Baroque Dances

allemande: a moderately slow, serious dance in quadruple meter and binary form. The allemande began life as a dance in the Renaissance, and was later cultivated as an independent instrumental piece. By the time it became one of the four standard dances of the suite at the end of the 17th century, the allemande often favored an imitative, ornamented texture over strongly profiled dance rhythms.

bourree: a lively dance in duple meter and binary form. It was a popular dance in Lully's operas and at the court of Louis XIV, and retained its homophonic texture and simple rhythms as an independent instrumental work in the baroque.

courante (also It. corrente): a well known dance in the 16th century, the courante became even more important in the 17th. A triple meter dance in binary form, it existed in two versions: the French courante, which was generally solemn and stately and written in an occasionally ambiguous triple meter; and the Italian corrente, which was in a rapid triple meter. In Italy, the corrente was a lively courtship dance, while the courante was one of the most important dances at Louis XIV's court balls. Since French choreography for the courante survives only from the 18th century, we know very little about its relationship to the Italian version.

gavotte: an elegant dance in moderate duple meter and in binary form, often with a homophonic texture and simple rhythms. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the gavotte was a type of branle. In the middle of the 17th century, the gavotte emerged as a new dance with similar musical characteristics, becoming popular in the operas and ballets of Lully and Rameau. The gavotte (or frequently a pair of gavottes) often followed the sarabande in a suite.

gigue (also Eng. jig, It. giga): a fast dance in duple meter and binary form. It originated in England and Ireland as the jig, and was known in France by the 1650s. In the baroque suite and other compositions, the gigue often served as the final movement. As an independent instrumental composition, the character of the gigue varied widely, but typically retained its fast tempo.

minuet: a graceful and extremely popular dance in triple meter, usually in binary form. The minuet first emerged in the middle of the 17th century, and became wildly popular at the court of Louis XIV; the king himself was reported to be an excellent minuet dancer. The minuet was the only baroque dance form that did not become obsolete in the classical period, as it often concluded an opera overture and was subsequently incorporated into the symphony.

sarabande (also It. sarabanda, Sp. zarabanda): a triple meter dance. In France and Germany, the sarabande was slow and stately. The dance was first known in Mexico and Spain in the 16th century as the zarabanda, however, a wild and extremely erotic dance. Although it was banned in Spain in 1583, it survived throughout the baroque era there and in Italy as a fast dance. It eventually became one of the four standard dances of the baroque suite, usually in its slower guise.