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Encyclopedia entry: Masque
- Article from:
- The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre
- Author:
Copyright© The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre 1996, originally published by Oxford University Press 1996. (Hide copyright information)
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Masque
(originally Mask, the French spelling being first used by Ben
Jonson
), spectacular entertainment which combined music and poetry with scenery and elaborate costumes. It derived originally from a primitive folk ritual featuring the arrival of guests, usually in disguise, bearing gifts to a king or nobleman, who with his household then joined the visitors in a ceremonial dance. The presentation of the gifts soon became an excuse for flattering speeches, while the wearing of outlandish or beautiful costumes and
masks
, or visors, led to miming and dancing as a prelude to the final dance. The early, relatively simple, form of the masque was known as a
disguising
, and is part of the folk ...