The Elizabethan masque is a form of entertainment that became popular during the reign of Henry VIII who was also the father of Queen Elizabeth. It was regarded as a part of an upper class entertainment primarily because the performance was lavish and it was spoken in dramatic verse.
To learn more about this, here are some info about Elizabethan masques:
- Most of the members in this entertainment are really part of the Elizabethan court. They are disguised as players.
- Elizabethan masques are commonly accompanied by music and dancing at the beginning and end of play. Professional musicians and actors were hired for the acting or singing part of the play.
- Elizabethan masques were actually developed in Italy. The term came from the tradition of masked players bringing gifts for noble men.
- Elizabethan masque was very popular. Anne of Denmark for instance was said to frequently engage and dance with the ladies in court masques.
- Both Charles I and Henry VII held and danced the masques in their court.
- In Tempest and Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare mentioned a masque-like performance.
- Among all the dramas and plays of the Renaissance era, the masque is perhaps the most unpopular form today.