Lovers Made Men
Encyclopedia
Lovers Made Men, alternatively titled The Masque of Lethe or The Masque at Lord Hay's, was a Jacobean era masque
, written by Ben Jonson
, designed by Inigo Jones
, and with music composed by Nicholas Lanier
. It was performed on Saturday 22 February 1617
, and was significant in the development and acceptance of opera
in seventeenth-century England.
, one of the early favorites of King James I
. Through 1616 Hay had been involved in a major diplomatic embassy to the court of Henri IV
in Paris, where Hay had negotiated a potential marriage between James's son and heir Prince Charles, the future Charles I
, and a daughter of the French king. (The negotiations were not fruitful in 1616, though a decade later Charles would marry Henri's daughter Henrietta Maria of France
.) Hay's embassy was characterized by extraordinary lavish banquets, masques, processions and shows of all types — a pattern of indulgence that continued when Hay returned to Britain. Lovers Made Men was one of the shows of this period; Lord Hay used it to welcome and entertain the French Ambassador, the Baron de Tour. The performance of the masque was organized for Lord Hay by Jonson's patron Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford
.
in the undeworld
of ancient Greek mythology
. As the masque begins, Charon
the ferryman has just dropped off a group of human figures, "imagined ghosts," to be received by Mercury
. The Fates
, however, complain that these people are not actually dead; they have been deluded through the influence of Cupid
to think that they have "drown'd in Love." By drinking the waters of Lethe, the deluded lovers paradoxically forget their Cupid-imposed delusions and return to mental health. Thus the lovers are "made men" once again.
The masque is a relatively brief work, and featured only a single perspective stage set; by Inigo Jones's standards of masque design, it was a fairly spare production.
Jonson's masque ends with a reconciliation of love and wisdom. Another masque writer, Robert White, took a different tack in his Cupid's Banishment, produced later in 1617; in his work, as the title indicates, Cupid is regarded as too disruptive an influence to be accepted. Jonson in turn may have answered White's masque in his Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue
(1618
).
quarto publication of Jonson's text, but only in the 1641
second folio.
Sir William Davenant
's The Siege of Rhodes
(1656
) is widely acclaimed as "the first English opera;" but Davenant's work had several precursors. If Lanier's Lovers Made Men featured through-and-through recitatives
, it would certainly qualify as one. Nicholas Lanier's 1628
musical setting for Marlowe's
Hero and Leander
may have been a comparable work; it is unfortunate that Lanier's music for these works has not survived the centuries.
soon after its 1617 staging. A second quarto was issued in 1622
, and the text was included in the second folio collection of Jonson's works
in 1641.
Masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio...
, written by Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
, designed by Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones is the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...
, and with music composed by Nicholas Lanier
Nicholas Lanier
Nicholas Lanier, sometimes Laniere was an English composer, singer, lutenist and painter....
. It was performed on Saturday 22 February 1617
1617 in literature
The year 1617 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*March 4 - Shrovetide riot of the London apprentices damages the Cockpit Theatre...
, and was significant in the development and acceptance of opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
in seventeenth-century England.
Background
The Lord Hay in question was James Hay, 1st Earl of CarlisleJames Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle
James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle was a Scottish aristocrat.-Life:He was the son of Sir James Hay of Fingask , and of Margaret Murray, cousin of George Hay, afterwards 1st Earl of Kinnoull.He was knighted and taken into favor by James VI of Scotland, brought into England in 1603, treated as a "prime...
, one of the early favorites of King James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
. Through 1616 Hay had been involved in a major diplomatic embassy to the court of Henri IV
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
in Paris, where Hay had negotiated a potential marriage between James's son and heir Prince Charles, the future Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
, and a daughter of the French king. (The negotiations were not fruitful in 1616, though a decade later Charles would marry Henri's daughter Henrietta Maria of France
Henrietta Maria of France
Henrietta Maria of France ; was the Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the wife of King Charles I...
.) Hay's embassy was characterized by extraordinary lavish banquets, masques, processions and shows of all types — a pattern of indulgence that continued when Hay returned to Britain. Lovers Made Men was one of the shows of this period; Lord Hay used it to welcome and entertain the French Ambassador, the Baron de Tour. The performance of the masque was organized for Lord Hay by Jonson's patron Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford
Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford
Lucy Russell, Countess of Bedford was a major aristocratic patron of the arts and literature in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras...
.
The show
As the subtitle of the work indicates, Jonson set his masque on the shores of the river LetheLethe
In Greek mythology, Lethe was one of the five rivers of Hades. Also known as the Ameles potamos , the Lethe flowed around the cave of Hypnos and through the Underworld, where all those who drank from it experienced complete forgetfulness...
in the undeworld
Greek underworld
The Greek underworld was made up of various realms believed to lie beneath the earth or at its farthest reaches.This includes:* The great pit of Tartarus, originally the exclusive prison of the old Titan gods, it later came to be the dungeon home of damned souls.* The land of the dead ruled by the...
of ancient Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
. As the masque begins, Charon
Charon (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon is the ferryman of Hades who carries souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead. A coin to pay Charon for passage, usually an obolus or danake, was sometimes placed in or on...
the ferryman has just dropped off a group of human figures, "imagined ghosts," to be received by Mercury
Mercury (mythology)
Mercury was a messenger who wore winged sandals, and a god of trade, the son of Maia Maiestas and Jupiter in Roman mythology. His name is related to the Latin word merx , mercari , and merces...
