Pan's Anniversary
Encyclopedia
Pan's Anniversary, or The Shepherd's Holiday was a Jacobean era masque
, written by Ben Jonson
and designed by Inigo Jones
. The date of the masque's performance at the English Court has long been in dispute: while the earliest text assigns it to 1625, mid-twentieth-century scholars placed it on June 19, 1620
, the king's birthday, at the royal palace
at Greenwich
. More recently, Martin Butler has argued for a date of January 6, 1621
.
, in a classical pastoral
setting, and opens with three nymphs
and an elderly shepherd. They are quickly joined by a fencer, who engages the shepherd in a long discussion. The point of this dialogue is to portray the fencer, and the martial spirit he represents, as exaggerated and rather clownish, in keeping with the pacifistic orientation of King James I
. The two anti-masques feature Boeotia
ns and Thebans
(Grecian Thebes was the capital of Boeotia), while the masque proper reveals the principal masquers clustered around a "fountain of light" before they descend to dance. The intended contrast was between the pastoral peace and simplicity of Arcadia and the warlike spirit of Thebes. (The musicians who provided the accompaniment were costumed as priests of Pan
.) Jonson experimented with an unusual structure in this work, placing the anti-masques both before and after the main masque. James was hailed and praised in the guise of Pan.
One critic has categorized it this way: "Exquisitely artificial though the masque may formally be, it is infused with the colors, scents, and sounds of a very concrete natural world." A more jaded view is that the work "is a competent but not particularly exciting masque."
in 1641
, though it was mis-dated to 1625 and placed out of the proper chronological order of the masques in that volume. The title page for the work is unique among Jonson's masques in placing Inigo Jones's name before Jonson's. Some of Jones's designs for the masque's sets survive; they consist, unsurprisingly, of forest and mountain scenes typical of the pastoral form.
era to have received a twentieth-century production. A student performance was given at Columbia University
Teachers' College on April 27, 1916. More notably, an April 1905 production at Stratford-upon-Avon
, part of a Shakespeare Birthday Celebration, featured incidental music composed by Gustav Holst
and Ralph Vaughan Williams
.
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...
and 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...
. The date of the masque's performance at the English Court has long been in dispute: while the earliest text assigns it to 1625, mid-twentieth-century scholars placed it on June 19, 1620
1620 in literature
The year 1620 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*The Book of Psalmes: Englished both in Prose and Metre with Annotations by Henry Ainsworth is the only book brought to New England by the pilgrim settlers....
, the king's birthday, at the royal palace
Palace of Placentia
The Palace of Placentia was an English Royal Palace built by Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester in 1447, in Greenwich, on the banks of the River Thames, downstream from London...
at Greenwich
Greenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
. More recently, Martin Butler has argued for a date of January 6, 1621
1621 in literature
The year 1621 in literature involved some significant events.-Events:*August 26 - Barten Holyday's allegorical play Technogamia, originally produced at Christ Church, Oxford in 1618, is staged before King James at Woodstock Palace...
.
The show
The masque is set in ArcadiaArcadia
Arcadia is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Peloponnese. It is situated in the central and eastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. It takes its name from the mythological character Arcas. In Greek mythology, it was the home of the god Pan...
, in a classical pastoral
Pastoral
The adjective pastoral refers to the lifestyle of pastoralists, such as shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasturage. It also refers to a genre in literature, art or music that depicts such shepherd life in an...
setting, and opens with three nymphs
Nymph
A nymph in Greek mythology is a female minor nature deity typically associated with a particular location or landform. Different from gods, nymphs are generally regarded as divine spirits who animate nature, and are usually depicted as beautiful, young nubile maidens who love to dance and sing;...
and an elderly shepherd. They are quickly joined by a fencer, who engages the shepherd in a long discussion. The point of this dialogue is to portray the fencer, and the martial spirit he represents, as exaggerated and rather clownish, in keeping with the pacifistic orientation 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...
. The two anti-masques feature Boeotia
Boeotia
Boeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia , is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. It was also a region of ancient Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes.-Geography:...
ns and Thebans
Thebes, Greece
Thebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain. It played an important role in Greek myth, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus and others...
(Grecian Thebes was the capital of Boeotia), while the masque proper reveals the principal masquers clustered around a "fountain of light" before they descend to dance. The intended contrast was between the pastoral peace and simplicity of Arcadia and the warlike spirit of Thebes. (The musicians who provided the accompaniment were costumed as priests of Pan
Pan (mythology)
Pan , in Greek religion and mythology, is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, nature, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music, as well as the companion of the nymphs. His name originates within the Greek language, from the word paein , meaning "to pasture." He has the hindquarters, legs,...
.) Jonson experimented with an unusual structure in this work, placing the anti-masques both before and after the main masque. James was hailed and praised in the guise of Pan.
One critic has categorized it this way: "Exquisitely artificial though the masque may formally be, it is infused with the colors, scents, and sounds of a very concrete natural world." A more jaded view is that the work "is a competent but not particularly exciting masque."
Publication
Jonson's text for Pan's Anniversary was first published in the second folio collection of Jonson's worksBen 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
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....
, though it was mis-dated to 1625 and placed out of the proper chronological order of the masques in that volume. The title page for the work is unique among Jonson's masques in placing Inigo Jones's name before Jonson's. Some of Jones's designs for the masque's sets survive; they consist, unsurprisingly, of forest and mountain scenes typical of the pastoral form.
Modern production
Pan's Anniversary is one of the rare masques from the early StuartHouse of Stuart
The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
era to have received a twentieth-century production. A student performance was given at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
Teachers' College on April 27, 1916. More notably, an April 1905 production at Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
, part of a Shakespeare Birthday Celebration, featured incidental music composed by Gustav Holst
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
and Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
.
Sources
- Butler, Martin. "Ben Jonson's Pan's Anniversary and the Politics of Early Stuart Pastoral." English Literary Renaissance 22.3 (1992), pp. 369-404.
- Kennedy, Michael. The Works of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1992.
- Logan, Terence P., and Denzell S. Smith, eds. The New Intellectuals: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama. Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1977.
- Orgel, Stephen, ed. Ben Jonson: The Complete Masques. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1969.
- Rutledge, Douglas F., ed. Ceremony and Text in the Renaissance. Newark, DE, University of Delaware Press, 1996.
- Salzman, Paul. Literary Culture in Jacobean England: Reading 1621. London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2002.
- Torrance, Robert Mitchell, ed. Encompassing Nature: A Sourcebook. Washington, DC, Counterpoint Press, 1999.