**ENCINA, JUAN DEL** – Spanish playwright, b. 1469 in Salamanca, d. probably 1529 in León. A student at Salamanca, he then entered the service of the Duke of Alba in 1489 and became a singer in the Papal Chapel in Rome. After receiving minor orders, he obtained a benefice in Málaga, where he was in 1510, but by 1512 he was back in Rome. Determined to be ordained a priest, in 1519 he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He lived in León from 1523 to 1529.
Poet and musician. He is credited with the first dramatic eclogues (15) in Castilian literature, preceded only by the *representaciones* of Gómez Manrique. These works progress from the simple style of the Passion and Resurrection eclogues to those inspired by the Nativity, which are livelier but still lacking in plot and situation. A second style emerges, intensely inspired by the atmosphere of the Italian Renaissance. Thus, in the *Eclogue of Plácida and Victoriano*, first performed in Rome in 1513 at the home of Cardinal d’Arborea, Encinas’ art turns to decidedly pagan and mythological forms, influenced by Italian humanist works and Castilian pieces such as *La Cárcel de Amor* and *La Celestina*. Burlesque and coarse, with a distinctly student-like and medieval flavor, is the *Tristagina*, a poem narrating the poet’s journey to the Holy Land, though in a cold and colorless tone. Encinas’ *Canzoniere*, first published in Salamanca in 1496, was later reprinted by the Spanish Academy (1928).
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**«EN CLARA VOX REDARGUIT»** – Advent hymn of unknown authorship; found in manuscripts from the 10th century.
At the dawn of the day that is breaking, a clear voice warns to banish phantoms, for Christ is drawing near. This new light shall have the power to dispel all darkness, and when, at the end of the world, He appears a second time, it shall envelop us for all eternity.