After the completion of the Reconquista of the Iberian peninsula by the Catholic Monarchs and coinciding with the discovery of America (1492) , it began in Spain a time of boom that corresponds to its imperial and artistic heyday, this time lasted in time until it was finished in 1681, when Calderon de la Barca died , at this time of splendor in science, Politics and art is known as The Golden Age of Spain.
The importance of the Book in the Golden Age
If there is a technological innovation, what Impulse the development of culture is without a doubt, "The Printing". The appearance of the printing press, allowed the large-scale dissemination of literary works, as well as the dissemination ion and generalization of the use of the «Vulgars» languages, making available to the populations not only the large volume of newly created works, but also the enormous volume of classical works, both literary art and philosophical and political thinking, as well as knowledge of history.
The cornerstone of this period so bright in Spain revolved around the great importance of the world of books. The main producers of books were Belgium and Holland, since the situation political and social, I book the terrible censorship of the time. The book trade begins quickly , initially with the sale of books to students, until little by little stores and book stores were created.until the current sales levels are reached.
Sinodal Aguilafuente.First Incunable Printed in Spain
The formats of the books were changing, each time its size was more manageable and its price was cheaper, which made the literature reach more population, making it much easier to get copies of classical writers, which otherwise could not be accessed. With the appearance of the book, knowledge, political, religious, philosophical, history, art, knowledge was expanded, everything was closer to the town.
Literature in the Golden Age
In this period, in Spain, there was a literary boom of unrepeatable quality, while we were, like the rest of European countries, in the editorial shadow of Holland and Belgium, Spanish writers, both novelists and poets or playwrights wrote works that pierced our language and our borders , placing us next to Shakespeare's England at the world's literary avant-garde.
Elexito of a work was not only due to its literary quality since the great aristocrats were the that they were the patron of of literary works, causing writers to be forced to live under the protection of the powerful and rich, which in turn, encouraged the fierce competition between them, a very representative example was the enmity between Lope de Vega, secretary of the Duke of Sessa and Quevedo secretary of Osuna.
Representation of Comedies in The Corrals of Comedies
On the other, the appearance of the pens of comedies, where the authors and promoters could be praised or sabotage the works by beating them or booing the actors.Theater performance format that I bring this genre to the population.The less wealthy authors could not even buy books due to the excessive price of paper.In addition, it was difficult to publish since each book needed a fee and that a religious approved its content.
Renaissance Literature
The Renaissance arrived in Spain quite late over other places in Europe, our renaissance appears at the beginning of the 16th century, which caused a rapid absorption of the Renaissance literary models, especially the Italian style.
The Spanish Golden Age in its cultural aspect reaches its peak thanks to new artistic trends : Mannerism and the Baroque.
Juan Luis Vives, Los Hermanos de Valdes or Francisco de Vitoria, were the first writers who began to stand out in the literary field, although with a strong economic status.
New sciences appear, the so-called Experimental centers, together with them, study centers such as the House of Contract or the Library of El Escorial .And as a consequence, other applied sciences such as naval, cartography or mining were developed.
Library of the Royal Monastery of the Escorial
In the mid-16th century, Renaissance literature also began to bear fruit with representatives such as Garcilaso de la Vega , of clear Italian inspiration, and of Fray Luis de Leon.
In novels , the picaresque genre emerged strongly, with «El Lazarillo de Tormes »In 1554, one of the best-known works of the Golden Age, is the beginning of a critique of the dominant values of honor and hypocrisy , rooted in appearances, that you will find your culmination and canonical configuration with the First part of «Guzman de Alfarache» (1599) », picaresque novel written by Mateo Aleman.
Scene from Lazarillo de Tormes
In mystical literature , the best representatives of all time in terms of religious or mystical literature are Santa Teresa de Jesus , of the most important didactic mystical works of which the saint wrote, we can highlight «Way of perfection (1562-1564) »or« The Inner Castle »and San Juan de la Cruz , with works such as« Dark Night »,« Spiritual Song »and« Living Love Flame ».
Literature of the Baroque
The Spanish Baroque knew a glorious time. Francisco de Quevedo, representative of the concept is a strong defender of morals and great writer of poems loving. Luis de Gongora , the greatest exponent of culteranismo with his «Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea» (1613).
Clashes between Gongora and Quevedo
The essays renac in with Baltasar Gracian and his «Criticon», and above all, the Hispanic narrative by the hand of Quevedo with his «Buscon», Mateo Aleman and his «Guzman de Alfarache» or Miguel de Cervantes with the top work of Spanish literature, «The ingenious gentleman Don Quijote de la Mancha».
