Diego Sánchez de Badajoz’s Musical Farsas: The Significance of El juego de las cañas

Abstract Music in Iberian early modern theater presents the complex challenge of recovery and coherent contextualization, especially in PreLopean theater. Diego Sánchez de Bajadoz deserves more attention not merely because some of his works operate as proto-zarzuelas but also because his drama pertains to a declining cycle in the trajectory of Spanish sacred theater. This essay will focus on how Diego Sánchez utilized music to intensify and inspirit sacred scripture to reclaim its luster, particularly in Farsa del juego de las cañas, alternating villancicos, coplas, hymns, singing, and dancing that bridged Iberian primitive and early modern musical thought, dramatic structure, and performance practice.