Overview

The Early Stuart Masque: Dance, Costume, and Music studies the complex impact of movements, costumes, words, scenes, music, and special effects in English illusionistic theatre of the Renaissance. Drawing on a massive amount of documentary evidence relating to English productions as well as spectacle in France, Italy, Germany, and the Ottoman Empire, the book elucidates professional ballet, theatre management, and dramatic performance at the early Stuart court. Individual studies take a fresh look at works by Ben Jonson, Samuel Daniel, Thomas Carew, John Milton, William Davenant, and others, showing how court poets collaborated with tailors, designers, technicians, choreographers, and aristocratic as well as professional performers to create a dazzling event. Based on extensive archival research on the households of Queen Anne and Queen Henrietta Maria, special chapters highlight the artistic and financial control of Stuart queens over their masques and pastorals. Many plates and figures from German, Austrian, French, and English archives illustrate accessibly-written introductions to costume conventions, early dance styles, male and female performers, the dramatic symbolism of colours, and stage design in performance. With splendid costumes and choreographies, masques once appealed to the five senses. A tribute to their colourful brilliance, this book seeks to recover a lost dimension of performance culture in early modern England.

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9780199286591

Table of Contents

Reviews

Ravelhofer breaks new ground in exploring how masques actually worked...This is a valuable study full of new information culled from a range of sources. R. Malcolm Smuts Kritikon Litterarum ...a work of exceptional range and substance, which takes the study of the masque to an altogether new level...a book rich with fascinating material...the most important study of the masque to appear for a long time. John Peacock Theatre Notebook This attractively written book fills in so many of the gaps in our knowledge of the Stuart masque that it will be indispensable to scholars of the genre. The Seventeenth Century Well beyond previous work in the subtlety and rigor of its analysis. Kritikon fresh and enlightening... This study will be a necessary point of reference for anyone interested in the richness of the multimedia experience which was the Stuart Court Masque. Archiv fur das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen A worthy tribute ... a dazzling array of familiar and unfamiliar material. The Yearbook of English Studies Ravelhofer's research is both thorough and original ... she interlaces technical descriptions of dance moves with sensational, well-documented adventures ... well worth a reader's attention. H-Net Reviews a book of rare importance. Renaissance Quarterly Scrupulously researched...Ravelhofer offers a treasure trove of information that will remain an influential resource for years to come. Shakespeare Quarterly This is a well-researched and erudite contribution to the field of masque studies Anglia 2009 pioneering work ... an excellent study which promises to become standard literature on the court masque Shakespeare Jahrbuch ...an impressive and handsome book that makes a fine contribution to masque scholarship...[Ravelhofer] has done a fantastic job. The Review of English Studies, Vol. 57, No. 232 ...Barbara Ravelhofer has made a substantial, often brilliant, thought-provoking contribution to our knowledge of early Stuart masques in performance. C.E. McGee, Theatre Survey Ravelhofer's book enormously extends our knowledge of these fields, bringing new sources to bear, and valuably reading English sources within an international perspective. NTQ, Volume 23/3

`Ravelhofer is particularly interesting on costume.' Plays International

Ravelhofer breaks new ground in exploring how masques actually worked...This is a valuable study full of new information culled from a range of sources. R. Malcolm Smuts Kritikon Litterarum ...a work of exceptional range and substance, which takes the study of the masque to an altogether new level...a book rich with fascinating material...the most important study of the masque to appear for a long time. John Peacock Theatre Notebook This attractively written book fills in so many of the gaps in our knowledge of the Stuart masque that it will be indispensable to scholars of the genre. The Seventeenth Century Well beyond previous work in the subtlety and rigor of its analysis. Kritikon fresh and enlightening... This study will be a necessary point of reference for anyone interested in the richness of the multimedia experience which was the Stuart Court Masque. Archiv fur das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen A worthy tribute ... a dazzling array of familiar and unfamiliar material. The Yearbook of English Studies Ravelhofer's research is both thorough and original ... she interlaces technical descriptions of dance moves with sensational, well-documented adventures ... well worth a reader's attention. H-Net Reviews a book of rare importance. Renaissance Quarterly Scrupulously researched...Ravelhofer offers a treasure trove of information that will remain an influential resource for years to come. Shakespeare Quarterly pioneering work ... an excellent study which promises to become standard literature on the court masque Shakespeare Jahrbuch ...an impressive and handsome book that makes a fine contribution to masque scholarship...[Ravelhofer] has done a fantastic job. The Review of English Studies, Vol. 57, No. 232 ...Barbara Ravelhofer has made a substantial, often brilliant, thought-provoking contribution to our knowledge of early Stuart masques in performance. C.E. McGee, Theatre Survey Ravelhofer's book enormously extends our knowledge of these fields, bringing new sources to bear, and valuably reading English sources within an international perspective. NTQ, Volume 23/3

Author Information

Barbara Ravelhofer is a lecturer in English Literature at the University of Durham and a Research Associate of the Centre for History and Economics, King's College, Cambridge. She pursued her research at the Universities of Munich, Princeton, Bologna, and Cambridge, where she was a Junior Research Fellow in Renaissance Studies.

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