Chapter 34 Flashcards
What is a dance suite?
It is a set of dance music for either a soloist or ensemble and they are all written in the same key performed all at once. It is stylized and the drummers would change styles in between movements so people would know what the next dance would be.
What forms might be included in dance suites?
Allemande, courante, saraband, gigue, minuet, bouree, gavotte, or hornpipe
How did the forms of a dance suite arise and evolve?
They started as dances and each dance had a specific amount of steps. The purpose of the music was only for the dancing not for simply listening to the music. Then gradually people started to listen to them more. This is when the suite started to arise. They ordered dances in a way that would be pleasing to the listener. The composers still tried to capture the spirit of the dance.
Which composers should we associate with the dance suite?
Froberger, Couperin, and Handel
What is an Allemande?
4/4 meter, moderate tempo, stately, improvisatory like style
What is a courante?
lively, not obvious meter, hemiolas
What is a sarabande?
3/4 meter, slow, accent on beat 2
What is a gigue?
fast, compound meter, constant 8th note pulse
minuet
elegant, french origin, triple meter, moderate tempo
bouree
fast, 4/4
gavotte
moderate tempo, duple meter, 4 bar phrases
hornpipe
energetic, 3/2 or 2/4, English origin
program music
instrumental music that is influence or inspired by something else such as an event, a book, a play, a death; doesn’t tell a story; has an external influence; audience had to be told what each piece meant through titles or program notes
Mystery Sonata
set of 15 sonatas for violin and continuo. The theme is sacred devotion of rosary. It follows the sequence of 15 things Christ or Mary did. Each sonata has 1-4 movements
Scordatura
tuning a string instrument to something different than the standard tuning, so that passages are easier to play, create special effects, emphasizes certain strings.