. The Fates
Moirae
The Moirae, Moerae or Moirai , in Greek mythology, were the white-robed incarnations of destiny . Their number became fixed at three...
, however, complain that these people are not actually dead; they have been deluded through the influence of Cupid
Cupid
In Roman mythology, Cupid is the god of desire, affection and erotic love. He is the son of the goddess Venus and the god Mars. His Greek counterpart is Eros...
to think that they have "drown'd in Love." By drinking the waters of Lethe, the deluded lovers paradoxically forget their Cupid-imposed delusions and return to mental health. Thus the lovers are "made men" once again.
The masque is a relatively brief work, and featured only a single perspective stage set; by Inigo Jones's standards of masque design, it was a fairly spare production.
Jonson's masque ends with a reconciliation of love and wisdom. Another masque writer, Robert White, took a different tack in his Cupid's Banishment, produced later in 1617; in his work, as the title indicates, Cupid is regarded as too disruptive an influence to be accepted. Jonson in turn may have answered White's masque in his Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue
Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue
Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue is a Jacobean era masque, written by Ben Jonson and designed by Inigo Jones. It was first performed on Twelfth Night, January 6, 1618, in the Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace...
(1618
1618 in literature
The year 1618 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Sir Francis Bacon is appointed Lord Chancellor by King James I of England.*Ben Jonson sets out to walk to Scotland....
).
The music
The most notable aspect of the masque was its musical form. "The whole masque was sung after the Italian manner stylo recitativo, by Master Nicholas Lanier; who ordered and made both the scene and the music." The claim is controversial; it does not occur in the original 16171617 in literature
The year 1617 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*March 4 - Shrovetide riot of the London apprentices damages the Cockpit Theatre...
quarto publication of Jonson's text, but only in the 1641
1641 in literature
The year 1641 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*Pierre Corneille marries Marie de Lampérière.*Sir William Davenant is convicted of high treason.*Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon becomes an advisor to King Charles I of England....
second folio.
Sir William Davenant
William Davenant
Sir William Davenant , also spelled D'Avenant, was an English poet and playwright. Along with Thomas Killigrew, Davenant was one of the rare figures in English Renaissance theatre whose career spanned both the Caroline and Restoration eras and who was active both before and after the English Civil...
's The Siege of Rhodes
The Siege of Rhodes
The Siege of Rhodes is an opera written to a text by the impresario William Davenant. The score is by five composers, the vocal music by Henry Lawes, Matthew Locke, and Captain Henry Cooke, and instrumental music by Charles Coleman and George Hudson...
(1656
1656 in literature
The year 1656 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*September - performance of The Siege of Rhodes, Part I by Sir William Davenant, the "first English opera"* November 12 - John Milton marries Katherine Woodcock....
) is widely acclaimed as "the first English opera;" but Davenant's work had several precursors. If Lanier's Lovers Made Men featured through-and-through recitatives
Recitative
Recitative , also known by its Italian name "recitativo" , is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech...
, it would certainly qualify as one. Nicholas Lanier's 1628
1628 in music
- Events :*November 22 – Girolamo Frescobaldi is given permission by St Peter's Basilica to leave Rome.* Heinrich Schütz returns to Venice to visit Monteverdi and Alessandro Grandi....
musical setting for Marlowe's
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe was an English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. As the foremost Elizabethan tragedian, next to William Shakespeare, he is known for his blank verse, his overreaching protagonists, and his mysterious death.A warrant was issued for Marlowe's arrest on 18 May...
Hero and Leander
Hero and Leander (poem)
Hero and Leander is a mythological poem by Christopher Marlowe. After Marlowe's death it was completed by George Chapman. Henry Petowe published an alternate completion to the poem.-Publication:...
may have been a comparable work; it is unfortunate that Lanier's music for these works has not survived the centuries.
Publication
As noted above, Jonson's text for Lovers Made Men was published in quartoBook size
The size of a book is generally measured by the height against the width of a leaf, or sometimes the height and width of its cover. A series of terms is commonly used by libraries and publishers for the general sizes of modern books, ranging from "folio" , to "quarto" and "octavo"...
soon after its 1617 staging. A second quarto was issued in 1622
1622 in literature
The year 1622 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*February 28 - Loiola, a Latin comedy mocking the Jesuits, is acted at Cambridge; the performance is repeated before King James I on March 12.*March 12 - Teresa of Ávila The year 1622 in literature involved some significant...
, and the text was included in the second folio collection of Jonson's works
Ben Jonson folios
The folio collections of Ben Jonson's works published in the seventeenth century were crucial developments in the publication of English literature and English Renaissance drama. The first folio collection, issued in 1616, treated stage plays as serious works of literature instead of popular...
in 1641.