![Gavotte_from_French_suite_n](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/81/Gavotte_from_French_suite_n._5.jpg)
A suite, in
Western classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" ...
and
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
, is an ordered set of
instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...
or
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
l/
concert band pieces. It originated in the late 14th century as a pairing of dance tunes and grew in scope to comprise up to five dances, sometimes with a
prelude, by the early 17th century. The separate
movements
Movement may refer to:
Common uses
* Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece
* Motion, commonly referred to as movement
Arts, entertainment, and media
Literature
* "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...
were often thematically and tonally linked. The term can also be used to refer to similar forms in other musical traditions, such as the
Turkish fasıl
The ''fasıl'' is a suite in Ottoman classical music. It is similar to the Arabic '' nawba'' and '' waslah''.
A classical ''fasıl'' generally includes movements such as '' taksim'', '' peşrev'', '' kâr'', '' beste'', '' ağır semâ'î'', '' y ...
and the
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
nuubaat
''Nuubaat'' ( ar, نوبات ) is a form of Algerian classical music. The term itself is the plural form of ''nūba'' (نوبة), a suite (music), suite of old Al-Andalus, Andalusian musical pieces. It is these multi-movement (music), movement w ...
.
In the
Baroque era, the suite was an important
musical form, also known as ''Suite de danses'', ''Ordre'' (the term favored by
François Couperin), ''
Partita
Partita (also ''partie'', ''partia'', ''parthia'', or ''parthie'') was originally the name for a single-instrumental piece of music (16th and 17th centuries), but Johann Kuhnau (Thomaskantor until 1722), his student Christoph Graupner, and Johann ...
'', or ''Ouverture'' (after the theatrical "
overture" which often included a series of dances) as with the orchestral suites of
Christoph Graupner,
Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hilde ...
and
J.S. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...
.
During the 18th century, the suite fell out of favour as a cyclical form, giving way to the
symphony,
sonata and
concerto. It was revived in the later 19th century, but in a different form, often presenting extracts from a
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
(''
Nutcracker Suite
''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaiko ...
''), the
incidental music to a
play
Play most commonly refers to:
* Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment
* Play (theatre), a work of drama
Play may refer also to:
Computers and technology
* Google Play, a digital content service
* Play Framework, a Java framework
* P ...
(''
L'Arlésienne'', ''
Masquerade''),
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
,
film (''
Lieutenant Kije Suite
A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations.
The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often s ...
'') or
video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
(
Motoaki Takenouchi
is a Japanese composer, most recognized for his video game soundtracks during the 1990s, particularly for the '' Shining'' series of games. He has worked for companies such as Sega, Enix, Climax Entertainment, and Game Arts. Takenouchi studied ...
's 1994 suite to the ''
Shining'' series), or entirely original movements (''
Holberg Suite
The ''Holberg Suite'', Op. 40, more properly ''From Holberg's Time'' (Norwegian: ''Fra Holbergs tid''), subtitled "Suite in olden style" ( no, Suite i gammel stil, links=no, italics=no), is a suite of five movements based on eighteenth-century ...
'', ''
The Planets
''The Planets'', Op. 32, is a seven- movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is name ...
'').
History
Estienne du Tertre published ''suyttes de
bransles
Bransles () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.
Demographics
The inhabitants are called ''Branslois, Bransloises''.
See also
*Communes of the Seine-et-Marne department
The fol ...
'' in 1557, giving the first general use of the term "suite" 'suyttes' in music, although the usual form of the time was as pairs of dances. The first recognizable suite is
Peuerl's ''Newe Padouan, Intrada, Dantz, and
Galliard
The ''galliard'' (; french: gaillarde; it, gagliarda) was a form of Renaissance dance and music popular all over Europe in the 16th century. It is mentioned in dance manuals from England, Portugal, France, Spain, Germany, and Italy.
