|
COURT COMEDIES AND MASQUES |
THERE
were two groups of plays in the sixteenth century which belonged
neither to the democratic, popular class, nor to the pseudo-classical
species fostered by the academic circles. One of these was the
court comedy, designed especially as a compliment to the queen;
the other was the masque, in which the aristocracy and royalty
itself took part as actors. The court comedy was in a sense a
variation, or a specialization, of the pastoral, brought into
England from Italy chiefly by John
Lyly, the author of Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit, and
Euphues, His England. Lyly produced a series of court
comedies in which allegorical and classical stories were made
to veil complimentary allusions to the queen and her court. There
are eight plays which most scholars accept as authentic, six
of which were first played by the Children of the Chapel Royal.
Four of them are based on classic subjects, with the allegory
so contrived as to constitute one colossal hymn of adulation
to the queen. Elizabeth had already become the "Virgin Queen"
to her subjects, and she had been styled Cynthia by Spenser.
Lyly used the fable of Endymion as the vehicle for one of his
early panegyrics. The sleeping Endymion was Leicester, the queen's
favorite. Out of pity, charity, and queenly goodness she rouses
him from his entranced slumber with a kiss. Never before have
her lips been touched, nor would they ever again be soiled by
such condescension. Throughout the play the queen is gracious,
charming, and always queenly. Other characters in the allegory
could easily be identified by the coterie of spectators, and
not all of the dramatis personae were pictured with as
kind a pen as that which had drawn the lovely Cynthia. The adulation
is unmistakable, though never vulgar. The play has little plot,
but is imbued with high spirits, delicacy of taste, and graceful
poetry. Hazlitt and Keats both praised Endimion extravagantly.
The successful Endimion was followed
by similar plays, and the figure of Lyly seemed for a time to
dominate English drama. All but one of his comedies are in prose.
They show no suspicion of struggle or passion, but they are imbued
with an atmosphere of sunshine and classical purity. It was Lyly
who popularized a peculiar type of gay but innocent dialogue,
used the device of putting his play into a dream setting, made
the disguise of girls as boys an amusing and harmless feature,
and still proved that such spiceless diversions could stand the
test of public performance. All these devices are familiar to
us in the work of Shakespeare,
Fletcher,
and Ben
Jonson. Lyly's importance lies in the fact that he practically
created the English court comedy -- a type which has no exact
parallel in any other language.
THE COURT MASQUE
One of the most spectacular entertainments
of the nobility was the masque, introduced into England from
Italy by Henry VIII as early as 1512. The first requisite for
the masque was a pleasant and entertaining story in verse, preferably
with mythological or allegorical characters. There was of course
some dialogue and declamation, but these matters were relatively
unimportant. Far more significant were the tableaux, music, the
ballet, the elaborate settings, the gorgeous costumes and scenery,
stage appliances, and surprises in mechanical effects. The actors
were members of the aristocracy, sometimes of the royal family.
They wore masks, spent huge sums upon their costumes, and lent
their halls and treasures of art to enrich the scenes. Little
else was required of them, as actors, but to look beautiful and
stately. The success of the masque depended upon the architect,
the scene painter, decorator, and ballet master. In the course
of time considerable importance was given also to singing and
instrumental music.
The cost of these accessories was too great
to permit masque production in the public theaters, even supposing
they had been acceptable to the taste of the populace; and during
the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth, royal ideas of economy
forbade the lavish display which had characterized the masque
in Italy. With the accession of the Stuarts, however, this form
of theatrical display took on a new importance. James I and his
son Charles were willing to spend a good deal of the country's
money upon them. Among the poets engaged to write masque librettos
were Jonson, Beaumont,
Fletcher, and most of the other talented writers of the day.
Ben Jonson was first of all, not only in point of time but in
genius. He became poet laureate, and devoted his amazing learning,
his theatrical sense, and his gift for charming lyrics to the
work of perfecting the masque. With him, as manager and stage
director, worked the artist, Inigo Jones; also a director of
chorus, a dance master, and a composer for instruments. The court
musicians numbered as many as fifty-eight persons, and neither
time nor expense was spared in their training. Not only the court,
but noblemen wishing to compliment royalty, arranged for these
entertainments. The courts of the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn, and
such societies, vied with each other in the lavishness of their
productions. The king and queen, each, provided a masque at Christmas.
There remain more than thirty examples of this sort of play written
during the reign of James I and Charles I. In 1634 there was
given at Whitehall, in the royal banquet room, by the members
of the various Inns of Court, a masque called The Triumph
of Peace, designed by Inigo Jones and written by Shirley,
for which the cost amounted to more than one hundred thousand
dollars. This was but fourteen years before the tragic end of
Charles and the abolition of such extravagant gaieties.
This article was originally
published in A Short History of the Drama. Martha Fletcher
Bellinger. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 1927. pp. 202-4.
RELATED WEBSITES
|
