the.com/masque
theatrical excess where Renaissance nobles played gods, then danced with the audience.
means A masque is a lavish form of courtly entertainment, popular in Renaissance Europe, blending poetry, music, dance, and elaborate costumed spectacle, often with masked performers and audience participation.
from An older spelling of "mask," arriving in English in the 16th century from French masque, itself borrowed from Italian maschera. Trace it further back and the trail grows murky: it may run through Arabic maskhara, meaning a buffoon or object of ridicule, or possibly through Medieval Latin masca, a word for a witch or specter. The face-covering and the theatrical entertainment share the same root, the disguise giving its name to the show.
- royal budget
- single performances cost thousands of pounds in 1600s money
- poe's nod
- The Masque of the Red Death borrows the term directly
- disguise root
- shares ancestry with mask and Italian maschera
- jonson and jones
- Ben Jonson scripted them, Inigo Jones built the spectacle
- audience dance
- ended with performers pulling spectators into the revels
venetian carnival mask — worn during venice's annual carnevale since the 12th century, particularly the volto and bauta designs
court masque stuart era — elaborate theatrical performances with masked dancers at english royal courts, 1603-1640, featuring ben jonson and inigo jones