So much for the bodily part, which was of Master Inigo
Jones's design and art." Indeed, Inigo was not simply the
scene-painter; he also devised the costumes, and contrived the
necessary machinery. In regard to many of these entertainments, he was
responsible for "the invention, ornaments, scenes, and apparitions,
with their descriptions;" for everything, in fact, but the music or
the words to be spoken or sung.
These masques and court pageants gradually brought movable scenery
upon the stage, in place of the tapestries, "arras cloths,"
"traverses," or curtains drawn upon rods, which had previously
furnished the theatre. Still the masques were to be distinguished from
the ordinary entertainments of the public playhouses. The court
performances knew little of regular plot or story; ordinarily avoided
all reference to nature and real life; and were remarkable for the
luxurious fancifulness and costly eccentricity they displayed. They
were provided by the best writers of the time, and in many cases were
rich in poetic merit. Still they were expressly designed to afford
valuable opportunities to the musical composer, to the ballet-dancers,
mummers, posture-makers, and costumiers.
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