a short allegorical stage entertainment, popular in the 16th and 17th centuries but still used, that features masked actors. Example: "Motel," a masque for three dolls from America Hurrah, by Jean-Claude Van Itallie, 3m or 3f.
A species of drama in which music and spectacle play an important role and in which the characters tend to be or become aspects of human personality rather than independent characters.
The English predecessor to opera. ( Lesson 8, Page 1) HEAR IT
A 16th and 17th century English stage entertainment combining poetry, music, singing, dancing, and acting, often setting mythological subjects in elaborate scenery. As an art form uniting music and drama, the masque was an important precursor of short-lived English opera. The masque survived into the 18th century: important works were Congreve’s The Masque of Paris, and Handel’s Semele. The Masque form has occasionally been revived in modern times, for example in Britten’s Gloriana and Harrison Birtwistle’s The Mask of Orpheus.
an allegorical court show of the Renaissance and early Baroque, which almost invariably included music and songs as an essential part of the spectacle.
An aristocratic 16th/17th century English theatre form integrating poetry, dance, music and elaborate sets.
A minor dramatic form combining dance, music, a short allegorical text, and elegant scenery and costuming; often presented at court, as in the royal masques written by Ben Jonson (1572-1637), with scenery designed by Inigo Jones (1573-1652), during the Stuart era (early seventeenth century).
a party of guests wearing costumes and masks
a celebration of royal power and glory and, in staging one, Prospero becomes a type of king, a royal mage whose ideals become reality in a courtly entertainment
a particular kind of theatrical performance, traditionally performed before royalty or other distinguished persons, in which the characters of the drama usually wear masks and represent abstract qualities
a performance based on a mythological or allegorical theme
a solemn dance performed by actors dressed as gods or mythical figures
English genre of aristocratic entertainment that combined vocal and instrumental music with poetry and dance, developed during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
A lavish and elaborate form of entertainment, often performed in royal courts, that emphasizes song, dance, and costumery. The Renaissance form of the masque grew out of the spectacles of masked figures common in medieval England and Europe. The masque reached its peak of popularity and development in seventeenth-century England, during the reigns of James I and, especially, of Charles I. Ben Jonson, the most significant masque writer, also created the "antimasque," which incorporates elements of humor and the grotesque into the traditional masque and achieved greater drama tic quality. Masque-like interludes appear in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene and in William Shakespeare's The Tempest. One of the best-known English masques is John Milton's Comus.
A blending of music, poetry, song, and dance.
a staged performance in which music, poetry, song and dance are blended.
(mask). An English renaissance court entertainment. A spectacle that blended drama, music, and dance.
