José de Cañizares
Encyclopedia
José de Cañizares y Suárez (4 July 1676 – 4 September 1750) was a Spanish
playwright. Cavalry officer, public official, and author of around one hundred works, he was one of the most important dramatists of the early 18th century.
on 4 July 1676, and baptized ten days later in the church of San Martín, Cañizares had his roots in the countryside south of the capital. His parents were by birth manchegos, from Almagro
, Ciudad Real
, in the region known as La Mancha
. Don José was named after his father. His mother was Doña Jerónima Suárez de Toledo y la Caballería. Both parents belonged to the minor nobility or hidalgo
class, which their son later portrayed with humor in many of his plays.
Sometime in his late teens or early twenties, Cañizares entered the military service. In the War of the Spanish Succession
(1701–1714) he served with a unit of heavily-armored cavalry
, fighting on the side of Felipe V. By 1711, he had attained the rank of Lieutenant Captain, and also, due to his family background, the patronage of the Duke of Osuna, and his own growing fame as author of comedias
in the Golden Age
tradition, enjoyed a place at Felipe's court.
In 1702 Cañizares found himself appointed by the Magistrate of Madrid as fiscal de comedias, a member of the Board of Theatrical Censors, an office which he exercised in the intervals between combat when the king and his armies returned to the capital. This five-member committee included the Magistrate and his appointee (Cañizares), plus the Vicar of Madrid and his two appointees.
Every play proposed for public performance in Madrid
had to be submitted to this committee. Each of the officials in turn must approve the play or it would be banned from the stage. As the years went by, Cañizares submitted many of his own plays for approval. As he gained experience in his craft, the board occasionally called upon him to revise a classic Golden Age
play so that it would comply with the moral and political views of early 18th century Spain.
His signed approbations are to be found on manuscripts dating as early as 1702. Receipts for his annual salary as fiscal are found dating as early as 1708. He supplemented his military and civil service incomes by composing 2-4 major plays per year up through 1734.
Of Cañizares' family life, we know only what the public records, as cited chiefly by Cristóbal Pérez Pastor, reveal. Sometime prior to 1733, Cañizares retired from the military and contracted marriage with Doña Lorenza, daughter of Don Gregorio Alvarez de Losada and Doña Phelipa Osorio de Redín, both residents of Madrid. Doña Lorenza was the widow of Don Andrés González Valdés y Salgado, with whom she had had a son, Pedro. On 16 November 1733, she gave birth to Cañizares' son and heir, named José after his father and grandfather. She also bore him a daughter, Jerónima, presumably named after Cañizares' mother. Pérez Pastor notes the daughter's birth as after 1734. The family residence was located in the Calle de las Veneras, opposite the Plazuela de Santo Domingo.
The year 1747 marked a change in Cañizares' life. Now in his seventies, he took a position in the counting house
of the Duke of Osuna. On 25 November, he and his wife made a will, giving her custody of the children in the event of his death. He received his salary as fiscal for the last time on 10 September 1750. The balance for the remaining six months was collected by his widow.
Don José de Cañizares died on 4 September 1750 at his Madrid residence, and was buried in the Dominican monastery of El Rosario. His works lived on, continuing to be performed in Madrid and the provinces through the remainder of the 18th century and on into the first few years of the 19th, with occasional revivals up to the present day.
, credited with writing 80-100 comedias
and zarzuela
s, plus numerous minor works such as loas
, entremeses
, mojigangas
, bailes
, and fines de fiesta
, the little pieces that rounded out a theatrical evening. Many of his plays enjoyed immense popularity in his lifetime and formed an integral part of the repertoire of the Madrid
companies for over 60 years after his death.
He is said to have written his earliest play in 1696 at the age of 13: Las cuentas del Gran Capitán, a reworking of a play by Lope de Vega
. When finally produced in his adult years, Cañizares' version enjoyed such success that it eventually replaced Lope's play in the 18th century theatrical repertoire.
The earliest of Cañizares' plays to be performed were zarzuelas on classical, mythological, and chivalresque
themes presented in the royal theater of the Buen Retiro
. This type of play, produced in collaboration with well-known composers of the period (Antonio de Líteres, José Nebra, Jaime Facco, Francisco Coradini), incorporated many features (da capo arias, duets, dance sequences) of the Italian opera
so loved by Felipe V and both his Italian-born queens. Spoken scenes and passages alternated with those that were sung. What made the zarzuela uniquely Spanish was the retention of many elements of the Calderonian
comedia, including the three-act format and typical characters such as the rustic nobleman (figurón) and comical servant (gracioso).
