154 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO STUDIES 



IV. SPANISH DRAMA 



If, on the whole, Italy has furnished but little drama to the Eng- 

 lish and American stage, Spain cannot be said to have done any better. 

 The history of the two countries is practically the same in this respect. 

 In Spain, as in Italy, historical events and personalities have not 

 been lacking. The Spanish cities and the rural and mountain regions 

 are rich in color. They teem with interest and charm. Neverthe- 

 less, in Spain the drama, as well as the music, has remained, like the 

 bull-fights, something peculiarly national. And yet, in Shakespeare's 

 time and thereafter, Spain had two dramatists, Lope de Vega (1562- 

 1635) and Calderon (1600-83), wno rank among the world's great 

 dramatists. Lope de Vega is said to have written two thousand 

 original dramas, consisting of spiritual plays, historical comedies and 

 dramas of intrigue. The number seems incredible. Calderon, too, 

 was a prolific playwright with five hundred plays to his credit. There 

 was evidently no lack of interest in the drama in Spain. But if we 

 look for traces of this enormous activity of bygone days, we find 

 nothing in our own modern repertory. Lope de Vega and Calderon 

 are now read only by the students and lovers of the poetic drama and 

 in advanced college classes. To the English and Americans at large, 

 they are as remote as Goldoni and Alfieri, Corneille and Racine. 



To find examples of Spanish drama on the English stage it is neces- 

 sary to come at once down to the present day. Spain, like Italy, has 

 a few modern dramatists who challenge the attention of the outside 

 world. The name of Jose Echegaray (183 2-) is now known to Ameri- 

 can play-goers through his El Gran Galeoto. This play was written 

 in 1 88 1 and in 1889 an English version of it was presented in London 

 under the appropriate title of Calumny. It could not have met with 

 great success, however, or it would not have fallen promptly into 

 oblivion. For our acquaintance with the play, we are indebted to 

 the English version of C. F. Nirdlinger presented in 1908 by Mr. 

 William Faversham and Miss Julie Opp, under the title of The World 

 and His Wife. The previous title of Calumny, however, gives a better 

 idea of the subject-matter of the play, which deals with the evil of 

 calumny in a unique and unusual way. Teodora, the trusted, loved 