Dance f ...
a'' of 1611, in which the four dances of the title appear repeatedly in ten suites. The ''Banchetto musicale'' by
Johann Schein
Johann Hermann Schein (20 January 1586 – 19 November 1630) was a German composer of the early Baroque era. He was Thomaskantor in Leipzig from 1615 to 1630. He was one of the first to import the early Italian stylistic innovations into German ...
(1617) contains 20 sequences of five different dances. The first four-movement suite credited to a named composer, ''
Sandley's Suite ''Sandley's Suite'' is a 17th-century four-movement suite credited as the first to be associated with a named composer. Consisting of an air, courante, sarabande
The sarabande (from es, zarabanda) is a dance in triple metre, or the music writte ...
'', was published in 1663.
Baroque era
The
Baroque suite consisted of
allemande
An ''allemande'' (''allemanda'', ''almain(e)'', or ''alman(d)'', French: "German (dance)") is a Renaissance and Baroque dance, and one of the most common instrumental dance styles in Baroque music, with examples by Couperin, Purcell, Bach
...
,
courante
The ''courante'', ''corrente'', ''coranto'' and ''corant'' are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era. In a Baroque dance suite an Italian or French courante is typically paired ...
,
sarabande, and
gigue
The gigue (; ) or giga () is a lively baroque dance originating from the English jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th centuryBellingham, Jane"gigue."''The Oxford Companion to Music''. Ed. Alison Latham. Oxford Music Online. 6 July 20 ...
, in that order, and developed during the 17th century in France, the gigue appearing later than the others.
Johann Jakob Froberger
Johann Jakob Froberger (baptized 19 May 1616 – 7 May 1667) was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. Among the most famous composers of the era, he was influential in developing the musical form of the suite of dances in hi ...
is usually credited with establishing the classical suite through his compositions in this form, which were widely published and copied, although this was largely due to his publishers standardizing the order; Froberger's original manuscripts have many different orderings of the movements, e.g. the gigue preceding the sarabande. The publisher's standardized order was, however, highly influential especially on the works of Bach.
Many later suites included other movements placed between sarabande and gigue. These optional movements were known as ''
galanteries'': common examples are the
minuet
A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''.
The term also describes the musical form that accomp ...
,
gavotte
The gavotte (also gavot, gavote, or gavotta) is a French dance, taking its name from a folk dance of the Gavot, the people of the Pays de Gap region of Dauphiné in the southeast of France, where the dance originated, according to one source. A ...
,
passepied
The passepied (, "pass-foot", from a characteristic dance step) is a French court dance. Originating as a kind of Breton branle, it was adapted to courtly use in the 16th century and is found frequently in 18th-century French opera and ballet ...
, and
bourrée
The bourrée ( oc, borrèia; also in England, borry or bore) is a dance of French origin and the words and music that accompany it. The bourrée resembles the gavotte in that it is in double time and often has a dactylic rhythm. However, it i ...
. Often there would be two contrasting ''galanteries'' with the same name, e.g. Minuet I and II, to be played ''alternativement'', meaning that the first dance is played again after the second (but without the internal repeats), thus I, II, I.
The later addition of an overture to make up an "overture-suite" was extremely popular with German composers;
Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hilde ...
claimed to have written over 200 overture-suites,
Christoph Graupner wrote 86 orchestral overture-suites and 57 partitas for
harpsichord,
J.S. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wor ...
had his four orchestral suites along with other suites, and
Handel put his ''
Water Music
The ''Water Music'' is a collection of orchestral movements, often published as three suites, composed by George Frideric Handel. It premiered on 17 July 1717, in response to King George I's request for a concert on the River Thames.
Structu ...
'' and ''
Music for the Royal Fireworks
The ''Music for the Royal Fireworks'' ( HWV 351) is a suite in D major for wind instruments composed by George Frideric Handel in 1749 under contract of George II of Great Britain for the fireworks in London's Green Park on 27 April 1749. The ...
