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The Masque of Queens, Celebrated From the House of Fame is one of the earlier works in the series of masques that Ben Jonson composed for the House of Stuart in the early 17th century. Performed at Whitehall Palace on 2 February 1609, it marks a notable development in the masque form, in that Jonson defines and elaborates the anti-masque for the first time in its pages. [1]
In his preceding masques, Jonson had been experimenting with elements of sharper opposition and variety: The Masque of Blackness (1605) and The Masque of Beauty (1608), both written for and featuring Queen Anne, form a contrasting and complementary pairing; Hymenaei (1606) contained two contrasting sets of masquers; and The Hue and Cry After Cupid (1608) featured twelve boy torchbearers "in antic attire." In the case of The Masque of Queens, Jonson writes that Queen Anne "had commanded me to think on some dance or show that might precede hers and have the place of a foil or false masque...." Jonson responded with a dance for a dozen female figures "in the habit of hags or witches...the opposites to good Fame...," to supply "a spectacle of strangeness...." [2]
The masque was probably the first to use a revolving stage, known as machina versatilis, which was lit by coloured lights said to have glittered like emeralds and rubies. Anne requested jewellery, including two collars set with precious stones and pearls from the Jewel House "for the Quene to weare at the Maske". [3] Inigo Jones made drawings for the costumes, Atalanta, played by the Countess of Arundel, was dressed in crimson, yellow, and blue. [4]
A mistress witch and her eleven disciples all dance, then each witch testifies her crimes and outrages to her mistress, before they fall once again into "a magical dance, full of preposterous change and gesticulation." Their antics are interrupted and dispelled by the intrusion of the masque proper: the House of Fame is displayed, with twelve virtuous Queens, their apotheosis being "Bel-Anna." The roles of the other Queens were filled by eleven ladies of the court: [6]
In this and the masques that followed at Court, the characters in the masque proper were generally "personated" by members of the Court; but the undignified anti-masque roles were filled by professional actors from the organized companies.
Jonson's use of witches in the anti-masque is an interesting commentary on the witch craze of the era. More generally, the invention of the anti-masque shaped the art form of the masque for the remainder of its life. Some modern critics, approaching the masque from a more skeptical if not jaundiced perspective than that of its creators and participants, see the anti-masque as a subversion of the surface intent of the performance. ("But this antimasque quite eclipses its masque. The queens are mere wax-works after the witches" — the verdict of The Cambridge History of English and American Literature.) In the end, the disorderly and disruptive forces of the anti-masque are always driven off by a re-established order (which is always "the established order"); but that order is presented in a hyper-idealized style that contrasts sharply with the flawed and limited humans who are enacting the parts (and the courtiers and other dependants in the audience know those flaws and limits all too well). In this interpretation, the anti-masque undermines the intention of the performance, giving it an effect opposite to the one intended. In the anti-masque, the Stuarts are, perhaps, unwittingly subverting their authority.
The Masque of Queens was published soon after its performance, by the command of Crown Prince Henry, with a dedication to the Crown Prince. The work was entered into the Stationers' Register on February 22, 1609, and the edition that followed was printed by Nicholas Okes for the booksellers Richard Bonian and Henry Walley. After its initial quarto printing in 1609, The Masque of Queens was one of the fourteen masques included by Jonson in the 1616 folio collection of his Works.
The work also exists in a manuscript in Jonson's hand, now Royal MS. 18 in the collection of the British Library. [8]
Benjamin Jonson was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence on English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satirical plays Every Man in His Humour (1598), Volpone, or The Fox, The Alchemist (1610) and Bartholomew Fair (1614) and for his lyric and epigrammatic poetry. He is regarded as "the second most important English dramatist, after William Shakespeare, during the reign of James I."
Lady Anne Clifford, Countess of Dorset, Pembroke and Montgomery, suo jure 14th Baroness de Clifford was an English peeress. In 1605 she inherited her father's ancient barony by writ and became suo jure 14th Baroness de Clifford. She was a patron of literature and as evidenced by her diary and many letters was a literary personage in her own right. She held the hereditary office of High Sheriff of Westmorland which role she exercised from 1653 to 1676.
The Masque of Blackness was an early Jacobean era masque, first performed at the Stuart Court in the Banqueting Hall of Whitehall Palace on Twelfth Night, 6 January 1605. It was written by Ben Jonson at the request of Anne of Denmark, the queen consort of King James I, who wished the masquers to be disguised as Africans. Anne was one of the performers in the masque along with her court ladies, all of whom appeared in blackface makeup. In a ceremony earlier on the day, Prince Charles, Anne's second son was given the title of Duke of York.
