Buchanan The Chronology of Lope de Vega's Plays THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO STUDIES PHILOLOGICAL SERIES No 6: THE CHRONOLOGY OF LOPE DE VEGAS PLAYS, by Milton A. Buchanan THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY: PUBLISHED BY THE LIBRARIAN, 1022 Wntver0it\> of Toronto Stu&ies COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT Chairman: Sir Robert Alexander Falconer, LL.D., K.C.M.G. President of the University Professor W. J. Alexander, Ph.D. Professor J. J. Mackenzie, B.A., M.B. Professor J. P. McMurrich, Ph.D. Brig.-Gen. C. H. Mitchell, B.A.Sc, C.B., CM. G., D.S.O. Professor G. H. Needler, Ph.D. Professor George M. Wrong, M.A. General Editor: H. H. Langton, M.A. Librarian of the University THE CHRONOLOGY OF LOPE DE VEGA'S PLAYS BY Milton A. Buchanan*, Ph.D. PROFESSOR OF ITALIAN AND SPANISH IN THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO , ... CALltfOKKJ AT LOS ANGELES LIBRARY -< i r* c • THE CHRONOLOGY OF LOPE DE VEGA'S PLAYS* In the study of the development of Spanish dramatic art we are confronted at the outset with a difficulty that does not exist to a similar extent in the dramatic literature of any other country, $ namely, the extraordinary productivity of the creator of the come- dia, Lope de Vega. No less than four hundred and twenty-six of his plays are extant. Several hundred more are known at least by title. The difficulty has never been met satisfactorily, and so we are to-day, after a century or more of considerable effort on the part of historians of the Spanish drama, and of Lope's plays in particular, without adequate knowledge of the exact origins * and development of his art, or of his relations to his predecessors, contemporaries, and imitators. Even the most recent studies devoted to the drama of the period in question flounder badly y whenever there arises a question of the genesis and development ^ N of this or that important phase of the comedia, as, for example, versification, or a character like the gracioso. Lope was the most original playwright in the formative period of the comedia. Originality and versatility are indeed the char- « I acteristics of his talent that have given him universal fame. A X ' • study of his works shows that he was continually experimenting, and all attempts to beg the question of his artistic development by grouping his plays, as Mencndez y Pelayo and others have done, according to subjects — pastoral, Carolingian, chronicle, and so forth—but evade the issue and lead nowhere. It might be taken < for granted that a genius like Lope, who wrote plays for at least f fifty-five years (sixty-two by his own count) and who, we know, * invented many characteristic elements, such as, for example, the all-important use of the romance, or narrative metre, and a charai ter like the gracioso, to mention only two fundamental changes which he introduced, would be interested in developing the comedia, and 'Read before the Romance Club of the University of Toronto. 3 1 Buchanan: Chronology of Lope de Vega's Plays make it conform to changed ideas in himself and his audience. Even unconsciously an evolution in his art and his style must haw taken place as his taste fluctuated. We know how Shake- speare, who wrote over a much shorter period, made his blank verse more flexible by gradually substituting run-on for end-stop lines, and we need not consider here other changes in Shakespeare's art which are equally apparent but cannot be indicated so briefly. There may be higher studies than the consideration of the chronological development of a writer's art, but chronological evolution may be taken to be the basis of them all. In the case of a prolific writer like Lope, no sustained effort has yet been made to determine the chronological order of his dramatic production. In Menendez y Pelayo's introductions to Lope's plays, we find only vague indications like late and early plays, but to Menendez y Pelayo any play written by 1600 was early, and by that time Lope had been writing for at least twenty years and had produced several hundred plays. What Menendez y Pelayo meant exactly by a late play, it would be difficult to determine, but it was probably one written between 1625 and the date of the dramatist's death, 1635. After all, Menendez y Pelayo trusted to an instinctive feeling in the matter, and excellent as this undoubtedly was, it was unscientific and not unerring. Menendez y Pelayo rightly showed much concern for the date of the play he had under con- sideration, and if he felt that the work was an early production, his criticism revealed the leniency that is at all times shown toward juvenilia. The following comments — the first on the date of Los Vargas de Castilla, and the second on El primer Fajardo — are typical: "Por el titulo, parece composition de la juventud de Lope" (born in 1562) "escrita probablemente en Sevilla" (i.e. in 1601 or later) : "es esta pieza anterior al ano 1604, fecha que parece bien confirmada por el desorden de la traza, la viciosa contextura de la fabula y el desalino del estilo, que son notas caracteristicas de la primera" (the