and glory of the Bread

which this town celebrates so devotedly:

may its praise confound heresy

and glorify our faith

through all the divine tales.

Although these elements are significant, they are not indispensable: in Calderón’s sacramental plays, for example, the argumentos (plots) are based not only on divine topics, but have innumerable sources, including pagan mythology.

Calderón de la Barca, in his Loa para el auto de La segunda esposa (Ode for the sacramental play The Second wife), underlines the catechismal rote of sacramental plays as:

Sermones

puestos en verso, en idea

representable cuestiones

de la sacra teología

que no alcanzan mis razones

a explicar ni comprender

y el regocijo dispone

en aplauso de este día³.

Sermons in verse,

to represent theological issues

that my reason cannot explain

or understand and rejoicing

enjoys applause on this day.

Analysts of the genre have pointed out two fundamental features, which deserve a comment: their particular relationship with the Blessed Eucharist and the use of allegory.

Calderón offers an important clue in the prologue to his Autos sacramentales alegóricos y historiales (Allegorical and historical sacramental plays), Madrid, 1677, when he differentiates asunto (always the same) and argumento (always different). A sacramental play always, but at different levels, deals with the Sacrament of the Eucharist, but the variety of plots allows for many dramatic forms.The audience at the time clearly knew that the main topic of the plays was the Eucharist, as stated by Fray Manuel Guerra y Ribera in his Aprobación a la Verdadera Quinta Parte (Approval of the True Fifth Part) of the playwright’s comedies⁴.

In short, they are liturgical dramas, dealing with the Sacrament of the Eucharist, or, in other word, with redemption. This definition allows for the inclusion of some sacramental dramas on Marian topics, which cannot be classified as strictly part of Sacrament, but belong to the basic prehistory of the redemption episode.

Some analysts (José Aicardo, González Pedroso, González Ruiz, Menéndez Pelayo, Valbuena Prat…) see the emergence of the sacramental play as a weapon against Luther’s doctrines, which rejected the transformation of the bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, as taught by the Catholic doctrine on transubstantiation⁵. Wardropper commented on the influence and artistic manifestations of the anti-heretical atmosphere that pervaded society⁶. Although Bataillon⁷ observed that it was due to earlier tendencies, typical of Catholic Reformation⁸, it is also comprehensible that many sacramental plays dealt with heresy, which is not at all strange given the historical context.

Another very convincing reason pointed out by Marcel Bataillon, which may explain the development of the genre in Spain, is that of economics.The most important change in the sixteenth century is that the dramas were presented by professional actors. The auto became a spectacle for mass audiences, and became an important source of income for theatre companies.

We know that various types of plays were already linked to the Corpus Christi festivities in the Middle Ages, but a specific plot and a new perspective were necessary for the sacramental play to emerge as a separate genre. Different pre-existing elements and traditions came together to create the auto: the Eucharist and the allegory. The latter became the vehicle for the play’s rhetoric⁹.

The Feast of Corpus Christi was established by Pope Urban IV in the Bull «Transiturus» on 8 September 1264. It was confirmed by Pope Clement V, in Avignon, and in 1311 the adoption of the feast was ordered by the Council of Vienne. In 1317, Pope John XXII promulgated the feast-day and by then processions in honor of the Eucharist had been established¹⁰.

In the seventeenth century, the processions and plays were staged on the Feast of Corpus Christi, although the preparations were begun much earlier, at the end of January or in February. During these months, various court committees worked on the organization of the plays, dances, platforms, floats, awnings, giants and the route of the procession.

Allegory is a rhetorical device that names one thing in order to express another; that is to say, it names an argumento (plot) in order to express an asunto (subject).The allegorical structure (which is linked systems of metaphors) is what permits the poet to use any type of plot that suits the topic. For example, it is possible to convert a mythological plot into an expression of divine salvation, as we see in Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s play El divino Jasón (Divine Jason). Here, each element of the myth corresponds to another at a two-fold symbolic religious level. Thus, Jason is Christ, the (twelve Argonauts are the apostles, the Golden Fleece is the human soul corrupted by original sin, and so on).

Firstly, the allegory tells us the story which may be inspired by anything (a pilgrim’s adventures, the history of the world as a great marketplace, the loving relationship of Psyche and Cupid), and, secondly, the allegorical or theological level (asunto) at which the plot reveals its profound doctrinal teaching.

