''Terpsichore'', or Terpsichore, Musarum Aoniarum, is a compendium of more than 300 instrumental dances published in 1612 by the German composer

Michael Praetorius Michael Praetorius (probably 28 September 1571 – 15 February 1621) was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms ba ...

. The collection takes its name from the muse of dance. In his introduction Praetorius takes credit for arranging the music rather than composing the tunes. The collection is based on French dance repertoire of the time with dances such as the

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 ...

. However, some of the tunes have been identified as coming from elsewhere in Europe, for example England and Spain.

Peter Holman Peter Kenneth Holman MBE (born 19 October 1946, London) is an English conductor and musicologist best known for reviving the music of Purcell and his English contemporaries. Holman, with the ensemble The Parley of Instruments made many of the ex ...

: ''Terpsichore at 400: Michael Praetorius as a Collector of Dances.'' The Viola da Gamba Society Journal, Volume Six, 2012. S. 34-51
Online
Strohfiddel

The publication was rediscovered in the twentieth century during the

early music revival :''See Historically informed performance for a more detailed explanation of this topic.'' The general discussion of how to perform music from ancient or earlier times did not become an important subject of interest until the 19th century, when E ...

Instrumentation

''Terpsichore'' contains some notes which relate to instrumentation, but does not specify which instruments should play particular parts. A variety of instruments have been used to play ''Terpsichore''. Sometimes performers draw on another work by Praetorius, ''

Syntagma Musicum ''Syntagma Musicum (1614-1620)'' is a musical treatise in three volumes by the German composer, organist, and music theorist Michael Praetorius. It was published in Wittenberg and Wolfenbüttel. It is one of the most commonly used research sources ...

'', which is an important source of information regarding

historical instruments In the historically informed performance movement, musicians perform classical music using restored or replicated versions of the instruments for which it was originally written. Often performances by such musicians are said to be "on authentic ...

. The

Early Music Consort The Early Music Consort of London was a British music ensemble in the late 1960s and 1970s which specialised in historically informed performance of Medieval and Renaissance music. It was founded in 1967 by music academics Christopher Hogwood ...

used this approach in the 1970s, and the

New London Consort New London Consort was a London-based Renaissance and Baroque music ensemble, which performed in most of Europe and various other parts of the world. Founded and directed by Philip Pickett, most of its repertoire was recorded and broadcast by BBC ...

in the 1980s. However, ''Syntagma Musicum'' is not necessarily a guide to the instrumentation of ''Terpsichore''. The musicologist

suggests that the dances were conceived primarily for violin consorts, although "Praetorius was clearly aware that potential purchasers in Germany might want to play them on wind instruments".

In popular culture

Film use

* A ''

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 ...

'' (#93) and a "

" (#32) from ''Terpsichore'', in arrangements by

David Munrow David John Munrow (12 August 194215 May 1976) was a British musician and early music historian. Early life and education Munrow was born in Birmingham where both his parents taught at the University of Birmingham. His mother, Hilda Ivy (né ...

, are used for a ballet sequence danced by

Louis XIII of France Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...

(played by

Graham Armitage Graham Armitage (24 April 1936 – 6 March 1999) was an English stage, film and television actor. Armitage was born in Blackpool in Lancashire, the son of Albert Edward Armitage (1908–1959) and Isabel W. ''née'' Bailes (1909–). In 1947 Harv ...

) in the 1971 film ''The Devils''.

Music

The Fifth Estate (band) The Fifth Estate, formerly known as The D-Men, is an American rock band formed in 1963 in Stamford, Connecticut. Early years (as The D-Men) The band began in Stamford, Connecticut, in 1963, as ''The D-Men''. Early on, as The D-Men, the band ...

had a hit record in 1967 with their

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

version of "

Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead "Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead" is a song in the 1939 film '' The Wizard of Oz''. It is the centrepiece of several individual songs in an extended set-piece performed by the Munchkins, Glinda (Billie Burke) and Dorothy Gale. Highlighted by the Lol ...

", in which they interpolated "La Bourrée" from the ''Terpsichore'' suite, played on a sopranino recorder in G, as described by Michael Praetorius in the ''Syntagma''. * On

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

's classical station

WCLV WCLV (90.3 FM) is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to Cleveland, Ohio, carrying a combined fine art/ classical music and jazz format. Owned by Ideastream Public Media, the station serves both Greater Cleveland and No ...

95.5-FM in the 1970s, Albert Petrak used "La Bourrée" as the theme music for his 6:15 am "First Program." Petrak curated a collection of 32 versions of the "Bourrée" for his show.

Discography

Recordings include selections performed by * the

* the

''Dances from Terpsichore''. New London Consort (1986). L'Oiseau Lyre 414 633. *

Ricercar Consort The Ricercar Consort is a Belgian instrumental ensemble founded in 1980 together with the Ricercar record label of Jérôme Lejeune. The founding members were violinist François Fernandez, organist Bernard Foccroulle, and viola da gamba player ...

and Ensemble La Fenice

References

External links

* {{italic title Dance music Early dance