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COPYRIGHT 2000 www.wmich.edu/compdr
Peter Walls. Music in the English Courtly Masque, 1604-1640. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996. Pp. xix + 372 + 8p. of plates. $70.00.
The masques prepared for the English court during the first decades of the seventeenth century were spectacular combinations of elevated allegorical poetry and descriptive prose performed with elaborate instrumental music, virtuosic songs and dances, fantastic sets, special effects, and rich costumes. Although such lavish productions were usually seen only on a single night, their significance to the Stuart kings, queens, and courtiers who were both participants and audience, and their importance to the artists of all types who worked on them was far from ephemeral. Because of their many varied elements, court masques have been considered by scholars from a variety of disciplines: literature; political, theatrical, and social history; art history, dance and music. While Walls's work is not the first book to address the music used in court masques, it is a welcome addition to existing studies and will doubtless become the standard reference on musical matters. Although the...
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