We have first performance dates for the following zarzuelas: Accis y Galatea (1708—repeated at the royal court of Lisbon
in 1711), Las Amazonas de España (1720), Amor es todo invención: Jupiter y Anfitrión (Love is a Fiction—1721), Angélica y Medoro
(1722), and La hazaña mayor de Alcides (The Greatest Deed of Alcides—1723). After this period, Cañizares began writing for the great public theaters of Madrid, the Teatro del Príncipe and the Teatro de la Cruz.
Cañizares wrote nearly every conceivable type of comedia. Among his most popular capa y espada (cloak and sword) plays written in the tradition of Calderón
are Castigar Favoreciendo (To Punish by Favoring), Dios los cría y ellos se juntan (Birds of a Feather Flock Together), Yo me entiendo y Dios me entiende (I Know What I Mean and God Knows What I Mean).
Some of his most popular historical plays, which focus on a military hero who saves the day for his or her country, are Carlos V sobre Túnez (Charles V
at Tunis), El guapo Julián Romero (The Daring Julian Romero), La heroica Antona García (The Heroic Antona Garcia).
Some examples of his picaresque comedias are El picarillo en España y Señor de la Gran Canaria (The Little Rogue in Spain, and Lord of Grand Canary), and El falso nuncio de Portugal (The False Papal Agent of Portugal).
Religious plays (comedias de santos) include, among others, La más amada de Cristo, Santa Gertrudis la Magna (The Most Beloved of Christ, St. Gertrude the Great—Parts I and II), Lo que vale ser devoto de San Antonio de Padua (The Value of Devotion to St. Anthony of Padua), A cuál mejor, confesada y confesor (Which Is Greater, Confessed or Confessor?--St. Teresa of Avila
and St. John of the Cross
). La viva imagen de Cristo: El Santo Niño de la Villa de la Guardia (The Living Image of Christ: The Holy Child of Villa de la Guardia) is based on the legend of the Holy Child of La Guardia
.
The two genres at which Cañizares excelled, the comedia de figurón (rural nobleman at court) and the comedia de magia (magic), both enjoyed a long life in the "little theaters" of Madrid. One or another of the most popular seldom failed to be presented at Christmas, Easter, and other seasons of joy.
Among his figurón plays are El Dómine Lucas, La más ilustre fregona (The Most Illustrious Kitchenmaid) and El honor da entendimiento (Honor Gives Understanding). The zarzuela De los hechizos de amor la música es el mayor (The Greatest Enchantment of Love is Music) incorporates a figurón who competes with the hero for the hand of his lady.
The public had a special fondness for Cañizares' comedias de magia, a genre full of special effects and sudden plot twists. Among these are El asombro de Francia, Marta la Romarantina (The Wonder of France, Marta la Romarantina—Parts I and II), Don Juan de Espina en Milán, Don Juan de Espina en Madrid, and El anillo de Giges y mágico rey de Lidia (The Ring of Giges and Magician-King of Lydia—Parts I, II and III).
Also extant are a few of Cañizares' non-dramatic works, most notably a collection of lyrics for villancicos
de Navidad (Christmas carols) commissioned by the Royal Chapel of Madrid, and two examples of Gongorine
-style funereal prose in honor of the Dauphin of France, father of Felipe V.
The total number of Cañizares' plays that continued to be staples of the major theaters of Madrid comes to 24. Of these, 20 had at least one performance after 1800. The operatic theater Caños del Peral presented a few of his plays along with a series of Golden Age works in the early 19th century. The last 19th century data available show a performance of the all-time favorite figurón play Dómine Lucas in the Teatro de la Cruz in 1840. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, some of his zarzuelas have been successfully revived on the Madrid stage.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
playwright. Cavalry officer, public official, and author of around one hundred works, he was one of the most important dramatists of the early 18th century.
Life
The life of José de Cañizares spans the transition between Spain's 17th and 18th centuries. Born in MadridMadrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
on 4 July 1676, and baptized ten days later in the church of San Martín, Cañizares had his roots in the countryside south of the capital. His parents were by birth manchegos, from Almagro
Almagro
Almagro may refer to:*Diego de Almagro , Spanish explorer*Diego Almagro II , assassin of Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro*Nicolás Almagro , Spanish tennis player*Almagro, Buenos Aires...