The Sale of Don Quijote
Finally, also framed within the Spanish Baroque, could not stay behind the theater , and this time is also our greatest exponent, Fenix de los Ingenios, the prolific playwright Lope de Vega, author of great works such as "The Knight of Olmedo" or "Fuenteovejuna." Tirso de Molina, with "The Mocker of Seville" or Calderon de la Barca , another of our great authors, co n «Life is a dream» and «The Mayor of Zalamea» are some of the most representative works of the golden age.
Illustration- Life is Dream- Passage: Rosaura, disguised as a man, arrives in Poland
Already entered the seventeenth century and while Spanish society begins to experience its decline, the product of the progressive ruin to which it The Spanish State has been submitted to maintain all its colonies, which determines the end of the Spanish Golden Age.
The Golden Age Architecture
As the Golden Age encompasses several artistic, political and social periods, in terms of architecture it also goes through different stages, we go from Plateresque, Renaissance, Mannerism, Churrigueresco and Baroque.
Basilica of San Juan de Dios. Granada .Barroco
In Spain, the Renaissance began together with the Gothic forms in the last decades of the fifteenth century.The style began to spread above all, at the hands of local architects, is the reason for a specifically Spanish Renaissance style , that brought together the influence of the architecture of southern Italy , sometimes from ilustr books ados and paintings, with gothic tradition and local idiosyncrasy.
The new style is called plateresque, due to the excessively decorated facades, which remind of the intricate works of silversmiths.Classic orders and motifs of candlesticks (candelieri) are combined with freedom in symmetrical sets.
Facade of the University of Salamanca. Plateresque Style
The Spanish Renaissance summit is represented by the Royal Monastery of El Escorial , performed by Juan Bautista de Toledo and Juan de Herrera , with classic forms surpassed by the extremely sober style.of the flamenco ceilings, the symbolism of the poor decoration and the precise cut of the granite established the basis for a new style, the herreriano.
When Italian baroque influences arrived in Spain, they changed and replaced the popular taste with the sober classicist taste that had been in fashion since the 16th century.The local baroque keeps roots in Herrera and in traditional brick construction, developed in Madrid throughout the 17th century as the "Plaza Mayor" and the old "City Hall of Madrid".
Plaza de La Villa, Antiguo Madrid City Hall
Painting in the Golden Age
Artists travel very little and painters only do it to Italy, for a short period of time.Only Ribera and Velazquez will deepen the Italian school.The Stages or phases into which we can divide the Golden Age Painting, are three that coincide with three different Austrias.
- 1st Stage , First third of S XVII, reign of Felipe III
- 2nd Stage, Second third of S XVII, reign of Felipe IV
- 3rd Stage, Third third of S XVII, reign of Carlos II
The Spanish painting, It was a very special style of painting, creating a school of its own, which has been recently recognized.We can divide into three phases, to the first phase correspond, Pedro and Alonso de Berruguete, Pedro Machuca, Luis de Morales «el Divino», Juan de Juanes and Fernando Yanez de la Almedina.
Laultima Cena. Juan de Juanes
To the second phase Juan Fernandez de Navarrete, «El Mudo», Alonso Sanchez Coello as well as the Greco, main exponent of the Pictorial Mannerism in Castilla.
The Burial of the Count of Orgaz. El Greco Church of Sto.Tomas (Toledo)
Baroque p Diego Velazquez belong, painter of complex intellectual compositions that delves into the mystery of the raw and intense light and the aerial perspective, the tenebristas Francisco de Zurbaran, great painter of friars and still lifes, Francisco Ribalta and Jose de Ribera , formed in Italy where he was called «the Espanoleto», and who was especially good at skin tones.
In Seville the two Herreras (the Elder and the Mozo), Bartolome Esteban Murillo, positive pole in front of the lugubre Juan de Valdes Leal, and in Cordoba, Antonio del Castillo.
The Immaculate. Murillo
The Golden Age Music
This was also the golden age for Spanish music.The court composers not only composed their works but also joined their playwright and poet, a good example is Juan del Encina in the fifteenth and sixteenth century or in the seventeenth century Juan Hidalgo , that mus ico las zarzuelas by Pedro Calderon de la Barca as well as Tomas de Torrejon y Velasco .
Among them are Juan del Encina, very important courtly musician, Luis de Narvaez , great composer who composed outstanding works such as the "song of the emperor" named for being the favorite of the emperor Carlos V and that was later, like so many works of this period, transcribed to the guitar, since in its origin most of these works They were composed for instruments such as vihuela or laud.In addition, other composers such as Diego Pisador, Luys de Milan, etc .
