Commedia dell'arte in the mid-18th century. Curiously, "commedia dell'arte" was equally if not more popular in France, where it continued its popularity throughout the 17th century (until 1697), and it was in France that "commedia" developed its established repertoire. "Commedia" evolved into various configurations across Europe, and each country acculturated the form to its liking. For example, pantomime, which flourished in the 18th century, owes its genesis to the character types of the "commedia", particularly Harlequin. The Punch and Judy puppet shows, popular to this day in England, owe their basis to the Pulcinella mask that emerged in Neapolitan versions of the
Pierrot the "complaints" of his first published volume of poems (1885) into "Lord" Pierrot's mouth—and dedicated his next book, "The Imitation of Our Lady the Moon" (1886), completely to Pierrot and his world. (Pierrots were legion among the minor, now-forgotten poets: for samples, see Willette's journal "The Pierrot", which appeared between 1888 and 1889, then again in 1891.) In the realm of song, Claude Debussy set both Verlaine's "Pantomime" and Banville's "Pierrot" (1842) to music in 1881 (not published until 1926)—the only precedents among works by major composers being the "Pierrot" section of Telemann's "Burlesque Overture" (1717–22), Mozart's 1783 "Masquerade" (in