La fingida arcadia. A lyrical one-act farce by Ramón de la Cruz

Abstract

When, in 1757, Ramón de la Cruz wrote his one-act farce La fingida Arcadia he was not the prolific author he would turn out to be in due course. This is in fact one of the first pieces by this Madrid playwright, conceived, commissioned more likely, to be staged in the midst of Christ­mas. Both facts affected La fingida Arcadia making of it a most singular piece. Since, despite its title, it swerves away from the pastoral or bucolic genres, and it adheres to what may be called lyrical one-act farce of character, made up by several short music pieces where characters of all kind find a space for themselves, helping the author depict the most popular characters of his age.