Allegorical formulas appear in several works from before the time of Calderón¹¹, following a process that is consistent with the above-mentioned ideological objective. Allegory is very suitable for teaching religious doctrine; it is used in the Bible and in other religious traditions to express mysterious truths that cannot be expressed directly in language.

Another form of allegory also works in the sacramental genre: the personification of abstract entities such as Faith, Hope, Charity, Appetite or Free Will. Personification is essential for a literary genre that is obliged to reveal a series of conflicts between vice and virtue or good and evil.

In Summa Theologica, Thomas Aquinas defined the sacrament as a «signum rei sacrae» (the sign of a sacred thing), that is, a symbol that reveals what we do not know by focusing on what we do know. Likewise, the author uses elements that are familiar to the public in order to express abstract theological ideas: the demon is a bandit or a pirate, the human soul is a beautiful lady, Christ is the lady’s gallant lover.

Allegory is, in short, the main means of unifying the two levels of the play (that of human words and that of the divine meaning). What is invisible becomes visible on stage through its allegorical personification, and the step from one level to another occurs as the analogy is understood.

Apart from being sacramental (the original Spanish term for a sacramental play is auto sacramental), Calderón’s plays have two constant elements; they are allegorical and, equally importantly, they are historial¹². This can be seen in the only edition of his work authorized by Calderón himself, the First Part of the Autos sacramentales alegóricos y historiales (Madrid, Fernández Buendía, 1677). This terminology is repeated in many manuscripts and editions.

The main meaning of historial in the Spanish Golden Age was «historical» or «referring to history». But we must not forget that during this period history was of lesser importance than poetry, which adapted history to its ends. Historical events, history in its modern meaning, were not at the core of poetic mimesis.

Moreover, the use of historial in the plays is not exactly equivalent to «historical»; its meaning must be analyzed within the framework of the poetics of sacramental plays. Calderón took historial to refer to a group of elements that can be interpreted allegorically, which in themselves make up the literal design of the play, that is, what is referred to above as the plot, argumento in Calderón’s own terminology.

For example, in La devoción de la misa (The Devotion to Mass), the historical plot must be taken symbolically: the Castile invaded by the Moors symbolizes the persecuted primitive Church; there is a play on words with the name of the character Count García, similar to Gracia, meaning Divine Grace; and so on. The plot is the historial part of the drama, which becomes allegorical due to the double interpretation.

And in La protestación de la fe (The Protestation of Faith), 1656, another of Calderón’s works with a historical plot based on the celebrated plan to convert Queen Christina of Sweden to Catholicism, history and allegory are inextricably entangled:

la alegoría y la historia

tan una de otra se enlazan

que en metáfora Cristina

llega ya de convidada

al prevenido banquete

donde la mesa la aguarda¹⁴.

Allegory and history

are so closely linked

that in the metaphor

Christina arrives

at the banquet

where the table awaits her.

When the plot comes from mythology or the world of fantasy, it is still called historial, as opposed to allegorical. The tale of the adventures of Orpheus is the historial part of the drama El divino Orfeo (Divine Orpheus), whereas its salvific meaning is two-fold and includes allegory:

Como es dar salud su intento,

de él (dejando lo historial

por lo mixto) el celestial

Orfeo labra el instrumento

en que ha de cantar humano

la letra de una canción,

que fue en la R, Redención¹⁵.

At he attempts to give health,

from it (leaving the historial

for the mixed) the divine

Orpheus forges the instrument

with which he will humanly sing

the lyrics of a song,

which was in the R, Redemption.

In each case, the historial element is the plot, be it historical or fictional. It contrasts so clearly with the allegory that it can be understood as literal reality.Without the allegorical level, the drama, as understood by Calderón, would not exist: this double level is essential, as Culpa (Guilt) explains in Las Órdenes militares (The Military Orders):

…a dos visos guardando

los retóricos preceptos

de decir uno y ser otro,

pues fuera, a correr sin velos,

historia y no alegoría…¹⁶.