'' in this form. Handel wrote 22 keyboard suites; Bach produced multiple suites for lute, cello, violin, flute, and other instruments, as well as
English suites,
French suites
The ''French Suites'', BWV 812–817, are six suites which Johann Sebastian Bach wrote for the clavier ( harpsichord or clavichord) between the years of 1722 and 1725.Bach. ''The French Suites: Embellished version''. Bärenreiter Urtext Altho ...
and
Partitas for keyboard.
François Couperin's later suites (which he called "Ordres") often dispensed entirely with the standard dances and consisted entirely of
character pieces with fanciful names.
18th and 19th century
By the 1750s, the suite had come to be seen as old-fashioned, superseded by the symphony and concerto, and few composers were still writing suites during that time. But since the 19th century, composers have frequently arranged ballets, operas, and other works into suites for concert performance. Arrangement into a suite can make the music more accessible and available to a wider audience, and has greatly helped popularize the music itself, such as in
Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
's
suite from ''The Nutcracker'', or
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...
's suite from ''
Appalachian Spring''. Suites for orchestra or concert band usually consist of one or more
movements
Movement may refer to:
Common uses
* Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece
* Motion, commonly referred to as movement
Arts, entertainment, and media
Literature
* "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...
. An example is
Grieg's ''
Peer Gynt'' Orchestral Suites I and II, each consisting of four movements. Such suites may consist of
:* an instrumental selection from a larger work such as an opera, ballet, film score, or musical;
:* a sequence of smaller pieces tied together by a common theme, such as the nationalistically inflected suites of Grieg,
Sibelius
Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest composer, and his music is often ...
, or Tchaikovsky and ''
The Planets
''The Planets'', Op. 32, is a seven- movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is name ...
'' by
Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...
;
:* a work deliberately referential of Baroque themes, as in the mischievous Suite for Piano by
Schoenberg.
Carl Nielsen
Carl August Nielsen (; 9 June 1865 – 3 October 1931) was a Danish composer, conductor and violinist, widely recognized as his country's most prominent composer.
Brought up by poor yet musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he ...
made a
Suite for String Orchestra his
Opus
''Opus'' (pl. ''opera'') is a Latin word meaning "work". Italian equivalents are ''opera'' (singular) and ''opere'' (pl.).
Opus or OPUS may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music
* Opus number, (abbr. Op.) specifying order of (usually) publicatio ...
1 in 1888 at the age of 23. In the late 19th century, Sibelius's ''
Karelia Suite
''Karelia Suite'', Op. 11 is a subset of pieces from the longer ''Karelia Music'' (named after the region of Karelia) written by Jean Sibelius in 1893 for the Viipuri Students' Association and premiered, with Sibelius conducting, at the Imper ...
'' was written for the students of the Helsinki university.
20th century
Brought on by
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
, the piano suite was reintroduced by early 20th-century French composers such as
Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...
and
Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
. Debussy's ''
Pour le piano'' is a suite in three movements, published in 1901, and his ''
Suite bergamasque'', revised in 1905, is probably one of the most famous suites, especially the third movement, ''
Clair de Lune''. Ravel is particularly well known for his ''
Miroirs
upRavel in 1907
''Miroirs'' (French for "Mirrors") is a five-movement suite for solo piano written by French composer Maurice Ravel between 1904 and 1905."Miroirs". Maurice Ravel Frontispice. First performed by Ricardo Viñes in 1906, ''Miroirs ...
'' suite for piano and lesser known for ''
Le tombeau de Couperin
''Le Tombeau de Couperin'' (''The Couperin's Grave'') is a suite for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, composed between 1914 and 1917. The piece is in six movements, based on those of a traditional Baroque suite. Each movement is dedicated to the mem ...
'', both requiring tremendous skill and dexterity from the pianist.
