author
Leandro Fernández de Moratín
1760–1828
A sharp, witty voice of the Spanish Enlightenment, he helped reshape theater with comedies that mixed elegance, humor, and social criticism. He is best remembered for plays that challenged bad marriages, empty literary fashions, and the rules that limited women's freedom.
4 Audiobooks
Modern Poets and Poetry of Spain
by James Kennedy, Juan Bautista Arriaza, Manuel Bretón de los Herreros, José de Espronceda, Leandro Fernández de Moratín, José María Heredia, Tomás de Iriarte, Gaspar de Jovellanos, Francisco Martínez de la Rosa, Juan Meléndez Valdés, Manuel José Quintana, duque de Angel de Saavedra Rivas, José Zorrilla
Comedias escogidas
by Leandro Fernández de Moratín, Molière
La jeso de knabinoj: Triakta proza komedio
by Leandro Fernández de Moratín
El sí de las niñas
by Leandro Fernández de Moratín
About the author
Born in Madrid in 1760, Leandro Fernández de Moratín became the leading Spanish neoclassical playwright of his time. He was the son of the writer Nicolás Fernández de Moratín, and he grew up close to literary circles shaped by Enlightenment ideas. Alongside writing poetry and translating authors such as Molière and Shakespeare, he worked to bring greater realism, discipline, and moral purpose to the Spanish stage.
His best-known play, El sí de las niñas, remains a classic for its lively dialogue and its criticism of marriages arranged without a young woman's true consent. Other plays, including La comedia nueva, show his gift for comedy with a serious edge: he could make audiences laugh while also exposing vanity, ignorance, and outdated customs.
Political turmoil marked the later part of his life. After the Napoleonic era and the fall of Joseph Bonaparte, whom he had supported, Moratín lived much of his final period away from Spain and died in Paris in 1828. Even with a relatively small dramatic output, his influence was lasting, and he is still seen as one of the clearest and most intelligent reformers of Spanish theater.