MASQUES PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Patricia Briggs | 306 pages | 25 Jul 2011 | Penguin Putnam Inc | 9780441019427 | English | New York, United States History of the Masque Genre Henry VIII often took part in the revels, and masque designs self-consciously factored in the role of the king as spectator, again blurring lines of reality and illusion. While the monarchs supported the masque, the role they played as spectators or participants varied. Throughout the sixteenth century, as Stephen Orgel notes, "the court continued to see all the traditional kinds of masques, from pageants to elaborately costumed dances" In these various productions, however, "as in the conventional masque, the unifying factor is the occasion, the central figure the monarch" Orgel Regardless of the monarch's role and the varying elements that augmented the masque, it remained primarily a form of entertainment that culminates in the revels and celebrates the monarchy. The latter part of the sixteenth-century and the early seventeenth-century saw the development of several distinct elements of the masque, such as the dances that were involved. The dances in which the masqued performers took place became increasingly complex. They could involve the formation of geometrical shapes and intricate patterns. Demaray suggests that the later highly choreographed dances of the late Tudor and early Stuart period had some root in Italian balletto, a "figured dance, performed by masked revelers in Italy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries" Such an influence is a likely one, with the increasing amount of communication and travel between England and the Continent. The masque also evolved as a literary form. The masque had developed in some ways as such by the time of Elizabeth's reign, filled with classical references, Petrarchan sonnets, and other recognizable literary conventions Orgel Ben Jonson is generally credited with further advancing the masque as a literary form. Jonson took the poetry of the masque seriously, attempting to create a "work whose text was no longer dependent on its production" While many masques had tended to move in one of two directions, either "wholly literary and dramatic or wholly choreographic and theatrical," Jonson aimed to unify the poetic and spectacular elements into a cohesive whole Jonson also developed the anti-masque, an addition which enabled him to achieve this cohesive whole. The anti-masque introduces comic or grotesque characters and plot material to act as foils to the main masque or to allow the main masque to provide a resolution Cunningham ; Orgel Such a literary convention, the introduction of the evil or grotesque in the anti- masque, served to further enhance the primary purpose of the masque to glorify the court and, in particular, the monarch. Jonson was the preferred court masquer from to , reflecting James I's and Anne's literary tastes and political awareness. Jonson's attempt to unify the various elements of the masque into a stronger literary and dramatic form that suggested the glory of the monarch occurred at a time when the monarchy sought ways to strengthen its authority. Jonson's work manifested in varying degrees the wishes of the court that commissioned his masques; the Stuart monarchs "used the masque to foster an exalted conception of the divine right of kings" Creaser While James I did not perform in the masques, Anne did, and she also began to utilize the masque for more political purposes and "diplomatic occasions" in addition to the traditional celebrations of marriages Barroll Milton's A Maske is used in just such a way, to celebrate an official state occasion. While Jonson was developing the masque as a literary form, his collaborator Inigo Jones was developing the spectacular effects of the masque. A figure well-known for his elaborate set designs for plays and masques, Jones and Jonson worked together on several different masques. Eventually their increasing insistence on their respective elements of the masque as the genre's central focus led to their infamous dispute over whether the masque rightly revolved around the poetry of the text or whether the text merely provided some occasion for the spectacle of the scenery, choreography, and costuming Norbrook , Chambers Perhaps this difference in focus explains why Jonson was not as much of a favorite of Charles I as he was of James I; Barbara Lewalski notes that the Carolinian court seemed to prefer more elaborate masques than the Jacobean court While the monarchs had supported the masque form as a measure to further establish the authority of the monarch, it was not viewed as such in some corners. James I's favoritism and its connection to masquing seemed corrupt to certain members of the nobility; for some, "the court masque had come to be a symbol of the dissolution, rather than the defence, of the traditional hierarchical order" Norbrook With the downfall of the monarchy during the British Civil War, masques fell out of favor for a period of time. A form that was meant primarily to celebrate the monarch and the monarchy was no longer desired Demaray 3. However, the 's saw the revival of the genre, as several masques were performed for official or "court" occasions, as the new government under Oliver Cromwell sought to establish its own authority Norbrook While masques continued to be revived and performed, on the whole the British Civil War marks the end of the masque's evolution as a genre. At the height of its development, the genre included the following main parts: a poetic induction or prologue antimasque s main masque revels epilogue Randall costuming. Although a script for a masque might be only eleven pages, the actual performance could last for hours. Milton's A Maske is well-known for the ways in which it adapts masque conventions. While the typical masque revolves around the glorification of the court, in various ways A Maske seems to subvert such a message. Conventional masques complimented in verse the monarch or member of the nobility they were meant to honor; A Maske, however, does not contain much of this flattery Barber , Leishman Various scholars have noted the fact that while in the typical masque, the honoree is usually represented as the hero, resolving the situation and saving the society from evil, in A Maske the final resolution comes only with the aid of Sabrina, a supernatural force. Other critics have noticed the Lady's unusual emphasis on the benefit of a more equal property distribution toward the end of the masque; the typical masque reflects the hierarchized world of the court Norbrook , Creaser In these ways it would seem the work offers a critique of the court or the ruling body. Milton's A Maske also plays on typical masque conventions in ways that might suggest a commentary on religion. Scholars have noted the masque's dependence on music rather than on visual elements; David Norbrook suggests that this might reflect "Milton's suspicion of idolatry" The masque also consistently merges Christian or biblical references with the conventional masque references to pagan or classical figures. Whereas in the typical masque, the court appears as a safe haven from evil simply by virtue of being, Barbara Lewalski notes that in A Maske , the children must make a pilgrimage to get to that world; thus, "evil is conceived of in Protestant, not Platonic terms" Comus's character, usually a figure for an anti-masque, appears as a protagonist throughout the masque, and contains hints of Paradise Lost's Satan as much as being a pagan deity connected to Bacchus and misrule. Thus, Milton's flouting of generic conventions affects the significance of the religious themes of the work. Bibliography Barroll, Leeds. David Bevington and Peter Holbrook. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, Bevington, David, and Peter Holbrook, eds. The Politics of the Stuart Court Masque. Brown, Cedric. John Milton's Aristocratic Entertainments. Harington was not so much concerned with the masque itself as with the notoriously heavy drinking at the Court of King James I; "the entertainment went forward, and most of the presenters went backward, or fell down, wine did so occupy their upper chambers". As far as we can ascertain the details of the masque, the Queen of Sheba was to bring gifts to the King, representing Solomon, and was to be followed by the spirits of Faith, Hope, Charity, Victory and Peace. Unfortunately, as Harington reported, the actress playing the Queen tripped over the steps of the throne, sending her gifts flying; Hope and Faith were too drunk to speak a word, while Peace, annoyed at finding her way to the throne blocked, made good use of her symbolic olive branches to slap anyone who was in her way. In the 18th-century, masques were even less frequently staged. Performed to celebrate the third birthday of Frederick's daughter Augusta , it remains among the best-known British patriotic songs up to the present, while the masque of which it was originally part is only remembered by specialist historians. The most outstanding humanists , poets and artists of the day, in the full intensity of their creative powers, devoted themselves to producing masques; and until the Puritans closed the English theatres in , the masque was the highest artform in England. But because of its ephemeral nature, not a lot of documentation related to masques remains, and much of what is said about the production and enjoyment of masques is still part speculation. While the masque was no longer as popular as it was at its height in the 17th Century, there are many later examples of the masque. During the late 17th century, English semi-operas by composers such as Henry Purcell had masque scenes inset between the acts of the play proper.