Lope de Vega and the conquest of Spanish theater in the Netherlands

Frans R.E Blom,Olga Van Marion

doi:10.5565/rev/anuariolopedevega.194

Abstract

This contribution focuses on Lope's conquest of Amsterdam's grand theater in the 40s and 50s of the seventeenth century. Focusing on creative industries, we analyze the producer's side for Lope's invasion in the Netherlands, and the channels that were developed in order to faciltate the new Spanish productions for the Amsterdam theater. Focusing on the consumer's side, we measure, both qualitatively and quantitatively, the successes (and some failures) of Lope's plays. In our new data base ONSTAGE, that gathers information about plays, performances and companies' revenues, we show convincing evidence that Lope was the most popular playwright in those years in Amsterdam, even more popular than our local playwrights. The article is completed with an inventory of all of Lope's plays adapted for the Amsterdam stage. We hope these new findings may contribute to a more complete picture of Lope's European career.

Highlights

Eighty years of war against Spain eventually brought freedom and autonomy for the United Provinces of the Netherlands in 1648
Instead of military campaigns, time was ripe for cultural confrontation: in two decades Spanish theater invaded the Dutch realm and gloriously conquered the people’s taste in the Netherlands
Most favorable to the success of the Spanish breakthrough was the institu tion of the Amsterdam City Theater

Summary

Introduction

Eighty years of war against Spain eventually brought freedom and autonomy for the United Provinces of the Netherlands in 1648. Offered a chance for cultural transfer, when the Amsterdam diplomat Theo dore Rodenburgh, who as a poet and playwright was a pivotal figure in the city’s cultural life, travelled the Iberian Peninsula for business purposes in 1616 On his return, Rodenburgh was the first Dutch playwright to produce adaptations of Lope de Vega plays for the Chambers of Rhetoric in Amsterdam.. By 1645, as serious peace negotiations preluded the final conclusion of the war, the transfer window was reopened This time, with the new Grand Theater up and running, demands were high to enhance its ‘native’ repertoire by translating and producing the attractive Spanish plays on an industri al scale. Performances of Spanish productions in the Amsterdam Schowburg performances per year

80 Non-Spanish plays

Enter Lope de Vega

The French connection

The Sephardic corridor

Findings

Lope’s dominance over the Amsterdam stage