Third Interlude
Jonson, Jankyn, James and Jacinthus
THE Masque in England was an artistic phenomenon which flourished briefly in the early seventeenth century. Developing from earlier "mumming" plays and three forms of courtly ceremonials (the tournament, the pageant and the triumph), these exotic court entertainments represented imaginary people or abstract ideas and often employed false faces, or masks (or "masques"). They reached a climax of beauty under James I, who himself participated in several masques by Ben Jonson and others.
Masques were often allegorical, deliberately fantastic and self-conscious. Ladies were given names such as Patience, Virtue, Modesty, whilst Knights were called Fortitude or Temperance. Words were balanced with music, dance and theatrical spectacle, including elaborate costumes. Professional composers wrote tunes and employed instrumentalists and fine singers to execute them whilst professional designers and artists were brought in to construct elaborate sets. On-stage scenery would include witches' dens, mountains and caves and magic forests. Performers would be "flown" on wires. Producers determined to 'out-spectacle' each other. In a time when a salary of a hundred pounds a year would secure a fairly comfortable lifestyle and a thousand a year would be considered a small fortune, the spending of ₤3000 on the single performance of The Masque of Queens was an unparalleled extravagance.
The masques were thus short-lived but stunning theatrical experiences and could bring the producer/writer a considerable sum as well as influence and favour at court. The pressures led Ben Jonson, never a temperate man, to quarrel bitterly with his designer Inigo Jones.
Jones, (1573-1652) the greatest architect and designer of his age, had discovered on a research trip to Italy financed by the Earl of Pembroke an idea for providing perspective and depth in stage scenery through a series of receding flats that would create the illusion of three dimensions. The idea came from Italian architect Andrea Palladio (1518-80) whose book on architecture Jones translated. Palladio's finest achievement was the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza and Jones adopted the design for his theatrical sets. Jonson disagreed. Their quarrel, which erupted into open conflict in the 1620s, was personal rather than professional, but Jones' real career was in building, so, when the masque passed out of fashion and Jonson was dying destitute and forgotten, Jones was able to make a living constructing and designing stately homes.
Ben Jonson was proud of his work and published several masque scripts. The Masque of Queens (1609) which exists in Jonson's own handwriting was prepared as a gift to Henry, the Prince of Wales. The script was also annotated with Jonson's footnotes and stage directions in response to the 14 year old's interest in theatrical practice. The Masque of Oberon (or "The Faery Prince") was written in 1611 and performed on January 1 with Henry himself playing Oberon. Henry was to die the very next year of typhoid fever on November 6th 1612. He was eighteen years old.
The Masque of Apollo and Jacinth (or Iacinthus, or Hyacinth) was written by Giles Jankyn, resident playwright at the Jubilee Theatre with Jonson providing additional song lyrics. The set was designed by Inigo Jones. The occasion was Twelfth Night 1609. Apollo was played by the Earl of Jedburgh whilst Jacinthus was played by Jedburgh's great boy actor Tom Tages, who had played Hieronimo. Jupiter was played by King James whilst Henry played Cupid. The other players and dancers are listed in the surviving manuscript as the Countess of Arundel, the Countess of Essex, Lady Anne Clifford and Lady Windsor, with whom Tages was linked in a scurrilous pamphlet of Jonson's in 1611. This caused Tages and Jankyn to go their separate ways and a bitter quarrel between Jonson and Jankyn as a result.
The story tells of the sun-god Apollo's infatuation with the beautiful youth Jacinthus, the son of Amyclas King of Sparta. Jealous, Zephyr the Wind God kills the boy. Mourning Apollo approaches Zeus (or Jupiter) and together they transform the blood into a flower (named hyacinth, Latinised as jacinth) the petals of which are inscribed with the letters AI (or 'woe').
The masque depicts Apollo's sighting of Jacinthus, the intervention of Cupid, a romantic interlude for Apollo and Jacinth, the intervention of Zephyr, the death of Jacinth, the mourning of the sun-god, and the arrival of Jupiter to create the memorial and restore order. Original music was provided by Robert Johnson, (c. 1583-1633) lutenist and court composer, but when the masque was revived for the birth of James Edward Stuart in 1688, new music was composed by the Purcell brothers, Henry (1659-95) and Daniel (1662-1717). Cupid was sung by the famous boy treble Jemmy Bowen, then eight years old, Letitia Cross sang the new role of Diana, Daffyd Thomas played Hyacinth and John Gostling played Jupiter.
This is the only masque known to have been written by Giles Jankyn. Very much a man of the public playhouses, the more intimate atmosphere of the private theatres did not suit his flamboyant, crowd-pleasing style, although the exotic nature of the masque might have appealed to his sense of the theatrical. Jankyn's patron (Jedburgh) was commissioned by the King to provide a masque for Twelfth Night to precede the Bean Feast, at which Jankyn was elected Bean King and Tages Bean Prince. Jankyn's choice of subject was welcomed at court and his insistence on Tages taking the role of Hyacinthus pleased the King who looked on the young boy with special favour. It is likely that Jankyn, Jedburgh and Tages were well rewarded for their labours.
From Vitriol and Jealousy: Theatre, Writing and Rivalry in the Renaissance
by Jurat Jarkman (reproduced with the permission of the author and Jackdaw Press).
Part Four:
Jura