Biography
Pedro Calderón de la Barca was born on 17 January 1600 in Madrid and died there on 25 May 1681. He attended the Jesuit Colegio Imperial and went on to study law at Alcalá and Salamanca before committing himself fully to the theatre. After Lope de Vega's death in 1635, he became the leading playwright at the court of Philip IV, writing around 120 secular comedias alongside some 80 autos sacramentales for the feast of Corpus Christi. In 1651 he was ordained a priest, though he continued to write for the stage. Plays such as Life Is a Dream, The Mayor of Zalamea and The Phantom Lady established him as the defining figure of the Spanish Golden Age, with a lasting influence on German Romanticism.
On Stagelog
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