, Ciudad Real
Ciudad Real
Ciudad Real is a city in Castile-La Mancha, Spain, with a population of c. 74,000. It is the capital of the province of Ciudad Real. It has a stop on the AVE high-speed rail line and has begun to grow as a long-distance commuter suburb of Madrid, located 115 miles to the north. A high capacity...
, in the region known as La Mancha
La Mancha
La Mancha is a natural and historical region or greater comarca located on an arid, fertile, elevated plateau of central Spain, south of Madrid, stretching between the Montes de Toledo and the western spurs of the Serrania de Cuenca. It is bounded on the south by the Sierra Morena and on the north...
. Don José was named after his father. His mother was Doña Jerónima Suárez de Toledo y la Caballería. Both parents belonged to the minor nobility or hidalgo
Hidalgo (Spanish nobility)
A hidalgo or fidalgo is a member of the Spanish and Portuguese nobility. In popular usage it has come to mean the non-titled nobility. Hidalgos were exempt from paying taxes, but did not necessarily own real property...
class, which their son later portrayed with humor in many of his plays.
Sometime in his late teens or early twenties, Cañizares entered the military service. In the War of the Spanish Succession
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
(1701–1714) he served with a unit of heavily-armored cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
, fighting on the side of Felipe V. By 1711, he had attained the rank of Lieutenant Captain, and also, due to his family background, the patronage of the Duke of Osuna, and his own growing fame as author of comedias
Comedia (Spanish play)
In the Spanish Golden Age tradition, a comedia is a three-act play combining dramatic and comic elements. The principal characters are noblemen and ladies who work out a plot involving love, jealousy, honor and sometimes also piety or patriotism...
in the Golden Age
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology and legend and refers to the first in a sequence of four or five Ages of Man, in which the Golden Age is first, followed in sequence, by the Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages, and then the present, a period of decline...
tradition, enjoyed a place at Felipe's court.
In 1702 Cañizares found himself appointed by the Magistrate of Madrid as fiscal de comedias, a member of the Board of Theatrical Censors, an office which he exercised in the intervals between combat when the king and his armies returned to the capital. This five-member committee included the Magistrate and his appointee (Cañizares), plus the Vicar of Madrid and his two appointees.
Every play proposed for public performance in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
had to be submitted to this committee. Each of the officials in turn must approve the play or it would be banned from the stage. As the years went by, Cañizares submitted many of his own plays for approval. As he gained experience in his craft, the board occasionally called upon him to revise a classic Golden Age
Spanish Golden Age
The Spanish Golden Age is a period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the political rise and decline of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty. El Siglo de Oro does not imply precise dates and is usually considered to have lasted longer than an actual century...
play so that it would comply with the moral and political views of early 18th century Spain.
His signed approbations are to be found on manuscripts dating as early as 1702. Receipts for his annual salary as fiscal are found dating as early as 1708. He supplemented his military and civil service incomes by composing 2-4 major plays per year up through 1734.
Of Cañizares' family life, we know only what the public records, as cited chiefly by Cristóbal Pérez Pastor, reveal. Sometime prior to 1733, Cañizares retired from the military and contracted marriage with Doña Lorenza, daughter of Don Gregorio Alvarez de Losada and Doña Phelipa Osorio de Redín, both residents of Madrid. Doña Lorenza was the widow of Don Andrés González Valdés y Salgado, with whom she had had a son, Pedro. On 16 November 1733, she gave birth to Cañizares' son and heir, named José after his father and grandfather. She also bore him a daughter, Jerónima, presumably named after Cañizares' mother. Pérez Pastor notes the daughter's birth as after 1734. The family residence was located in the Calle de las Veneras, opposite the Plazuela de Santo Domingo.
The year 1747 marked a change in Cañizares' life. Now in his seventies, he took a position in the counting house
Counting house
A counting house, or compting house, literally is the building, room, office or suite in which a business firm carries on operations, particularly accounting. By a synecdoche, it has come to mean the accounting operations of a firm, however housed...
of the Duke of Osuna. On 25 November, he and his wife made a will, giving her custody of the children in the event of his death. He received his salary as fiscal for the last time on 10 September 1750. The balance for the remaining six months was collected by his widow.
Don José de Cañizares died on 4 September 1750 at his Madrid residence, and was buried in the Dominican monastery of El Rosario. His works lived on, continuing to be performed in Madrid and the provinces through the remainder of the 18th century and on into the first few years of the 19th, with occasional revivals up to the present day.
