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The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that prospered in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio.
A masque involved music and dancing, singing and acting, within a vast stage design, in which the architectural framing and costumes might be constructed by a renowned architect, to present a deferential allegory flattering to the patron. Professional actors and musicians were hired for the speaking and singing parts.
William Shakespeare included a masque-like interlude in The Tempest, understood by modern scholars to have been heavily impacted by the masques of Ben Jonson and the stagecraft of Inigo Jones.
The most outstanding humanists, poets and artists of the day, in the full emphasis of their creative powers, dedicated themselves to producing masques; and until the Puritans closed the English theatres in 1642, the masque was the highest art form in England.