Background
Encina was born on July 12, 1468 in Encina de San Silvestre, Spain, one of at least 7 known children of Juan de Fermoselle, a shoemaker, and his wife.
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(Excerpt from Teatro Completo de Juan del Encina El viaje...)
Excerpt from Teatro Completo de Juan del Encina El viaje entretenido, compuesto por 'agustín de Rojas, natural de la villa de Madrid: 1603, pág. 120 - 21. (2) Ticknor, History of Spanish Literature: Boston, 1864; tomo I, pág. 248.meros pasos de las representaciones dramáticas. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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composer playwright writer author poet
Encina was born on July 12, 1468 in Encina de San Silvestre, Spain, one of at least 7 known children of Juan de Fermoselle, a shoemaker, and his wife.
In all likelihood Encina studied at the University of Salamanca under Antonio de Nebrija, the foremost Spanish humanist of his time.
Encina entered the service of the Duke of Alba, in whose palace of Alba de Tormes he discharged the multiple functions of playwright, poet, composer, and musician for 7 years. He published his Cancionero (a collection of plays and villancicos, or polyphonic songs) in Salamanca in 1496; other works were added to this collection in later editions. Encina went to Rome in 1498, where he entered the papal chapel and eventually became singer to Leo X. During this time Encina continued to write plays. While in Rome he obtained several ecclesiastical benefices in Spain, and in 1510 and 1513 he was in Málaga as archdeacon and canon. He had obtained, however, papal dispensation to collect his benefices without discharging his duties. In 1519, aged 50, Encina took holy orders and went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which he described in his poem La Trivagia. He celebrated his first Mass in Jerusalem. Encina returned to Spain as prior of León, where he resided from 1523 until his death. As a poet, Encina was most successful in brief, lyrical pieces, which he set to music himself; his romances were also more lyrical than narrative. His great popularity as a composer is attested to by the fact that 61 of his villancicos were collected in the Cancionero musical de Palacio (ca. 1500). As a playwright, Encina brought to their final development the theatrical forms derived from medieval liturgical drama. He inaugurated Renaissance drama in Spain. His early dramas (such as Egloga de las grandes lluvias) were Nativity plays, with rustic shepherds as protagonists. His later plays (such as Egloga de Plácida y Vitoriano) were Italianate in spirit, much longer, and complicated in form. His shepherds were now of classical inspiration. The joy of life he sang about in his later plays was almost neopagan in its exuberance. Encina held the priorship of Leon Cathedral from November 1523 until his final illness in December 1529. Juan del Encina's will was presented on January 14, 1530, so the exact date of his death is not known, but it is thought to be in late 1529 or early 1530.
(Excerpt from Teatro Completo de Juan del Encina El viaje...)