Arnold Schoenberg's first use of the
twelve-tone technique
The twelve-tone technique—also known as dodecaphony, twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage) twelve-note composition—is a method of musical composition first devised by Austrian composer Josef Matthias Hauer, who published his "law o ...
throughout an entire work was in his
Suite for Piano, op. 25. Modeled on the Baroque keyboard suite, the piece consists of six movements entitled ''Präludium'' (Prelude), ''Gavotte'', ''Musette'', ''Intermezzo'', ''Menuett'' (Minuet, with Trio), and ''Gigue''.
Other famous examples of early 20th-century suites are ''
The Planets
''The Planets'', Op. 32, is a seven- movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1917. In the last movement the orchestra is joined by a wordless female chorus. Each movement of the suite is name ...
'' by
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...
, a "Suite for Orchestra" in which each piece represents the
astrological
Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Dif ...
significance of one of the seven uninhabited planets then known, as well as his
First Suite in E-flat and
Second Suite in F for Military Band
The Second Suite in F for Military Band ( Op. 28, No. 2) is Gustav Holst's second of his two suites for concert band. Although performed less frequently than the First Suite in E, it is still a staple of the band repertoire. The ''Second Suite'' ...
.
There are as well several examples of suites being used in the
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
genre. Perhaps the most notable composer is
Duke Ellington/
Billy Strayhorn, who produced many suites, amongst them: ''
Black, Brown and Beige
''Black, Brown and Beige'' is an extended jazz work written by Duke Ellington for his first concert at Carnegie Hall, on January 23, 1943. It tells the history of African Americans and was the composer's daring attempt to transform attitudes abo ...
'', ''
Such Sweet Thunder'', ''
The Far East Suite'', the ''
New Orleans Suite'', the ''
Latin American Suite'', and many more. Suites are also used in
free jazz
Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians duri ...
(
Max Roach
Maxwell Lemuel Roach (January 10, 1924 – August 16, 2007) was an American jazz drummer and composer. A pioneer of bebop, he worked in many other styles of music, and is generally considered one of the most important drummers in history. He work ...
: ''
Freedom Now Suite
''We Insist!'' (subtitled ''Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite'') is a jazz album released on Candid Records in 1961. It contains a suite which composer and drummer Max Roach and lyricist Oscar Brown had begun to develop in 1959 with a view to its perf ...
'',
Don Cherry
Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. Cherry played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five se ...
,
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music.
Born and raise ...
's ''
A Love Supreme
''A Love Supreme'' is an album by American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. He recorded it in one session on December 9, 1964, at Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, leading a quartet featuring pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy ...
'', etc.).
Dance suite
The dance suite was a collection of dance music popular in the
Baroque era
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including th ...
. It consists of the following
movements
Movement may refer to:
Common uses
* Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece
* Motion, commonly referred to as movement
Arts, entertainment, and media
Literature
* "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...
in this order:
*
![Guillaume_Almanach](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Guillaume_Almanach.jpg)
Allemande
An ''allemande'' (''allemanda'', ''almain(e)'', or ''alman(d)'', French: "German (dance)") is a Renaissance and Baroque dance, and one of the most common instrumental dance styles in Baroque music, with examples by Couperin, Purcell, Bach
...
: Literally translates from French as "German”, but by the time of its canonization in the suite it was thoroughly French, and was archaic as an actual dance by the 17th century. It is a moderate dance with a meter of characterized by uniform movement in sixteenth notes, a mostly homophonic texture, even rhythms, and a generally restrained mood.
*
Courante
The ''courante'', ''corrente'', ''coranto'' and ''corant'' are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era. In a Baroque dance suite an Italian or French courante is typically paired ...
or Corrente: A courante is a highly structured French dance in time featuring polyphonic textures, characteristic hemiola effects implying especially in its formulaic cadences, and bursts of motion over a moderate underlying pulse. The Corrente is an Italian version in quick or , generally in two parts with a simpler harmonic structure, more uniform note values, more virtuosic character, and freer form than its French counterpart.
