A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Masque

by William H. Husk

MASQUE. The precursor of the opera; a dramatic entertainment, usually upon an allegorical or mythological subject, and combining poetry, vocal and instrumental music, scenery, dancing, elaborate machinery, and splendid costumes and decorations—which was perforated at Court or at noblemen's houses on festive occasions, the performers being usually persons of rank. Masques were frequently exhibited at the courts of James I. and Charles I., and vast sums were lavished upon their production. The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn, presented in Feb. 1613, on the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth to the Elector Palatine of the Rhine, cost £1086 8s. 11d.^[1] The principal author of those masques was Ben Jonson, whose genius was peculiarly fitted to a style of composition which afforded him ample opportunity of displaying his erudition. Beaumont, Chapman, Samuel Daniel, Campion, Shirley, Heywood, and Carew, also employed their talents upon masques, as did a greater than they, Milton, whose 'Comus' was represented at Ludlow Castle in 1634. Inigo Jones devised the machinery and designed the costumes for the Court masques;^[2] Lanière and others painted the scenery; and Ferrabosco, Campion, H. and W. Lawes, Ives, Lanière, Lock, C. Gibbons and others composed the music. Two of Ben Jonson's masques—'The Masque of Queens,' 1610, and 'The Twelfth Night's Revels,' 1606, were printed from his autograph MSS. in the British Museum by the Shakspere Society at the end of Cunningham's 'Life of Inigo Jones.' After the Restoration what were called masques were occasionally given at Court, but they appear to have been rather masked or fancy dress balls than dramatic entertainments. An exception was Crowne's masque, 'Calisto; or, the Chaste Nymph,' performed at court by the princesses and courtiers Dec. 15 and 22, 1675. In the 18th century masques were not unfrequently to be seen on the public stage. The 'pantomimes' produced by Rich (for most of which Galliard composed the music) were really masques with harlequinade scenes interspersed. More recently masques have been performed on occasion of royal weddings; thus 'Peleus and Thetis,' a masque, formed the second act of the opera 'Windsor Castle,' by William Pearce, music by J. P. Salomon, performed at Covent Garden on the marriage of the Prince of Wales, 1795, and 'Freya's Gift,' masque by John Oxenford, music by G. A. Macfarren, was produced at the same house on the marriage of the present Prince of Wales, 1863. Soon after the death of Sir Walter Scott in 1832, 'The Vision of the Bard,' masque by James Sheridan Knowles was produced at Covent Garden.

[ W. H. H. ]

1. In regarding these figures the difference In the value of money then and now must be home In mind.
2. Many of his sketches for this purpose are in the possession of the Duke of Devonshire.