…to two appearances saving

the rhetorical precepts

of saying one and being another,

as this were, to draw unveiled,

history and not allegory…

The specifically historial elements are at the heart of the dramas and remind us not to underestimate human history when explaining them. Paterson, for example, has stated that the spiritual dimension of the auto sacramental at the apogee of the Calderonian period is linked to the political and social dimensions, as can be clearly seen in El nuevo palacio del Retiro (The New Retiro Palace)¹⁷ which gives «a perfect example of how the sacramental play, far from creating an ideal, pre-political, supraterrestrial world, shows the tensions and divisions of the political world of the times»¹⁸. An in-depth understanding of many sacramental plays cannot, then, ignore the fundamental historical facts of time and place, although their role is different from that in other genres.

It is common for critics to say that the sacramental play is not subject to space and time constraints because of its allegorical freedom. In his classic study, Parker¹⁹ underlines the timeless quality of the works sub specie aeternitatis, that is to say, from an eternal perspective. Kurt Spang²⁰ states that sacramental plays are ageless «porque la lucha entre el bien y el mal no tiene fechas y la capacidad redentora de la Eucaristía es eterna» (because the struggle between good and evil is never-ending and the redemptive power of the Eucharist is eternal), and concludes that «la presentación del tiempo en el auto brilla, por tanto, más por su ausencia que por su explícita plasmación verbal o extraverbal» (the presentation of time in the sacramental play is more notable for its absence than for its explicit verbal or extra-verbal presence). The same may be said about the spatial element.

But the issue is more complex than that.The allegories of the sacramental play do not ignore time and space; they disregard certain limits in their use. The freedom granted by the allegory allows for a protean presence in which time and space are multiplied in every possible way, especially by the great masters of the genre, such as Calderón.

Within such a «de-spatialized» genre, it is difficult to comprehend a sacramental play like El año santo en Madrid (The Holy Year in Madrid). This describes the jubilee processions to pilgrim stations carried out by priests, monks and nuns, sodalities and guilds, the military orders and the King himself.The topography of Madrid and its churches is shown as a network of religious significance, with precise detail of the capital city of the kingdom.

This paradigm of topographic relations (which we find repeatedly in Calderón)²¹ supports Paterson’s comments on the itinerary of the floats for the Madrid sacramental plays. He says, «La ciudad entra en el escenario místico del auto, ya que el mundo entero es un sacramento que simboliza una realidad divina mediante sus signos exteriores, y es en Madrid durante la octava del Corpus donde se enmarca y se manifiesta la trascendencia de ese mundo elemental» (The city is part of the mystic stage for the drama, as the whole world is a sacrament symbolizing a divine truth, and Madrid during the Corpus Octave is where the transcendence of this elemental world is highlighted)²².

Apart from the liturgical and religious contents, specific historical and political topics are also inserted into this tempo-spatial framework. Most noteworthy is the deliberate mythicizing by Calderón of the House of Austria, which has been studied primarily by Enrique Rull²³. Examples are: El nuevo palacio del Retiro (The New Retiro Palace), El valle de la zarzuela (The valley of the Zarzuela), La segunda esposa (The Second wife), Triunfar muriendo (Triumph through Death), El lirio y el azucena (The Calla and the White Lilies), El segundo blasón del Austria (The Second Austrian Coat of Arms), and others. References to the life of Christ and the Royal House are interwoven, in a fusion of sacred and secular history in which the Spanish Monarchy is the guarantor of the Catholic faith.

The dramatic space of the sacramental play is determined by its distinct allegorical structure.Thus we find two functions integrated in the dramatic space that can be called mimetic or historial, and allegorical or mystical.

Let us illustrate these two functions with an example. In Calderón’s El sacro Pernaso (Sacred Parnassus), the first float represents a mountain, which the playwright’s instructions describe as follows:

una montaña hermosa, pintada de árboles, fuentes y flores. Desta a su tiempo ha de subir en elevación otra montaña que en forma piramidal remate en disminución, y en lo eminente de la cumbre un sol entre nubarrones y rayos, y dentro dél un cáliz grande y una hostia. Lo demás deste segundo cuerpo ha de tener a manera de nichos o quiebras de la misma montaña, lugares compartidos para diez ninfas, de las cuales las cinco han de ser vivas y las otras cinco pinturas cortadas de tabla, del tamaño natural de una mujer…²⁴.

A beautiful mountain, covered with trees, fountains, and flowers. From this mountain rises another pyramid-shaped one, and at its summit there is a sun among clouds and lightning; within the sun are a large chalice and a host. This second area must have niches or caves for ten nymphs, five of whom must be alive and five painted on woman-sized wooden boards.