Alethea Howard, 14th Baroness Talbot, 17th Baroness Strange of Blackmere, 13th Baroness Furnivall, Countess of Arundel, née Lady Alethea Talbot, was a famous patron and art collector, and one of England's first published female scientists. She was the wife of Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel with whom she built one of the most important art collections in 17th-century England. She was the youngest daughter of Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury and his wife Mary Cavendish; and the sister of two other countesses: Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke and Elizabeth Grey, Countess of Kent.
Hymenaei, or The Masque of Hymen, was a masque written by Ben Jonson for the marriage of Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, and Lady Frances Howard, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk, and performed on their wedding day, 5 January 1606. The costumes, sets, and scenic effects were designed by Inigo Jones, and the music composed by Alfonso Ferrabosco.
Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford was a major aristocratic patron of the arts and literature in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras, the primary non-royal performer in contemporary court masques, a letter-writer, and a poet. She was an adventurer (shareholder) in the Somers Isles Company, investing in Bermuda, where Harrington Sound is named after her.
The Masque of Beauty was a courtly masque written by Ben Jonson, and performed in London's Whitehall Palace on 10 January 1608. It inaugurated the refurbished banquesting hall of the palace. It was a sequel to the preceding Masque of Blackness, which had been performed three years earlier, on 6 January 1605. In The Masque of Beauty, the "daughters of Niger" of the earlier piece were shown cleansed of the black pigment they had worn on the prior occasion.
Ben Jonson collected his plays and other writings into a book he titled The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. In 1616 it was printed in London in the form of a folio. Second and third editions of his works were published posthumously in 1640 and 1692.
Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly was a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones, with music by Alfonso Ferrabosco. It was performed on 3 February 1611 at Whitehall Palace, and published in 1616.
The Hue and Cry After Cupid, or A Hue and Cry After Cupid, also Lord Haddington's Masque or The Masque at Lord Haddington's Marriage, or even The Masque With the Nuptial Songs at the Lord Viscount Haddington's Marriage at Court, was a masque performed on Shrove Tuesday night, 9 February 1608, in the Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace. The work was written by Ben Jonson, with costumes, sets, and stage effects designed by Inigo Jones, and with music by Alfonso Ferrabosco – the team of creators responsible for previous and subsequent masques for the Stuart Court.
The Golden Age Restored was a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones; it was performed on 1 January and 6 January 1616, almost certainly at Whitehall Palace.
Mercury Vindicated from the Alchemists at Court is a Jacobean-era masque, written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones. It was performed at Whitehall Palace on Twelfth Night, 6 January 1615. King James I liked it so much that he ordered a repeat performance the following Sunday, 8 January.
The Coronation Triumph is a Jacobean era literary work, usually classed as an "entertainment", written by Ben Jonson for the coronation of King James I and performed on 15 March 1604. The event was postponed due to plague in London.
The Entertainment at Althorp, or The Althorp Entertainment, performed on 25 June 1603 is an early Jacobean era literary work, written by Ben Jonson. It is also known as A Particular Entertainment of the Queen and Prince, or The Satyr. The work marked a major development in Jonson's career, as the first of many entertainments and masques that he would write for the Stuart Court.
The Speeches at Prince Henry's Barriers, sometimes called The Lady of the Lake, is a masque or entertainment written by Ben Jonson in honour of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, the son and heir of King James I of England. The speeches were performed on 6 January 1610 in conjunction with the ceremony known as Prince Henry's Barriers.
Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue is a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones. It was first performed on Twelfth Night, 6 January 1618, in the Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace. The work's failure on its initial performance, and its subsequent revision, marked a significant development in Jonson's evolving masque technique.
Time Vindicated to Himself and to his Honours was a late Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and with costumes, sets, and stage effects designed by Inigo Jones. James's son and heir Prince Charles led the dances of the principal masquers, as he had in several previous masques at the Stuart Court.
The Vision of Delight was a Jacobean era masque written by Ben Jonson. It was most likely performed on Twelfth Night, 6 January 1617 in the Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace, and repeated on 19 January that year.
Pan's Anniversary, or The Shepherd's Holiday was a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones. The date of the masque's performance at the English Court has long been in dispute: while the earliest text assigns it to 1625, mid-twentieth-century scholars placed it on 19 June 1620, the king's birthday, at the royal palace at Greenwich. More recently, Martin Butler has argued for a date of 6 January 1621.
The Entertainment of the Two Kings of Great Britain and Denmark or The Hours was written by Ben Jonson and performed at Theobalds House on 24 July 1606. John Harington of Kelston described another masque of Solomon and Sheba, performed one day at Theobalds after dinner. There is some doubt over Harington's account. In May 1607 another masque An Entertainment of the King James and Queen Anne at Theobalds was performed when the keys of the house were given to Anne of Denmark.