Works
José de Cañizares was the most prolific dramatist of early 18th century SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, credited with writing 80-100 comedias
Comedia (Spanish play)
In the Spanish Golden Age tradition, a comedia is a three-act play combining dramatic and comic elements. The principal characters are noblemen and ladies who work out a plot involving love, jealousy, honor and sometimes also piety or patriotism...
and zarzuela
Zarzuela
Zarzuela is a Spanish lyric-dramatic genre that alternates between spoken and sung scenes, the latter incorporating operatic and popular song, as well as dance...
s, plus numerous minor works such as loas
Loa (Spanish play)
A loa is a short theatrical piece used to introduce a comedia in the Spanish Golden Age tradition for the purpose of setting the mood and capturing the interest of the audience...
, entremeses
Entremés
Entremés, is a short, comic theatrical performance of one act, usually played during the interlude of a performance of a long dramatic work, in the 16th and 17th centuries in Spain. Later it became the sainete....
, mojigangas
Mojiganga
Mojiganga is a Spanish entertainment form of theatrical performance that mixes the entremés, dance and music. It comes from the "boxiganga" of the 17th Century, from the Spanish popular culture and from the medieval theater. Chroniclers, like Father Bartolomé de las Casas, referred to the mojiganga...
, bailes
Baile (Spanish play)
A baile or baile entremesado is a short theatrical piece in the Spanish Golden Age tradition. It consists of an elaborate production number with singing and dancing, and is used between the acts of a comedia. Bailes were humorous performances featuring elaborate choreography and acrobatics...
, and fines de fiesta
Fin de fiesta
A fin de fiesta is a short theatrical piece in the Spanish Golden Age tradition performed after the comedia in order to send the audience home in a festive mood. This was first performed in 1798....
, the little pieces that rounded out a theatrical evening. Many of his plays enjoyed immense popularity in his lifetime and formed an integral part of the repertoire of the Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
companies for over 60 years after his death.
He is said to have written his earliest play in 1696 at the age of 13: Las cuentas del Gran Capitán, a reworking of a play by Lope de Vega
Lope de Vega
Félix Arturo Lope de Vega y Carpio was a Spanish playwright and poet. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Century Baroque literature...
. When finally produced in his adult years, Cañizares' version enjoyed such success that it eventually replaced Lope's play in the 18th century theatrical repertoire.
The earliest of Cañizares' plays to be performed were zarzuelas on classical, mythological, and chivalresque
Chivalry
Chivalry is a term related to the medieval institution of knighthood which has an aristocratic military origin of individual training and service to others. Chivalry was also the term used to refer to a group of mounted men-at-arms as well as to martial valour...
themes presented in the royal theater of the Buen Retiro
Parque del Buen Retiro
The Buen Retiro Park is the largest park of the city of Madrid, Spain...
. This type of play, produced in collaboration with well-known composers of the period (Antonio de Líteres, José Nebra, Jaime Facco, Francisco Coradini), incorporated many features (da capo arias, duets, dance sequences) of the Italian opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
so loved by Felipe V and both his Italian-born queens. Spoken scenes and passages alternated with those that were sung. What made the zarzuela uniquely Spanish was the retention of many elements of the Calderonian
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño usually referred as Pedro Calderón de la Barca , was a dramatist, poet and writer of the Spanish Golden Age. During certain periods of his life he was also a soldier and a Roman Catholic priest...
comedia, including the three-act format and typical characters such as the rustic nobleman (figurón) and comical servant (gracioso).
We have first performance dates for the following zarzuelas: Accis y Galatea (1708—repeated at the royal court of Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
in 1711), Las Amazonas de España (1720), Amor es todo invención: Jupiter y Anfitrión (Love is a Fiction—1721), Angélica y Medoro
Angelica and Medoro
Angelica and Medoro was a popular theme for Romantic painters, composers and writers from the sixteenth until the nineteenth century. Angelica and Medoro are two characters from the siwteenth-century Italian epic Orlando Furioso by Ludovico Ariosto...
(1722), and La hazaña mayor de Alcides (The Greatest Deed of Alcides—1723). After this period, Cañizares began writing for the great public theaters of Madrid, the Teatro del Príncipe and the Teatro de la Cruz.