This scenic space represents a dramatic space that is related to Paradise in Judaism and to the Elysian Fields in pagan belief systems. However, in the plot of the play, it is Mount Parnassus, where a poeticaltheological contest between Sibyls and the Church Fathers will take place.This Parnassus (the mimetic, or historial, dramatic space) takes on a more profound level of interpretation when Calderón tells us that it «es Parnaso y es Sión» (it is both Parnassus and Sion). Within this mystical explanation, Castalia, a spring on the mountain, is the source of divine grace and Apollo is Christ. It is clear that Mount Parnassus represents heaven (a mystical space).

The allegorical meaning is often explained in the text itself, as it includes traditions and/or cultural or doctrinal conventions with which the audience may not have been familiar. In many texts the symbolic meaning comes from the Bible, the writings of the Fathers of the Church, certain theological doctrines or emblematic representations of the genre. The significance of some of the most frequent settings in the dramas came from their association with these areas: seas and ships; mountains and gardens; the heavens (fortress, temple, cloud) and hell (cavern and crags); the world (as a human living space often including inns, asylums and jails), etc.

The sacramental plays were often performed on carros (floats) which the Flemish traveler, Antoine de Brunel, described in 1655 as huts on wheels, where the players dressed and from which they entered and exited the scenes. In the first half of the seventeenth century, two carros were used (called medio carro in the historical records) together with another, called carrillo, which was used as a stage. The two carros were placed beside the carrillo. After 1647, four carros were used, and the carrillo was replaced by a much larger fixed stage.

These carros allowed for spectacular theatrical development similar to that of the royal court theatre, although in sacramental plays, the meaning of the pageants was always symbolic. In fact, Baccio del Bianco, the stage designer at the Buen Retiro and other court theatres, was responsible for building the carros from 1653 to 56. He based his work on the memoria de apariencias (scenic resources list) that playwrights used to indicate the stage design and the props needed²⁵ as we can see in the following memoria for El sacro Pernaso²⁶:

El cuarto carro ha de ser un globo celeste el cual ha de estar embebido en el primer cuerpo dél hasta que a su tiempo se descubra en elevación con seis personas que le han de cercar como sustentándole. Estas han de tener bajada al tablado, y dejando el globo elevado, se ha de abrir en dos mitades y verse dentro dél un niño en una cruz, el cual se ha de elevar en ella hasta ponerse en lo eminente del globo.

The fourth carro is to be a heavenly globe which is to be hidden until the moment when it is raised, with six people surrounding it as if holding it up. The people must descend to the stage, leaving the globe on high. Then it will open in two halves to show a child on a cross who will rise on it to the top of the globe.

In its origin, the sacramental play was performed by priests or devout laymen. Apparently, professional players began to participate after 1561, when the Lope de Rueda was entrusted with the sacramental plays in Toledo.The most important companies worked mainly in Madrid.

The wardrobe was of extreme importance for the players, as it echoed the symbolism of the stage design.

In the sacramental plays there is a two-fold use of costumes, as there is of the spaces: a «first level» of «mimetic use»²⁷ and a «second level» which was symbolic, or allegorical. The «mimetic» uses referred to the situation, trade or status of the character: feathers, for example, indicated the character was a soldier, but on a more symbolic level might stand for vanity or arrogance.

This function referring to social standing was fundamental and was systematically used in dramas such as El gran teatro del mundo, in which the characterization of the players includes the use of the corresponding costumes.The players representing allegorical ideas were always dressed in ways that indicate their identity (Hope with an anchor, Justice carrying a sword and scales, etc.).

Over the development of the sacramental plays, their use of music was intensified until they became true oratorios or sacred operas, as has been pointed out by analysts²⁸.

Calderón creates the musical theory of the plays by using a series of concepts such as the Pythagorean theory, which is based on harmony and music as the immediate prerequisite of beauty. Following the teachings of Augustine of Hippo, he differentiates between true and false, divine and human music. Music, then, is not merely ornamental in the play, but has a function related with the message of the work. In Los encantos de la Culpa (The Charms of Guilt), for example, the tricks of Circe-Guilt are shown through musical effects, whereas the divine music that accompanied the arrival of Penance is emphasized by the sound of shawms, seen as the musical symbol of divinity, which finally defeats the irreverent tones. Díez Borque²⁹ has analyzed the function of music and singing in the plays, underlining a great variety of roles: prayer, praise, worship and doctrinal explanation.

