At the time of the carnival, there were still a lot of rules and regulations, basically polite and favorable, and in the 14th century, many moral restrictions were gradually removed, the Italian aristocrats were crazy to the carnival activities in the direction of "luxury and dissipation". On Jan. 24, 1458, the government got so fed up that it issued a decree forbidding men to enter convents dressed as women, lest the nuns suffer.
In the 18th century, the Carnival of the Masks reached its zenith and became the only excuse for Venetians from all walks of life to party together. It was the only time when people could leave their inhibitions behind and have fun, but the atmosphere became so heated that the Masked Carnival became the freest and most legal, if not the most unpaid, place to buy and sell sex. People wear luxurious and beautiful masks, and women can't tell whether the man in front of them is a nobleman's son or a rogue.
In 1797, Napoleon's troops overran Venice **** and the country, and in such a bereft atmosphere, the Venice Carnival could no longer continue. It wasn't until 1978, when a group of students graduating from the Academy of Fine Arts opened the first modern mask store in Venice, that the Mask Carnival flourished again.
The Spooky Masks of Venice
Today's Venetian masks have evolved to serve two primary functions: to fulfill the need for self-expression and self-presentation of all participants throughout the Carnival, and to serve as a souvenir for tourists who come to Venice to participate in the Carnival.
The masks in the Venice Mask Carnival are roughly divided into the following categories: 1 improvisational comedy masks: mainly based on the image of the prodigal son of Sharik (Harlequin) and the clown Pierrot (Pierrot); 2 fantasy-type masks: mainly from the imagination of the mask makers, and some by the historical design of the inspiration; 3 traditional Venetian masks: such as those covering half of the face of the white masks and other similar half-face masks. White masks and other similar half-face masks, such as the "Plague Doctor" mask, emphasize the exaggerated shape of the male genitalia.
In Venice, it's easy to buy such masks. Especially during Carnival, you can find mask vendors all over the streets. Of course, if you're hoping for a finely crafted, better quality mask, you'll have to go to the oldest mask craftsmen's workshops like the Mondonovo store and the LaboratorioArtigianoMaschere store. For your own at-home addiction, run to the City Hall and you can buy Venetian masks for 20 dollars a pop.
Mask revelry and feasting
Honestly, it's hard to find what it once was in today's Venetian mask revelry.
In the late 1970s, the Venice Carnival reached its peak, with masked young revelers throwing all sorts of debris at non-masked people. Carnival around the road is filled with a variety of self-organized bands and so on, the atmosphere is exceptionally hot; later in the government's various provisions of the control, Venice Carnival gradually have some "constraints". Later, under the control of the government, the Carnival of the Masks was gradually "restrained". Generally speaking, the most common dress on the mask festival is a big cloak + a pair of long nose mask, there are many people like two people together to play the characters of European fables and fairy tales. Artists and singers from the streets around the square also play and sing to cheer up the festival.
Countless parties, countless masks, countless treats, the Venice Masked Carnival is always an experience of a lifetime.
There are two main types of masks in Venice, commedia dell'arte masks and carnival masks.
Commedia dell'arte masks
commedia dell'arte masks
These masks date back to the second half of the sixteenth century, and express human traits, racial traditions, as well as the specialties and trades of the various cities of Italy, which were humanized by the professional comedians who rendered them in the art of comedy.
The comedy of improvisation, (meaning "comedy of professional artists") in the form of improvisational theater, began in the sixteenth century and remained active until the eighteenth century, and can still be seen today. Traveling troupes would set up an outdoor stage and offer fun performances such as acrobatics, juggling, and, more typically, slapstick humor, based on a play with established characters and a rough plot line, known as a canovaccio.
Troupes occasionally performed directly from the back of the wagon in which they traveled, more like a canovaccio. More like the carro di tespi of Note 2, the canovaccio is a play that dates back to the Archaic period (defined as before a.d. 476).
The theme of the improvisation revolves around the repertoire of the troupe, which consists of mundane, commonplace situations, cheating, jealousy, old age, love, some of which can be traced back to the Roman comedies written by Plautus and Terence. Dialogue and behavior were a reflection of current events, often satirizing local scandals, recent events, or regional experiences, mixed with old jokes or laugh-out-loud classics. Male comedians of the Improvisational Arts portray their characters through masks representing the region or town. Female actors, however, usually do not wear masks. In fact, women's roles are often played by men in women's clothes and wigs, appropriately enough - a hilarious parody.
In this way, Italian improvised comedy, with its close-to-life themes and improvised dialog, can also be found in many other types of theater, from pantomime and the British comic puppet show Punch and Judy, to modern cartoons, television series, and even professional wrestling. Characters and transitive metaphors from improvisational comedy have also been used in modern fiction, ranging from fantasy to literary works, notably in British author michael moorcock's Note 4 jerry cornelius story, which climaxed in a muzak (music syndication network) award-winning finale.
Note 1: canovaccio is a type of draft script used by Italian comedians, which only provides the action and the set, the rest of the performance is improvised by the actors themselves, so comedians have to have a good imagination.
Note 2: The carro di tespi was a theater that began in the early 19th century, supported financially by the Fascist regime, which brought opera into the lives of ordinary people after 1930. The plays were performed in different cities at regular intervals, and the troupes traveled with the seasons, in the form of performances in the back of the wagons in which the troupes traveled.
Note 3: Punch and Judy was a popular glove puppet show, and one of the first to use marionettes, featuring Punch and his wife Judy as the main characters, usually performed independently by a single puppeteer. The show was y influenced by Italian improvisational comedy.
Note 4: jerry cornelius is an individual who can become anyone, with a fixed name, but the person who uses that name can change. With michael moorcock as the leader, he wrote a series of stories since 1965, and many writers were influenced to follow suit.
The Mask of Improvisational Comedy contains:
arlecchino
brighella
burattino
capitan scaramouche
colombina
dottor balanzone <
pantalone
pierrot (pedrolino in his italian incarnation)
pulcinella
zanni (also said zan, zane, zuane)
jester ( jolly)
***Eleven types
Carnival masks
carnival masks
These masks are the most representative of Venetian objects, because this renders the Venetian spirit, planning parties, crime and fun. There were many occasions when people dressed up, and in fact the masks were used for several months of the year. Eighteenth-century Venice enjoyed its reputation as one of the most prestigious carnivals in the world. All social classes took part, it was a collective magic, and the masks were the symbol of all the tricks.
Carnival masks contain:
bauta (as well as from "bau" (or "babau"))
dama di venezia
gatto
volto
medico della peste