Autos
Religious exhibitions were popular with the public in Spain as early as the 13th century. These typically consisted of simple dialogue, presented at Christmas, Carnival, Good Friday, or Easter during religious festivals.[1] As time progressed, the celebration of the feast day of Corpus Christi became larger and with that came the desire for drama surrounding the feast day and honoring the Eucharist became apparent.[2] The first autos were derived from religious material that already existed, but by the beginning of the 16th century, the first true auto sacramental, meaning the theme of the play was the mystery of the Eucharist, was presented.[2] It was El Auto de San Martin, by Gil Vicente.[1]
autos
During the 16th and 17th centuries these autos continued to appear, being gradually improved and elaborated until brought to their highest state of development by Calderón. He has left about seventy autos, the best known of which are The Divine Orpheus, a work of considerable poetic merit, The Devotion to the Mass, and The Captivity of the Ark.[1] His autos were the most popular and were the only autos performed in Madrid from 1647 to 1681.[3] These autos sacramentales produced a great effect on the people. From time immemorial, allegory of every kind had powerfully appealed to them, and these autos took a strong hold on the popular favor, coming as they did during religious festivals, with their music and their splendor, coupled with the fact that they were given at public expense and with the sanction of the Catholic church.[1]
Some modern authors, in particular those of the Generation of 27 and later, have tried to revitalize and revive the genre, sometimes desecrated it: Rafael Alberti, with El hombre deshabitado and Miguel Hernández, with Quién te ha visto y quién te ve y sombra de lo que eras, wrote autos sacramentales and after them, Gonzalo Torrente Ballester.
One of Calderón's autos that is a popular English translation is Belshazzar's Feast. It relates directly to the Eucharist, sacrilegious behavior, and punishment exacted on Belshazzar for his sinful behavior.[7] 041b061a72