CALDERN DE LA BARCA, PEDRO

born Jan. 17, 1600, Madrid, Spain died May 25, 1681, Madrid dramatist and poet who succeeded Lope de Vega as the greatest Spanish playwright of the Golden Age. Among his best-known secular dramas are El mdico de su honra (1635; The Surgeon of His Honour), La vida es sueo (1635; Life Is a Dream), El alcalde de Zalamea (c. 1640; The Mayor of Zalamea), and La hija del aire (1653; The Daughter of the Air), sometimes considered his masterpiece. He also wrote operas and plays with religious and mythological themes.