This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Pedro Calderón de la Barca y Henao was a dramatist of the Spanish Golden Age.
Calderón initiated what has been called the second cycle of Spanish Golden Age theatre. Whereas his predecessor, Lope de Vega, pioneered the dramatic forms and genres of Spanish Golden Age theatre, Calderón polished and perfected them. Whereas Lope's strength lay in the sponteneity and naturalness of his work, Calderón's strength lay in his capacity for poetic beauty, dramatic structure and philosophical depth. Calderón was a perfectionist who often revisited and reworked his plays, even long after they debuted. This perfectionism was not just limited to his own work: many of his plays rework existing plays or scenes by other dramatists, improving their depth, complexity, and unity. (Many European playwrights of the time, such as Molière, Corneille and Shakespeare, reworked old plays in this way.) Calderón excelled above all others in the genre of the "auto sacramental", in which he showed a seemingly inexhaustible capacity to giving new dramatic forms to a given set of theological constructs. Calderón wrote 120 "comedias", 80 "autos sacramentales" and 20 short comedic works called "entremeses"
ESPAÑOL: Esta obra, escrita por Calderón 17 años después de La vida es sueño, presenta muchos puntos de contacto con ella. La hija del aire es la reina Semíramis de Asiria, semi-legendaria figura del segundo Imperio Asirio, supuesta esposa del legendario rey Nino, epónimo de la ciudad de Nínive. La obra contiene algunos anacronismos, como asignar a Semíramis la fundación de Babilonia, ciudad que existía más de un milenio antes que ella, aunque Calderón no podía saberlo, pues se descubrió en el siglo XIX. Pero es una obra interesante, llena de aventuras y peripecias, en la que, al contrario que en La vida es sueño, el destino se sale finalmente con la suya.
ENGLISH: This work, written by Calderón 17 years after La vida es sueño, presents many points of contact with his previous work. Its main character is Queen Semiramis of Assyria, semi-legendary figure of the Second Assyrian Empire, supposed wife of the legendary King Nino, eponym of the city of Nineveh. The work contains a few anachronisms, such as assigning Semiramis the foundation of Babylon, a city that existed more than a millennium before her, but Calderon couldn't know about this, as this was discovered in the nineteenth century.. But it is an interesting work, full of adventure. Unlike La vida es sueño, her fate is finally fulfilled.