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The appearance in 1715 of the first of five plays by Juan Salvo y Vela titled El mdgico de Salerno, Pedro Vayalarde, marks the rise of the comedia de magia genre; and, his plays as a whole establish those characteristic features by which the genre is defined. In Teatro popular y magia, Julio Caro Baroja points out the importance of Salvo's play in the tremendous popular success of the comedia de magia. He offers evidence of Salvo's influence on succeeding generations of playwrights and theater audiences, tracing Salvo's mark on Spanish theater well into the nineteenth century, with such works as Hartzenbusch's La redoma encantada and Los polvos de la madre Celestina (246), and cites Mesonero Romanos referring to Fernando VII as an ardent Mdgico de Salerno fan (91-2). While Caro emphasizes the popular appeal of the comedia de magia genre, his opinions on the Salvo plays echo Leandro Fernandez de Moratin's famous critical assessment:
Donald C. Buck (Thu,) studied this question.