RENAISSANCE BANQUETS

OVERVIEW OF THE RENAISSANCE

• The Renaissance was a period of rebirth of the arts and new ideas originating in Italy (the setting of Romeo and Juliet)

Only wealthy nobility host banquets because of the amount of money and servants it takes to make them happen.

Banquets were hosted by the wealthy to express how wealthy they are. The quality of the banquets reflect how much "class" a noble family really has.

ATTIRE

• For Banquets, (which is basically a party) guests wore their most formal attire.
• Ladies wore dresses that usually were fluffed with a petticoat.

ATTIRE

• Men wore a suit that might have somewhat resembled the example on the photo
• Men also dress as formally as possible because these events are seen as high class and important

DINNER FOOD

• Dinner could feature a number of 20 courses!
• The first course would be light food such as nuts and fruits (comparable to our snack foods)

THE MAIN COURSE

• Includes some kind of meat such as peacock, chicken, capon, pigeon, veal, pork or swan.
• The main course was served as ornately as possible - for example the peacock would be served with feathers.

DESSERT!

• Dessert was served as the last course of the meal.
• Cakes and sweets carved into sculptures
• Marzipan was put in a statue and wrapped in real gold.
• Pies had a bird fly out of them as an extravagant gesture

While they ate, guests were serenaded with bands and artists singing as entertainment

DANCING

• As the European Renaissance flourished, dancing became prominent.
• Dance increased in sophistication and social importance through the 14th century
• Dance was an important part of the banquet.

14th CENTURY DANCE

• No choreographic descriptions survive from this century. Only treatises from later centuries give us any hint as to what these 14th century dances might have looked like.
• It is from preserved music tabulatures and literature, such as Boccaccio's Decameron, that we know the names of these lost dances, which include the balli, carola (carole), stampita (estampe, istampita, stantipes), salterello, rotta, trotto and farandole.

15th CENTURY DANCE

• The 15th century is the first period in western history to have dances documented well enough for reconstruction.
• Several surviving manuscripts describe the dances of the aristocracy, for whom dance was an important courtly pastime.
• In Italy, the dance was called the Avant Garde

THE BASSADANZA

• Was a traditional Italian dance that was borrowed from the Burgundians
• Commonly danced at events and parties

THE BALLI

• The 15th century Balli were beautifully designed choreographies for a set number of dancers that featured a wide variety of steps, figures and rhythms.
• Unlike the Bassadanza, the music and dance phrases of the Balli were inseparable.

While these surviving 15th century instruction books described the dances from the highest courts, the dances of the artisans, burghers, lower classes and peasants remained unrecorded until the end of the 16th century.

ROMEO AND JULIET

• Connects to the banquet that was held by the Capulet household in Act 1 -Scene 4

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Powers, Richard. "Late Renaissance Dance." Late Renaissance Dance. Stanford University. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.
• Mueller, Tom. "CSI: Italian Renaissance." Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian, July 2013. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.
• Marcovitz, Hal. Life During the Renaissance. San Diego: Reference Point, 2016. Print.
• Beck, Roger B. World History: Patterns of Interaction. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2009. Print.