*
Sarabande: A slow, stately dance in time, infrequently in . The original Spanish dance (inherited through Mexico) was very lively and quick, and famously controversial owing to its perceived lascivious character. However, by the time of its inclusion in the suite via France, it had been totally reimagined as a sedate centerpiece. The Sarabande tends toward harmonic richness and lyrical melody.
*
Gigue
The gigue (; ) or giga () is a lively baroque dance originating from the English jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th centuryBellingham, Jane"gigue."''The Oxford Companion to Music''. Ed. Alison Latham. Oxford Music Online. 6 July 20 ...
: The gigue or '
jig
The jig ( ga, port, gd, port-cruinn) is a form of lively folk dance in compound metre, as well as the accompanying dance tune. It is most associated with Irish music and dance. It first gained popularity in 16th-century Ireland and parts of ...
' originates in Britain and Ireland, and is a fast dance, almost always in compound time and/or triple meter, with and most common. However, the Gigue permits by far the most variation among the standard dances, with prominent examples in practically every time signature. The French gigue is characterized by a distinct jaunty dotted rhythm in and invariably written in two-part counterpoint, whereas the Italian (sometimes ‘Giga’) is a more varied and virtuosic format with running small notes in acrobatic passages. The Italian style largely superseded the French by the early-mid 18th century, at which point German composers had established it as a showpiece for not only technical virtuosity but also contrapuntal complexity, with some of JS Bach’s gigues nearly qualifying as proper fugues.
A suite may be introduced by a movement such as the following.
*
Prelude
*
Entrée (ballet): Sometimes an entrée is composed as part of a suite; but there it is purely instrumental music and no dance is performed. It is an introduction, a march-like piece played during the entrance of a dancing group, or played before a ballet. Usually in time. It is related to the Italian 'intrada'.
*
Overture
Between the Sarabande and Gigue, the following
Galanteries may be included.
*
Badinerie: a brief quick dance in time that merged with the
Scherzo
A scherzo (, , ; plural scherzos or scherzi), in western classical music, is a short composition – sometimes a movement from a larger work such as a symphony or a sonata. The precise definition has varied over the years, but scherzo often re ...
to give rise to a movement of fast tempo in
duple meter
Duple metre (or Am. duple meter, also known as duple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 2 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 2 and multiples (simple) or 6 and multiples (compound) in the upper figure of the tim ...
common in the Romanticism as a substitute to the Minuet.
*
Bourrée
The bourrée ( oc, borrèia; also in England, borry or bore) is a dance of French origin and the words and music that accompany it. The bourrée resembles the gavotte in that it is in double time and often has a dactylic rhythm. However, it i ...
: A light, quick dance in time. A bourée begins with the last beat of a bar and continues with two or three bars until the 4th beat of one bar takes a light stress giving a sense of return to the beginning of the rhythm structure.
*
Chaconne
A chaconne (; ; es, chacona, links=no; it, ciaccona, links=no, ; earlier English: ''chacony'') is a type of musical composition often used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short rep ...
(Chacona): a slow Spanish dance in
triple meter
Triple metre (or Am. triple meter, also known as triple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 3 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 3 (simple) or 9 ( compound) in the upper figure of the time signature, with , , ...
, much used as a vehicle for
variation on a repeated short harmonic progression with a short, repetitive, bass-line.
*
![Gavotte Dance](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Gavotte_Dance.jpg)
Gavotte
The gavotte (also gavot, gavote, or gavotta) is a French dance, taking its name from a folk dance of the Gavot, the people of the Pays de Gap region of Dauphiné in the southeast of France, where the dance originated, according to one source. A ...
: The gavotte is a dance in or related time signature. It begins on the third beat of an incomplete bar. It continues for a few bars where the third beat takes a light stress giving a sense of returning to the beginning of the rhythm structure. The gavotte tends to feature even staccato rhythms and has a charming rustic character.
