12 - ASSESSMENTS

Abstract

This chapter highlights the death of Calderon in 1681, which provided a closing point for the study on Spanish theatre. Little of any originality was contributed to the comedia after that date. Francisco de Bances Candamo (1662–1704), a poet of some delicacy and imaginative power, brought these qualities to a handful of plays but leans as heavily on Calderon for his dramatic concepts as on Gongora for his metaphors. His treatise Teatro de los teatros de los pasados y présentes siglos, written between 1689 and 1693, surveys the development of the drama up to that time and is interesting as the only piece of dramatic theory from the age dominated by Calderon. The performance of autos was suppressed by royal decree in 1765. From then on, the dramatists of Spain tagged along behind those of France. Only with Valle-Inclán and Garcia Lorca in the 20th century were authentically Spanish voices heard again. Meanwhile, the comedia had its echoes in other parts of Europe. Long before the time of Zamora, probably even in Tirso's own lifetime, Don Juan had appeared in Italy in Cicognini's Convitato di pietra.