italics are mine) "y mas ruda manera de Lope, sobre todo en sus piezas historicas y novelescas". In partial extenua- tion of Menendez y Pelayo's vagueness it may be observed that Lope himself had flexible notions about his youth. He averred that La Mocedad de Rolddn was composed in his mocedad, but was in fact written after 1596, when he was almost thirty-five. Buchanan: Chronology of Lope de Vega's Plays 5 More trustworthy than subjective opinion would be some objective method whereby the dates of Lope's plays could be determined within, let us say, five or ten years. When this much has been achieved, means will probably be discovered to define the chronology' more accurately. Then we shall at last be able to study the development of his craftsmanship. To recapitulate and particularize, a chronological arrangement of his plays would make possible studies on his relations to supposed predecessors like Juan de la Cueva, whose dated plays belong to the years 1579-1581, to Cervantes, a rival in the early eighties; to the Yalencian group of playwrights, Aguilar, Tarrega, Mercader, Virues; Lope's school, Tirso, Mira de Amescua, Guillen de Castro, Yc'lez de Guevara, Alarcon, Calderon, Moreto, and others who accepted the comedia as perfected by the master; the development of his technique; certain characters and themes (honour plays, for example) ; versification and many other problems. Slightly more than one hundred of his plays can be dated. Not a few autographs with indications of the exact date of com- position exist. Only one of these is considered a forgery — El Principe perfecto. Other plays contain allusions to contemporary events, which give at least approximate dates. Sometimes we have information about the actors who first produced his plays. Lope himself occasionally vouchsafed information on the date of composition. This is at times untrustworthy. An instance has been noticed in the case of La Mocedad de Rolddn. Another ex- ample is El verdadero Amantc, published in 1020, but written accord- ing to the author when he was twelve years of age, that is, in 1574. Lope was, no doubt, a precocious child, and may have composed play- at thai tender age, but certainly not the play in question, because before 1580 plays were not written in three acts (with one eption, unknown to Lope and his contemporaries) but in four, as he - n iq ■ io i-i i-H CO O i* 4 CN CO SBIUI3DQ S3DUBUI0^J iO -* OS • OS b» "* •* OS ■* !N •<* i— 1 ,— 1 i-H i-H sBu|;u;nQ CO CO - aj "O u rt U. 0- s t 6 6 O la c la cr cr c* la 3 X. o 3 in u o d u o _ i- la o la u "" ... ■- o la 4> la O u - cr O O 0) t^ •* CO C<3 I-H I-H - i-^ ^ 5 - 3 3 rt o ° M « 3 l < £ 'J ^ ^ Ch • J2- 15 JO (J N (O N O "2 ^ oc oo co rH (N l^ tN CM t» ■* l^ -r :t IN • -H rH (N • tN f) H 00 ^HNCST^O- "* M N N « ffl ■* CO rH r- *0 * o c J3 > O u U < u 7 p cd co 0) cd ►J s s B -a £ rt rt '. l) 4) 3 c u O 7. fl id — u f Ed la B 6) > > a; — a B cd 3 3 -J 3 u p 0) u fl 7 1 'J O U ^ Ca ^ H o CO c o CO CD 20 Buchanan: Chronology of Lope de Vega's Plays -= / -:- u X ri u. -' 0) rt hi B E c '2 SJ r. 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S 55 r. 21 Hivu.wan: Chronology of Lope de Vega's Plays Opening and closing verses in each act Remarks can.-re.; oct.-re.; oct.- oct.; oct.-oct. oct.-oct.; son.-re.; oct.- re.; ter.-oct. son.-re.; ter.-re.; oct.- re.; oct.-re. ter.-re.; oct.-re.; son.- oct.; oct.-oct. oct.-oct. ; oct.-oct. ; ter.- oct.; oct.-oct. 3SJ0A SnO0UT?HDDS|I\I c to cJ IN siauuog 1(2) KD SBAIJS 1 soipng S533J3X N N CO CO N i S3ACPQ 1 $ £ "* £ S SBlUpSQ S3DUClUOy sBjipumQ sBjjipuopusy O CO '-h t^ io CO O OS CO CO 4) Muerte de Don Sancho, La Ajax Tutor, El Virginia y Appio Claudio Principe tirano, El {comedia) 0) Q 1579 1580 Buchanan: Chronology of Lope de Vega's Plays 2o 1 • - rt. JJ = ■- o ■. la 3 ■- y. CO 3 ■- •4-t .- u ■*-> u -1 V '* - c m u. cr — ' - o O* o 5 c* u z w* M >C C5 .~ ^ N I— < — r- O pyj CC '- T— 1 f^ «tf l-H ,->. OS lO t- r 1 o o fN CO S •* . UJ :: r "7 n.. ti r- - CO CO — . — X — 13564« UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO STUDIES Philological Series No. i. The Anglo-Saxon Scop, by L. F. Anderson $0.50 No. 2. George Ticknor's Travels in Spain, edited by G. T. Northup 0.50 No. 3. Beginnings of the English Essay, by W. L. MacDonald loo No. 4. Dio Cassius, Historia Romana, Book 53, with notes by H. W. Duckworth 1.50 No. 5. John Gait, by R. K. Gordon 1.00 No. 6. The Chronology of Lope de Vega's Plays, by Milton A. Buchanan 0.50 Extra volume : Golding's A Tragedie of Abraham's Sacrifice, edited with an introduction, notes, and an appendix containing the Abraham Sacrifiant of Theodore Beza, by M. VV. Wallace 2.50 Extra volume : The Gest of Robin Hood, by W. H. CLAWSON 1.00 Extra volume : Calderon's La Vida es Sueno, edited by Milton A. Buchanan. Vol. I. : Text (cloth) 1.25 Extra volume : Theban Ostraca, edited from the originals with translations and plates 5°° UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles 1 hi> book is DUE on the last date stamped below. OCT 9 1961 "L C M M gfcC u H0M20 taf?2 Form L9-40ni-7,'56(C790s4)444 Ljaxflord =r= PAMPHLET BINDER ^Z^Z 5>racu