The first example of the genre is thought to have been the Farsa sacramental (Sacramental Farce) by Fernán López de Yanguas in 1521, a work that has now disappeared. Important milestones in the development of the genre³⁰ were written by Diego Sánchez de Badajoz (particularly his farces dedicated to the Corpus’ festivities, such as the Farsa del colmenero (The Beekeeper’s Farce), Farsa del Santísimo Sacramento (The Farce of the Blessed Sacrament), Farsa de Isaac (The Farce of Isaac), Farsa del molinero (The Farce of the Miller), Farsa de Moisén (Moisen’s Farce) and the Farsa de la Santa Susana (Saint Susan’s Farce); some works from the Códice de autos viejos (Codex of Old Plays) with 96 religious dramas, which, with the exception of the Entremés de las esteras (Interlude of the Rush Mats)³¹ are true sacramental plays; and Timoneda’s Aucto de la fuente de los siete sacramentos (Drama of the Fountain of the Seven Sacraments), Aucto de la Iglesia (Drama of the Church) or Los desposorios de Cristo (The Betrothals of Christ). On the latter,Wardropper states that it is like

[un] puente que une el territorio enmarañado de las farsas sacramentales con el parque cultivado de los autos sacramentales. No es un puente natural —un árbol caído—, sino un puente artificial, hecho con el trabajo humano. [...] sin la labor de Timoneda es dudoso que un género tan mal formado, tan vulgar, hubiera atraído a los grandes dramaturgos del Siglo de Oro³².

a bridge between the entangled territory of the sacramental farces with the cultivated park of the sacramental plays. It is not a natural bridge –a fallen tree– but rather an artificial bridge, the work of human hands. [...] without Timoneda’s work it is doubtful that such a misshapen, vulgar genre would have attracted the great playwrights of the Golden Age.

Lope de Vega is one of the most prolific writers of sacramental dramas, although during his lifetime only four were published in El peregrino en su patria (1604): El viaje del Alma, Las bodas entre Alma y el Amor divino, La Maya y El hijo pródigo (The Pilgrim in his Homeland:The Voyage of the Soul,The wedding between Soul and divine Love,The Mayan and The Prodigal Son). Lope’s sacramental plays give us some clues to those of Calderón. He uses music meaningfully and not merely as ornamentation; more and more spectacular stage machinery; a wardrobe and actor kinesics which show how the allegorical creatures become characteristic of the genre. Something similar occurs with the works of Tirso de Molina in which he draws close to the spectacular nature of Calderón’s best sacramental plays.

Tirso’s sacramental plays, El colmenero divino (The Beekeeper’s Farce), Los hermanos parecidos (Similar Brothers), No le arriendo la ganancia (I do not Lease the Winnings), undoubtedly overshadowed by those of Calderón, have generally been underestimated³³. However, an in-depth reading reveals a high degree of structural, allegorical and musical development, close to that of the greatest sacramental plays of the period.

Leaving aside authors such as Mira de Amescua, Vélez de Guevara, Montalbán or Rojas, the most interesting promoter of the genre is, unquestionably, José Valdivielso (1560-1638), who came closest to the heights reached by Calderón de la Barca. Analysts have stressed Valdivielso’s excellent handling of allegory, his skill in making the most of the language, his use of folkloric elements such as ballads and popular songs in tune with the divine, and a sharp sense of humor, based more on the weaknesses of the saints than on jokes or eschatological references, and his mastery of biblical sources. Wardropper considers that in works such as El hospital de los locos (The Madmen’s Hospital), El hijo pródigo (The Prodigal Son), El peregrine (The pilgrim) and La amistad en peligro (Endangered Friendship),Valdivielso’s allegorical drama is superior to that of Lope³⁴.

But the glory belongs undoubtedly to Calderón. The list of his sacramental plays includes almost 80 works (some having two versions).

His philosophical intensity, a feature studied mainly by Eugenio Frutos³⁵, cannot be ignored. In Calderón’s work, Frutos perceives his concern with human limits and their contingent nature, but also the search for harmony between body and mind, between earthly and transcendental pursuits. But this philosophical intensity is integrated into a dramatic formula, and it is as dramatic, not documentary, theatre that Calderón’s works must be read.

