''The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru'' was an innovative 1658 theatrical presentation, a hybrid entertainment or

masque The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masq ...

or "operatic show", written and produced by Sir

William Davenant Sir William Davenant (baptised 3 March 1606 – 7 April 1668), also spelled D'Avenant, was an English poet and playwright. Along with Thomas Killigrew, Davenant was one of the rare figures in English Renaissance theatre whose career spanned b ...

. The music was composed by

Matthew Locke Matthew Locke may refer to: * Matthew Locke (administrator) (fl. 1660–1683), English Secretary at War from 1666 to 1683 * Matthew Locke (composer) (c. 1621–1677), English Baroque composer and music theorist * Matthew Locke (soldier) (1974–2 ...

. The work was significant in the evolution of English opera and musical theatre, and also of English drama; Davenant brought into the public theatre the techniques of scenery and painted backdrops that had previously been employed only in the courtly masque. It was by presenting his work in a musical rather than a dramatic context that Davenant was able to circumvent the

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...

Commonwealth's prohibition on plays. Indeed, Lord Protector

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...

encouraged the production of this work and Davenant's ensuing '' The History of Sir Francis Drake'' (1659) as anti-Spanish propaganda. (The English had been at war with Spain since 1655.)

The show

''The Cruelty'' was presented at the

Cockpit Theatre The Cockpit was a theatre in London, operating from 1616 to around 1665. It was the first theatre to be located near Drury Lane. After damage in 1617, it was named The Phoenix. History The original building was an actual cockpit; that is, a st ...

in the summer of 1658; it was on the stage by July. The work consists of six scenes or tableaux, called "Entries," each of which starts with a speech by the Chief Priest of Peru and proceeds to a song. The Chief Priest was dressed in a "Garment of Feathers" and a "bonnet" with an "ornament of Plumes." He carried "the Figure of the Sun on his Bonnet and Breast" because "the Peruvians were worshippers of the Sun." The first Entry shows the Peruvians in their state of innocence; the second displays the arrival of the Spaniards. The third is devoted to the quarrel and civil war between "the two Royall Brethren, sons of the last Inca." The fourth displays the Spanish conquest of the Incas, and the fifth, their oppression and torture. The sixth celebrates the arrival of English soldiers, their defeat of the Spanish and rescue of the Peruvians (which, Davenant acknowledged, was something that had not yet occurred in reality). Davenant loaded his show with extras and diversions. Between the Entries, the audience was amused with acrobats who performed "the Trick of Activity, called the ''Sea-horse''," as well as the "''Porpoise''" and the "''double Somerset''," plus two trained apes walking a tightrope.

The music

The vocal music for ''The Cruelty'' has not survived, and the identity of the composers is not known with certainty. Locke was involved in both ''

The Siege of Rhodes ''The Siege of Rhodes'' is an opera written to a text by the impresario William Davenant. The score is by five composers, the vocal music by Henry Lawes, Matthew Locke, and Captain Henry Cooke, and the instrumental music by Charles Coleman and G ...

'' and ''Francis Drake,'' the Davenant works that preceded and succeeded ''The Cruelty'', and is therefore a logical candidate for ''The Cruelty'' also. In addition to Locke, the other composers involved in ''The Siege of Rhodes'' —

Henry Lawes Henry Lawes (1596 – 1662) was the leading English songwriter of the mid-17th century. He was elder brother of fellow composer William Lawes. Life Henry Lawes (baptised 5 January 1596 – 21 October 1662),Ian Spink, "Lawes, Henry," ''Grove Musi ...

, George Hudson, Charles Coleman, and Captain Henry Cooke — are natural possibilities for composers for ''The Cruelty''.

Publication

The work was entered into the Stationers' Register on 30 November 1658, and was published soon after in a

quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

issued by the bookseller

Henry Herringman Henry Herringman (1628–1704) was a prominent London bookseller and publisher in the second half of the 17th century. He is especially noted for his publications in English Renaissance drama and English Restoration drama; he was the first publis ...

, under the fulsome title ''The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru. Exprest by Instrumentall and Vocall Musick, and by the Art of Perspective in Scenes, &c. represented daily at the Cockpit in Drury-Lane, At Three after noone punctually.'' The printed text was unusual in that it was intended for release while the stage production was continuing. At the end of the text was printed this advertisement: "Notwithstanding the great expense necessary to scenes, and to other ornaments in this entertainment, there is a good provision made of places for a shilling. And it shall begin certainly at three afternoon." This was a polar reversal of earlier practice in

English Renaissance theatre English Renaissance theatre, also known as Renaissance English theatre and Elizabethan theatre, refers to the theatre of England between 1558 and 1642. This is the style of the plays of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson ...

, in which the actors tried to keep their plays out of print. Davenant and Herringman appear to have attempted a synergistic approach that foreshadowed modern marketing, with the stage production and the printed text complementing and promoting each other. (Though it is unknown if Davenant's stage show was still playing at the Cockpit as late as November.) Davenant later used the text of his entertainment as Act IV of his ''

The Playhouse to Be Let ''The Playhouse to be Let'' is a Restoration stage play, a dramatic anthology of short pieces by Sir William Davenant that was acted in August 1663 at the theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields, and first published in the 1673 collected edition of Daven ...

'' (1663).

Sources

As a source for his text, Davenant depended upon ''The Tears of the Indians'', John Phillips' 1656 translation of the '' Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias'' by

Bartolomé de las Casas Bartolomé de las Casas, OP ( ; ; 11 November 1484 – 18 July 1566) was a 16th-century Spanish landowner, friar, priest, and bishop, famed as a historian and social reformer. He arrived in Hispaniola as a layman then became a Dominican friar ...

(1551). Davenant also used the ''Comentarios Reales'' of

Garcilaso de la Vega (El Inca) Inca Garcilaso de la Vega (12 April 1539 – 23 April 1616), born Gómez Suárez de Figueroa and known as El Inca, was a chronicler and writer born in the Viceroyalty of Peru. Sailing to Spain at 21, he was educated informally there, where he l ...

(1609), which was translated into French in 1633. In turn,

John Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...

employed ''The Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru'' as a source for his 1665 play ''

The Indian Emperour ''The Indian Emperour, or the Conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards, being the Sequel of The Indian Queen'' is an English Restoration era stage play, a heroic drama written by John Dryden that was first performed in the Spring of 1665. The play ha ...

''.Dougald MacMillan, "The Sources of Dryden's ''The Indian Emperour''," ''Huntington Library Quarterly'', Vol. 13 No. 4 (August 1950), pp. 355–70.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruelty of the Spaniards in Peru, The English-language operas 1658 operas Masques by William Davenant Operas by Matthew Locke 1658 plays Operas Anti-Spanish sentiment