Theater, Music and Wine in Historynovelists, writers, poets and musicians.
The theater was born in Athens, Greece, between the 5th and 6th centuries BC With the celebration of the rites to Dionysus, God of wine and vegetation.
These rituals evolved into the theater where Dionysus and various characters are represented. This ceremony was so important that each of the most important Greek cities and colonies had a theater.
Tragedy, satirical drama, comedy and mime were the theatrical themes that were interpreted, the first two were considered the most civilized, the last two were more associated with the pagan and primitive.
The Tragedy was a dramatic and moving representation that caused grief, usually with disastrous outcomes, in this genre the Greek writers ESQUILUS, SOPHOCLES and EURIPIDES were the most representative.
"Going back to the origins of the theater, the dithyrambs were hymns that were sung in honor of the god of wine, and that had a refrain that was sung by a choir and answered by the ex-archon or chorus, thus establishing a dialogue between the choir and the first actor, who will eventually lead to the theater. " José Manuel Seda.
“Dionysus or Bacchus, was the patron god of agriculture and theater. He was also known as the "Liberator", liberating man from his "normal self" through madness, ecstasy or wine ".
The festivities dedicated to Bacchus were celebrated in spring and September on the occasion of the grape harvest and during these there were music, processions, and comedies and tragedies were represented, which were previously chosen by high officials, and then judged by a jury that awarded the poet winner a crown of gold and laurels ”.
The drama of Dionysian mythology "The birth of Dionysus or Bacchus is very interesting"
The theatrical representation of the life of Dionisio, was represented with a Drama.
"Bacchus son of Zeus and of the nymph Semele (daughter of Cadmus and Harmony). They had a great love and made great manifestations of their feelings, which made Hera, one of Zeus's wives, tremendously jealous.
Zeus showed himself in fullness and glory in the presence of Semele with his manifestations of love, who had promised to grant him whatever he asked, which asked him to show himself surrounded by his atmosphere of lightning and thunder.
Semele died burned, who was pregnant with Zeus, he locked his son in his own thigh until he was born, to save him.
Dionysus came into the world, born from his father's thigh. Zeus entrusted him to Hermes, who later left him in the hands of Atamas, king of Orchómenos, and his second wife, Ino, to be raised and dressed as if he were a girl, to deceive Hera and thus get rid of his anger.
But the goddess discovered them and in revenge drove Ino and Atamas crazy.
At this Zeus took Dionysus out of Greece, to the country called Nisa and entrusted him to the nymphs. To prevent his wife Hera from recognizing him, he transformed him into a kid.
The Nymphs who raised him later became, as a reward for their efforts, the seven stars of the constellation Hyades (pleiades) ”.
The Theater arrives in Rome
For the Romans, representations were ludi; entertainment and fun, as well as the circus and the amphitheater (ludi circenses versus ludi scaenici) where wine was present.
Linked to the time of otium in which the theater appears related to some divinity -so that the religious and the festive end up mixing indiscriminately in Rome-, but they go from a religious character to a more dramatic one, taking more and more a profane and purely playful nature. In a society that likes to celebrate with pomp all kinds of collective demonstrations, —the rituals of the “triumph” of the victorious generals, or the funerals of the great characters—, they make their appearance in the theater, although it was not the main character of the theater in Rome, as it was in Greece.
In the La Mancha area several years later, in the Golden Age in Spain, where there are dozens of plays that had wine as their background, as in the case of Don Quixote. Cervantes drank those rich broths for inspiration
"A fine drinker, first water and then wine" .
The wine faithful and indissoluble companion of that time in inns and silos where writers of the stature of Lope de Vega, Quevedo, Tirso de Molina, Guillén de Castro, or Calderón de la Barca met to drink wine and stimulate their senses.
“[…] This removes sadness from the heart, more than gold and coral; This gives effort to the young man and the old strength; it puts color to the colorless, courage to the coward, to lazy diligence; comforts the brains; it takes the cold out of the stomach […] "
Wine was a synonym for “life”, and this was demonstrated by each author, in each scene, conversation and act, whether they were praise, autos-da-fe, hors d'oeuvres or skits.
Currently wine foundations propose theatrical and artistic activities in which wine intervenes, such as:
- https://lamanchawines.com
- https://culturadelvino.org/fcv/agenda-cultural/teatro/
- https://www.catadelvino.com/blog-cata-vino/el-vino-a-escena-en-la-obra-de-teatro-to-wine-or-not-to-wine
- Currently the Liquid Company is presenting its work Oh Wine! https://www.juntadeandalucia.es/cultura/teatros/teatro-canovas/evento/oh-vino
- https://teatrodelossentidos.com/la-memoria-del-vino/
In which you can masterfully enjoy different events related to theater and wine.