Valbuena Prat³⁶ establishes three stages in the evolution of Calderón’s sacramental plays: before 1648, corresponding to the plays with the least complicated stage design; a second period from 1648 to 1660, with longer, more elaborate plays; and the third after 1660, with progressively more intricate stage mechanisms and intensified allegorical complexity.

Calderón.The «philosophical» plays: El gran teatro del mundo (The Great Theatre of the World), El gran mercado del mundo (The Great Market of the World)

This perhaps the most famous of Calderón’s sacramental plays uses a vast traditional leitmotif, the image of the world and life as a theatre where everyone has a role to play, ending with death and reward and punishment. God is the Author who asks the World to prepare the stage for a play in which the characters will be the King, the Rich Man, the Poor Man, the Farmer, Beauty, Discretion and the Unborn Child:

Una fiesta hacer quiero

a mi mismo poder, si considero

que solo a ostentación de mi grandeza

fiestas hará la gran naturaleza,

y como siempre ha sido

lo que más ha alegrado y divertido

la representación bien aplaudida,

y es representación la humana vida,

una comedia sea la que hoy el cielo en tu teatro vea...

[...]

Yo a cada uno

el papel le daré que le convenga,

y porque en fiesta igual su parte tenga

el hermoso aparato

de apariencias, de trajes el ornato,

hoy prevenido quiero

que alegre, liberal y lisonjero,

fabriques apariencias

que de dudas se pasen a evidencias.

Seremos yo el autor, en un instante,

tú el teatro y el hombre el recitante³⁷.

I want to stage a play to celebrate my own power,

for if I consider the most natural way to

display my greatness, it is with celebrations

enacted by the whole of Nature;

it has always been true

that what most gladdens and amuses

is a well-applauded performance,

and human lifeisa performance,

that shall be the play

Heaven sees in your theatre today.

[...]

I will give each one the part

that suits them best,

and because a production like this

must be set off by beautiful scenery,

stage-effects, and elegant costumes,

today I want you to joyfully and generously

prepare flattering illusions,

designing a stage that passes

from nothingness into being.

I will be the Director, for now,

you will be the Theatre, and Man will be the actor³⁸.

Each player receives their role differently (the Poor Man and the Farmer complain about their misery, the Unborn Child laments his early death, etc.), while the voice of the Law of Grace repeats the general lesson: «Love your neighbor as yourself, as God is God». This lesson is not merely addressed to the characters in the play, but also to the audience. At the end, The Author distributes the rewards and punishments: Discretion and the Poor Man participate in the Eucharistic banquet, while the Rich Man is condemned, and the King, the Farmer and Beauty must pay for their sins and the Unborn Child goes to Limbo. The play ends with the singing of Tantum ergo, the hymn by Saint Thomas Aquinas, in praise of the Eucharist.

Responsibility and free will are basic powers: once the roles have been given out, each player controls their own actions and are, thus, accountable for them.

Another famous sacramental play by Calderón is El gran mercado del mundo (The Great Market of the World). Its latest edition, by Ana Suárez Miramón, gives a thorough amount of detail on all aspects of the play. She points out that the thematic structure of this work, like that of La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream), can be divided into two actions: firstly, what can be considered the main subject matter, the test of the children; and a second, apparently secondary topic, referring to the restoring of the honor. The main story is, again, split into several topics: the world as a market (thus the title of the play), the force of free will against fate, father-son relationships and education, and rising above oneself.

In ten sacramental plays by Calderón, mythological characters play an important role in expressing the Eucharistic allegory. If in Los encantos de la Culpa (The Charms of Guilt) the Eucharist is praised as a rescue and food for the Man (Ulysses), won through Penitence (the Iris), according to the allegory of Ulysses’ wanderings, which Man invents using biblical and mythological motives, El divino Jasón (Jason the Divine) praises the Eucharist mainly as salvation for Humankind (Medea) through Christ (Jasón). The quest for the Golden Fleece is used allegorically, on the basis of biblical and mythological reasons given in the plot and explained by Jason.

