8. Cyril Tourneur and his plays. The Revenger’s Tragedy.

Cyril Tourneur’s has much in common with Webster but his world is even darker. Pity which is an essential component in Webster’s total impression is absent here: the pervading atmosphere is that of horror. We move in a universe that is inherently evil. Tourneur first appears as a satirist in 1600. His fame rests on two plays: The Atheist’s Tragedy (1607-11) and The Revenger’s Tragedy (1607). Touneur’s characters are humorous, created after Jonson’s fashion. The generic Italian names indicate, as in Volpone, that the characters are deliberately dehumanized: we have to do here with abstract characters representing a type, in the morality tradition. In this respect Tourneur’s method differs from Webster’s whose figures are more human and more complex. The Revenger’s Tragedy is the greater play but it should be mentioned that it is of doubtful authorship.

The Revenger’s Tragedy

The play opens with an abrupt, explosive force as the central figure Vindice, enters clasping the skull of his dead mistress, the victim of the old duke’s lust. Vindice indicts not only the Duke but his heir, Lussurioso, his bastard son, Spurio, and the Duchess, his second wife. The central character of the play is Vindice who, as his name suggests, is the spirit of revenge, and the play itself is almost the archetypal revenge tragedy. The society it depicts is almost fully corrupt, and where goodness does appear it is either ineffective or unattractive. The revenger becomes as evil as those upon whom he seeks revenge, and the character are largely one-dimensional, and summed up by names such as Lussurioso, Ambitioso, Supervacuo.

The plays of Tourneur and Webster reveal a Satanic universe in which the forces of evil have unimpeded sway. They reflect the crisis of humanist ideology, a despair in the triumph of humanist principles. A characteristic mark of their plays is a painful intensity – a dark landscape is occasionally lit up.

9. Masque and music at the Stuart Court

Charles I and his French queen Henrietta Maria were great lovers of the arts. Music, painting, poetry and drama flourished at their cultured court. Courtiers were expected to play at least one musical instrument, dance well, and take part in masques. Masques were great court spectacles (látványosság) which combined music with dancing, poetry, scenery, and dramatic costume. The first Stuart king, James I, and his queen, Anne of Denmark staged many court masques. As princes, their sons, the future Charles I and his elder brother Henry (who died at eighteen) often took part in masques, many written by the playwright Ben Jonson.

Who designed the scenery for court masques? Inigo Jones, the architect of the Queen's House at Greenwich, designed elaborate and dramatic scenery, involving moving parts and other special effects for many masques. He designed a rocky landscape set for Oberon, a masque written in 1611 by Ben Jonson for the sixteen-year old Prince Henry, with music and dance by Alfonso Ferabrusco and Robert Johnson.

What type of stories did masques present? Stories often linked the Stuart court to the legendary King Arthur or to Imperial Rome. Themes were planned to 'portray the English Court's Divine Image as it should be in this our Golden Age'. For instance, in Oberon, the first actors to appear were a group of satyrs. Representing the forces of disorder, they danced and leapt around until the rocks parted to reveal the 'bright and glorious' palace of Oberon, king of the fairies. Characters such as the satyrs were known as 'Anti-Masquers' and were played by professional actors – in this case, the King's Men, Shakespeare's company. Next, the palace itself opened up to reveal the Knights Masquers with Prince Henry taking the part of Oberon in his chariot. The forces of harmony had arrived to drive away vice and disorder. The fairies chanted 'of every virtue of a King, and of all, in him, we sing'. As the prince invited the Queen to dance, other members of the aristocratic audience joined in the various galliards and courantes until 'Phosphorus, the day star appeared and called them away.' The masque ended with a final song.

Did masques continue after Charles I succeeded his father? Yes. Charles I and his young queen Henrietta Maria loved presenting masques for each other. Both enjoyed wearing the costumes of Chief Masquers. Masques often took place in winter in the Banqueting Hall at Whitehall designed by Inigo Jones in 1619. However, after Rubens completed his ceiling painting in honour of James I in 1634, the hall could not be used in case smoke from the masquers' torches damaged it.

When were masques discontinued? In 1640, a masque was held that was to be the last, for they did not resume after the civil war ended. Ironically, the pageant of Charles I's execution took place outside the Banqueting Hall, scene of so many masques. The court where the King had been seen as ' the embodiment of all virtues' had changed forever.

How important was music at the Stuart court? Music was a central part of court life. It had been regarded since the Renaissance as one of the four 'liberal arts', alongside geometry, arithmetic and astronomy. Architecture was also linked to these. During the period of Baroque music (1600-1750), the human voice played a central part. Composers used a single melodic line with harmonic accompaniment to allow the human voice to be clearly heard. This technique is known as homophony.

What sort of dances were popular at the time? Dances for formal occasions were often composed in suites of four dances each with a different tempo. For instance, a moderate tempo allemande might start off the dancing, and be followed by a faster courante, then a slow sarabande and finally a lively gigue or jig.