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<p>The article examines the traditions of French court ballet, which are rooted in early medieval Italian musical and theatrical performances, as well as the traditions of the medieval carnival. The functional features of the French court ballet are revealed. French ballet is viewed through the prism of a synthesized art form: dance, music, poetry and complex scenography. It is specified that French ballet as an independent genre was formed in the era of Queen Catherine de Medici.</p><p>It was revealed that thanks to the skill and professionalism of choreographers of both French and Italian descent, the French court ballet reached its peak in the first half of the seventeenth century.</p><p>It was determined that the court ballet was becoming a cultural and political instrument that raised the status of France in Europe, served to strengthen the authority of the French monarch, and was a means of uniting the French monarchy and the people. Despite significant financial costs, the political and cultural feasibility of staging court ballets exceeded the economic feasibility.</p><p>An analogy is drawn with the English court Мasque. It is substantiated that the English court Masque was based on the traditions of Italian intermedio and French court ballet. Thus, English stage designers adopted the experience of Italian stage designers. Dances of Italian origin were an integral part of Masque in England. Choreography in Masque was created by French and Italian choreographers.</p><p>It has been proven that English culture was influenced by continental culture, which contributed to the formation of a common cultural space.</p><p>It is substantiated that the genre of French ballet, Italian intermedio and English Masque were not a high art, but over time, having undergone a transformation, they evolved into new forms and genres.</p>

This paper aims to analyze the scientific works of leading British researchers to identify the origins of the stages of the formation of the English Masques genre, the influence of continental culture on the Masques genre, understanding the specific features of the first prototypes of the Masques, as well as the “early” Tudor Masques, including the Masques of the times of Henry VIII and Elizabeth І. Research methodology. Twenty-one publications by leading English scholars on this subject are considered, including archival data and historical choirs. The materials of the scientific literature are studied using logical, historical, chronological, problem-chronological and historical-retrospective methods. Results. It has been revealed that Masque is a musical-theatrical performance, a stylized hybrid, where acting, dancing, chorus, musical interlude, poetry, masquerade costume, and stage design are closely intertwined and interact with each other. The origins of English Masques date back to the folk traditions and customs of England, the traditions of Christmas or seasonal festivals, and the development and formation of Masques was influenced directly by Italian and French culture. However, the English Masques had specific genre peculiarities inherent in the exclusively English version of the musicaltheatrical performance. The masques become a key pastime in the Tudor royal court, where the royal court play an important role. Novelty. In this paper, an attempt has been made to comprehensively investigate the origins of the English Masque genre, as well as to characterize the influence of continental European culture on the development of early English Masques. The practical significance. The materials of this study can be used at lectures and seminars on the history of foreign culture, theory and history of culture in secondary and higher education institutions.

The article examines the origins of the traditions of mummers, which are closely related to pagan beliefs and rituals, the cult of the Sun, solar symbols, traditions of the Greeks, Egyptians, Persians, as well as the Roman Saturnalia and the Scandinavian Yule. The tasks and functions of mummer's rituals are revealed, which are protective, symbolic-mythological, solar-symbolic, magical, imitative, instructive, and pedagogical, as well as an erotic character associated with "human fertility." Wearing a mask or disguise, dressing up in animal skins and in costumes of the opposite sex filled the human personality with new content, sacred meaning, and broadcast the concept of "not-I" or "I am different" to the world. The main rituals of the Slavs associated with dressing (Svyatki and Kolyada), which are a hybrid of pagan and Christian Orthodox traditions, have been determined and characterized. Vechernitsa is specific Ukrainian entertainment, an obligatory attribute of winter Svyatki. The main functions of Vechernitsa are entertainment, sexually developing, sacred, and protective. The Slavic phenomenon of foolishness is considered, which manifested itself as a sacral clowning, a voluntary renunciation of worldly life, and dressing up for the glory of God. The extremely negative attitude of the Orthodox Church to the rituals associated with dressing up and mummering, fortune telling, games, and other kinds of entertainment was determined. A number of prohibitive decrees emanating from the Orthodox clergy did not have the proper effect, since winter rites were becoming part of the culture of the Slavs. Ritual permeated the culture of the Cossacks of the Zaporizhzhia Sich, despite the fact that religion occupied an important place in their lives, enriching it with a high meaning. In the Middle Ages, masquerade penetrates into aristocratic circles and is gradually reborn into the salon-secular style and presupposes the complementarity of two cultural traditions-Western European and native Slavic. The court masquerade balls demonstrate a close connection with the archaic theater, the genre of the English court Masque, the French court ballet, and the Italian intermezzo.