In the development of the plot, the incidents of the allegorical story follow one after another. Jason asks Argos to build a ship that could withstand «all the elements» and invites Hercules and Theseus to participate in the venture; they accept enthusiastically and he declares the «aim of the conquest». In the end, the Argonauts win the Golden Fleece which «Jason carries on his shoulder». Idolatry, in despair, challenges the «Catholic ship» of the triumphant Argonauts and tells the tale of her primitive rebellion and defeat by God, which is now repeated before the lamb, the chalice and the host that appear above a tree. The triumphal apotheosis contrasts the glorification of Jason with the profound humiliation of Idolatry «with the sound of thundering fireworks» and flames.

The myth of Andromeda and Perseus was used in particular for this kind of allegorization. The exploits of Perseus, in triumph over deadly Medusa and the sea monster which threatened Andromeda are open to clear allegories³⁹. Andromeda is then the symbol of Human Nature saved by Jesus Christ, where Perseus represents the Son of God.

The monsters that appear in this play, Perseus on his winged horse, earthquakes and on-stage spectacles of all kinds make this drama one of the most magnificent of all the sacramental plays. The stage directions, for example, mention the winged horse which also appears in the poetic text: «Perseo sale en lo alto en un caballo» (Perseus enters from above on horseback).

Biblical sacramental plays: La cena del rey Baltasar (The Banquet of King Balthazar) and more

AD	El arca de Dios cautiva.
AH	Los alimentos del hombre.
AM	El año santo en Madrid.
AP	Andrómeda y Perseo.
AR	El año santo de Roma.
CA	El cubo de la Almudena.
CB	La cena del rey Baltasar.
CE	La cura y la enfermedad.
CI	El cordero de Isaías.
DC	El divino cazador.
DD	El día mayor de los días.
DF	La divina Filotea.
DI	El diablo mudo (primera versión).
DIS	El diablo mudo (segunda versión).
DJ	El divino Jasón.
DM	La devoción de la misa.
DOP	El divino Orfeo (primera versión).
DOS	El divino Orfeo (segunda versión).
DP	El verdadero dios Pan.
EC	Los encantos de la Culpa.
ER	Las espigas de Ruth.
FC	La primer flor del Carmelo.
FI	El pastor Fido.
GD	El gran duque de Gandía.
GM	El gran mercado del mundo.
GT	El gran teatro del mundo.
HC	La humildad coronada.
HP	El nuevo hospicio de pobres.
HV	La hidalga del valle.
IG	El indulto general.
IM	No hay instante sin milagro.
IN	La inmunidad del sagrado.
IS	La Iglesia sitiada.
JF	El jardín de Falerina.
LA	El lirio y el azucena.
LC	La lepra de Constantino.
LE	Llamados y escogidos.
LM	El laberinto del mundo.
LQ	Lo que va del hombre a Dios.
MC	A María el corazón.
MF	El árbol del mejor fruto.
MM	Los misterios de la misa.
MR	Mística y real Babilonia.
MT	El maestrazgo del toisón.
NH	No hay más Fortuna que Dios.
NM	La nave del mercader.
NP	El nuevo palacio del Retiro.
OM	Las Órdenes militares.
OR	El orden de Melquisedec.
PB	El primer blasón del Austria.
PCM	Psiquis y Cupido (Madrid).
PCT	Psiquis y Cupido (Toledo).
PD	El pintor de su deshonra.
PF	La protestación de la fe.
PG	La piel de Gedeón.
PM	El pleito matrimonial del cuerpo y el alma.
PR	Primer refugio del hombre y probática piscina.
PS	Primero y segundo Isaac.
QH	¿Quién hallará mujer fuerte?
RC	La redención de cautivos.
RE	A Dios por razón de estado.
SB	El segundo blasón del Austria.
SC	La semilla y la cizaña.
SE	La segunda esposa.
SG	El socorro general.
SH	Sueños hay que verdad son.
SM	La serpiente de metal.
SP	El sacro Pernaso.
SRP	El santo rey don Fernando (primera parte).
SRS	El santo rey don Fernando (segunda parte).
SS	La siembra del Señor.
TB	La torre de Babilonia.
TE	El tesoro escondido.
TM	Triunfar muriendo.
TPP	Tu prójimo como a ti (primera versión).
TPS	Tu prójimo como a ti (segunda versión).
UR	La universal redención.
VC	El viático cordero.
VG	La vacante general.
VI	La viña del Señor.
VSP	La vida es sueño (primera versión).
VSS	La vida es sueño (segunda versión).
VT	El veneno y la triaca.
VZ	El valle de la Zarzuela.