“There is nothing more powerful to attract him than listening music.” Five songs to attract Narciso in Eco y Narciso (1661), royal feast of Calderón de la Barca
Abstract
As the creator of a new musical-theatrical genre, Calderón was well aware of the evocative power of music. Consequently, from his earliest works, he incorporated pre-existing tunes into his plays, which were well known to audiences, in addition to composing new ones. This article analyses the playwright’s use of music in a complex scene from Eco y Narciso (1661), whose plot revolves around the power of music over human emotions. To this end, it examines how the scene is structured, as well as the process adopted to give it great coherence, seamlessly integrating five pre-existing tunes of different origins and forms into the play.
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