198- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
Neoclassicism restores order
So, how do you follow that? In Spain they endured
well over a century of second-rate Vega and Calderón
imitators, waiting for Romanticism to pull its finger out
in the mid 19thcentury.There were, however, a couple
of exceptions. Neoclassicism touched down briefly in
Spain, pushing the stagy Baroque style aside and
recalling the old classical unities. Agustín de Montiano y
Luyando had the first stab at proving that Spain, not just
France where Racine et al had led the charge, could do
classical drama with two plays set in ancient Rome,
Virginia(1750) andAtaulpho(1753). His disciple,
Leandro Fernández de Moratín, showed a more refined
touch in plays that expertly satirised Spain’s expanding
bourgeoisie as well as a Madrid theatre scene he felt
pandered to the lowest common denominator, namely
plebs. As was the Neoclassical way, he favoured
disciplined witty dialogue over outlandish drama.
El si de las niñas(1805), about an arranged marriage
between a convent girl and a man in his 60s, was
considered his masterpiece.Prolific talent: Lope de
Vega on the job
Estimates vary, but it
seems Lope de Vega
wrote around 2000 full-
grown plays, over 100 of
which he claimed were
written in less than a
day. About 400 known
works survive. We can
only guess at how he
also found the time to
pursue a torrid love life.
He was exiled from
Madrid for eight years
in 1588 after writing
defamatory poetry about
the family of a lover who
discarded him after a
long affair. Marriage to
the 16-year-old daughter
of a nobleman came
soon after, before he
promptly set sail with
the Armada to take on
the English. Another
woman later bore him
five children but didn’t
manage to get him
up the aisle, largely
because he was in the
midst of a second
marriage to the daughter
of a wealthy butcher. She
had three of Vega’s
children. But he rarely
limited himself to two
women, philandering his
way throughout adult
life. Finally, in 1614, he
joined the priesthood
but regularly lapsed from
celibacy. Scarlet fever
killed him, aged 72, in
1635.