Cañizares wrote nearly every conceivable type of comedia. Among his most popular capa y espada (cloak and sword) plays written in the tradition of Calderón
Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Barreda González de Henao Ruiz de Blasco y Riaño usually referred as Pedro Calderón de la Barca , was a dramatist, poet and writer of the Spanish Golden Age. During certain periods of his life he was also a soldier and a Roman Catholic priest...
are Castigar Favoreciendo (To Punish by Favoring), Dios los cría y ellos se juntan (Birds of a Feather Flock Together), Yo me entiendo y Dios me entiende (I Know What I Mean and God Knows What I Mean).
Some of his most popular historical plays, which focus on a military hero who saves the day for his or her country, are Carlos V sobre Túnez (Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
at Tunis), El guapo Julián Romero (The Daring Julian Romero), La heroica Antona García (The Heroic Antona Garcia).
Some examples of his picaresque comedias are El picarillo en España y Señor de la Gran Canaria (The Little Rogue in Spain, and Lord of Grand Canary), and El falso nuncio de Portugal (The False Papal Agent of Portugal).
Religious plays (comedias de santos) include, among others, La más amada de Cristo, Santa Gertrudis la Magna (The Most Beloved of Christ, St. Gertrude the Great—Parts I and II), Lo que vale ser devoto de San Antonio de Padua (The Value of Devotion to St. Anthony of Padua), A cuál mejor, confesada y confesor (Which Is Greater, Confessed or Confessor?--St. Teresa of Avila
Teresa of Ávila
Saint Teresa of Ávila, also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, baptized as Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada, was a prominent Spanish mystic, Roman Catholic saint, Carmelite nun, and writer of the Counter Reformation, and theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer...
and St. John of the Cross
John of the Cross
John of the Cross , born Juan de Yepes Álvarez, was a major figure of the Counter-Reformation, a Spanish mystic, Catholic saint, Carmelite friar and priest, born at Fontiveros, Old Castile....
). La viva imagen de Cristo: El Santo Niño de la Villa de la Guardia (The Living Image of Christ: The Holy Child of Villa de la Guardia) is based on the legend of the Holy Child of La Guardia
Holy Child of La Guardia
The Holy Child of La Guardia was the purported victim of a ritual murder by the Jews in the town of La Guardia in the central Spanish province of Toledo . On November 16, 1491 an auto-da-fé held outside of Ávila concluded the case with the public execution of several Jewish and converso suspects...
.
The two genres at which Cañizares excelled, the comedia de figurón (rural nobleman at court) and the comedia de magia (magic), both enjoyed a long life in the "little theaters" of Madrid. One or another of the most popular seldom failed to be presented at Christmas, Easter, and other seasons of joy.
Among his figurón plays are El Dómine Lucas, La más ilustre fregona (The Most Illustrious Kitchenmaid) and El honor da entendimiento (Honor Gives Understanding). The zarzuela De los hechizos de amor la música es el mayor (The Greatest Enchantment of Love is Music) incorporates a figurón who competes with the hero for the hand of his lady.
The public had a special fondness for Cañizares' comedias de magia, a genre full of special effects and sudden plot twists. Among these are El asombro de Francia, Marta la Romarantina (The Wonder of France, Marta la Romarantina—Parts I and II), Don Juan de Espina en Milán, Don Juan de Espina en Madrid, and El anillo de Giges y mágico rey de Lidia (The Ring of Giges and Magician-King of Lydia—Parts I, II and III).
Also extant are a few of Cañizares' non-dramatic works, most notably a collection of lyrics for villancicos
Villancico
The villancico was a common poetic and musical form of the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America popular from the late 15th to 18th centuries. With the decline in popularity of the villancicos in the 20th century, the term became reduced to mean merely "Christmas carol"...
de Navidad (Christmas carols) commissioned by the Royal Chapel of Madrid, and two examples of Gongorine
Luis de Góngora
Luis de Góngora y Argote was a Spanish Baroque lyric poet. Góngora and his lifelong rival, Francisco de Quevedo, are widely considered to be the most prominent Spanish poets of their age. His style is characterized by what was called culteranismo, also known as Gongorism...
-style funereal prose in honor of the Dauphin of France, father of Felipe V.
The total number of Cañizares' plays that continued to be staples of the major theaters of Madrid comes to 24. Of these, 20 had at least one performance after 1800. The operatic theater Caños del Peral presented a few of his plays along with a series of Golden Age works in the early 19th century. The last 19th century data available show a performance of the all-time favorite figurón play Dómine Lucas in the Teatro de la Cruz in 1840. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries, some of his zarzuelas have been successfully revived on the Madrid stage.