Composers and their stage works 



The Surgeon of His Honour

(El médico de su honra)

Pedro Calderón de la Barca

Comedia de pundonor wr. 1635


Don Gutierre breaks his engagement with Doña Leonor to marry Doha Mencia, who loves and is loved by Prince Enrique, the King's brother. But Enrique is away on military duty, and in compliance with her father's wishes Doha Mencia marries Don Gutierre.

Upon his return, Enrique pursues her, but she honourably rejects his advances. The Prince persists in his attempts to see her, and Don Gutierre begins to suspect his wife's fidelity. In disguise he slips into her room at night. Thinking that only Enrique would have such audacity, Mencía addresses him as "Your Highness" and convinces her husband that his suspicions are well founded. Don Gutierre vows to become the "surgeon of his own honour" and kills his wife. This he does by having her bled to death by a blood-letter. He is pardoned by the King and is reunited with Leonor.