*
Intermezzi
In music, an intermezzo (, , plural form: intermezzi), in the most general sense, is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work. In music history, the term ha ...
: This section consists of two to four dances at the discretion of the composer that may include a
minuet
A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''.
The term also describes the musical form that accomp ...
,
bourrée
The bourrée ( oc, borrèia; also in England, borry or bore) is a dance of French origin and the words and music that accompany it. The bourrée resembles the gavotte in that it is in double time and often has a dactylic rhythm. However, it i ...
,
polonaise
The polonaise (, ; pl, polonez ) is a dance of Polish origin, one of the five Polish national dances in time. Its name is French for "Polish" adjective feminine/"Polish woman"/"girl". The original Polish name of the dance is Chodzony, meani ...
, and/or a
gavotte
The gavotte (also gavot, gavote, or gavotta) is a French dance, taking its name from a folk dance of the Gavot, the people of the Pays de Gap region of Dauphiné in the southeast of France, where the dance originated, according to one source. A ...
.
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Loure: a slow dance of French origin named after the
instrument of the same name, though examples found in suites diverge almost completely from the idiom of that instrument. Sometimes likened to a ‘slow gigue’, the Loure is usually in .
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Minuet
A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''.
The term also describes the musical form that accomp ...
(Menuetto): A dance in a stately and graceful manner. It is often short and simple often with only clear theme and little variation. In many suites there are two minuets, in such cases the first minuet is played with repeats, then follows the second minuet with repeats, then the first minuet is repeated (''da capo'') usually without repeats. This order is standard whenever an optional dance is doubled, but the practice is most common with Minuets. The Minuet is notable in surviving the transition to the
Classical period, becoming standard as the third movement in the
Sonata form which replaced the suite as the most prominent cyclical instrumental genre.
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Passacaglia
The passacaglia (; ) is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used today by composers. It is usually of a serious character and is often based on a bass- ostinato and written in triple metre.
Origin
The t ...
(Pasacalles): a lively, often serious Spanish dance in or meter. Commonly based on a
bass-ostinato.
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Passepied
The passepied (, "pass-foot", from a characteristic dance step) is a French court dance. Originating as a kind of Breton branle, it was adapted to courtly use in the 16th century and is found frequently in 18th-century French opera and ballet ...
: A French dance movement in or . The rhythm is almost always in quaver form. It begins on the last beat of an incomplete bar though the upbeat does not resolve until the end of each section (unlike the bourée or gavotte where there can be a resolution of the upbeat(s) every three or four bars. It is a light dance with a strong feeling of movement.
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Pavane
The ''pavane'' ( ; it, pavana, ''padovana''; german: Paduana) is a slow processional dance common in Europe during the 16th century (Renaissance).
The pavane, the earliest-known music for which was published in Venice by Ottaviano Petrucci, ...
: A slow dance in or time of Spanish and/or Italian origin.
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Polonaise
The polonaise (, ; pl, polonez ) is a dance of Polish origin, one of the five Polish national dances in time. Its name is French for "Polish" adjective feminine/"Polish woman"/"girl". The original Polish name of the dance is Chodzony, meani ...
: A dance in which comes in cycles of two bars. A heavy stress is placed on the first beat of the first bar and a lighter stress is placed on the second beat of the second bar giving a slight feeling of disorientation.
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Siciliana
The siciliana or siciliano (also known as the sicilienne or the ciciliano) is a musical style or genre often included as a movement within larger pieces of music starting in the Baroque period. It is in a slow or time with lilting rhythms, ...
(Sicilienne): A dance in or in which most of the dance is fixed to one of three typical rhythms involving syncopation and inversion of the rhythm structure. It is often in a minor key and somewhat sombre.
See also
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List of musical medleys
In music, a medley is a piece composed from parts of existing pieces played one after another, sometimes overlapping. They are common in popular music, and most medleys are songs rather than instrumentals. A medley which is a remixed series is ...
References
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Musical form