La jacara was a poetic and theatrical genre of the Golden Age esp anol, but also was music and choreography .His verses take us into a world of ruffians and prostitutes who formed nuclei of certain power in the slums of the main cities of the 16th and 17th centuries, with predominance from Seville, Madrid and Valencia.
Clavecin
Among all the works of the Golden Age related to the field of music, the development of the polyphony stands out, which reached new levels never before known in the hands of some of the authors mentioned above, but especially of Tomas Luis de Victoria , whose brilliant music had a fundamental influence in the later centuries and was extended until well into the twentieth century.In addition, it should be noted that the influence of Hispanic musicians spread, for its quality, its power and its depth d, for practically all of Europe, getting to work some of its most prominent figures in different cities and kingdoms of the continent, extending its influence far beyond what the Spanish borders are today.
Canticos-Anunciacion Beata Maria de Tomas Luis de Victoria
Also considered are masterpieces of the Golden Age those that were made at this time around the development of instrumental music.Although outstanding compositions were created in Spain for keyboard, were the string instruments, specifically the vihuela , which reached a granexito during this period, with the appearance of figures as prominent as the famous author of the work '»The Master», Luis de Milan.
Vihuela
Lastly, already during the Baroque era and although religious music continued to be the most outstanding, they deserve mention the attempts that were made to create a stage-type music that could compete with that coming from the Italian environments, although no granexito was obtained in this attempt beyond the development of musical styles already linked before the development of theatrical parties.
Clavichord.
Thus, the attempts to to create operas in Castilian failed and the semi-operas composed in this period are hardly of a testimonial character, but an important impulse was given to the zarzuela , which was gaining importance until reaching its zenith already in the 18th century, After the period we are dealing with, in this environment, in which theater and music were closely related, the great playwright, already mentioned several times in these lines, Pedro Calderon de la Barca , was of great importance.but also other characters like Juan de Hidalgo who put music to some of the compositions of the teacher mentioned above.
Most prominent figures of the Spanish Golden Age
In this epigraph we will briefly review some highlights of the life and work of some outstanding Spanish Golden Age figures .
Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) is known worldwide ( and universally it would also be if there were life on other planets) for being the writer of the famous Don Quijote de la Mancha , considered one of the great masterpieces in the history of literature and possibly the best known and sold, surpassed only by the Bible.
Miguel de Cervantes and Saavedra
Miguel de Cervantes , called «The Manco de Lepanto» for having lost the movement in his hand when in the battle he was sectioned in nerve.In addition to El Quijote, many other novels that have persisted to this day as key pieces of universal literature, such as La Galatea, Rinconete y Cortadillo or their Exemplary Novels.
Francisco de Quevedo
Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas (1580-1645) He was one of the most important writers of the 17th century, probably the most prominent poet of his time, although he also has works in prose of great importance, such as picaresque novel The Life of Buscon, a work that, on the other hand, he did not recognize having written for dodge the inquisition.
Main banner of the conceptism , current based on ellipses, writing without ornaments and the strength of the signifier and the meaning (using words with two or more senses) maintained polemic sour with its maximum rival and exponent of the current on the contrary, Gongora.
Luis de Gongora
Indeed, Gongora (1561-1627) was one of the great "rivals "from Quevedo, largely because of their different ways of understanding writing.While Quevedo was based on the use of common words, search for double meanings, irony, ellipsis...Gongora was the ultimate champion of culteranismo .style was unconcerned with the terms "common" and sought to beautify the language to the maximum using cults and constant rhetorical terms.
Polemic with Quevedo apart, was one of the best poets and playwrights of the time, with works such as Las Soledades or the Fable of Polyphemus and Galatea.
Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez
Velazquez (1599-1660) is another of the key figures of the golden age and considered one of the best painters of all times ndo impressionist painters like Monet were really impressed with their work.
Diego Velazquez -Self-portrait
Some 120 of his works are preserved.In the latter stages of his life and with the favor of the Royal House, I paint some of his most outstanding works, such as La Familia de Felipe IV or the well-known Las Meninas , one of the most famous paintings in the world.
El Greco
Some of his best-known works are Burial of Count Orgaz , Views of Toledo or The Knight's Hand in the Chest.
- The Golden Age of Bartolome Benassar ISBN: 9788416771455
- Seicento Bolones and Century of Spanish Gold by David Garcia Cueto ISBN 978-84-934643-6-8
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