{"id":1101,"date":"2017-02-28T18:19:23","date_gmt":"2017-02-28T18:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-music-rford\/?post_type=chapter&p=1101"},"modified":"2020-04-11T21:51:25","modified_gmt":"2020-04-11T21:51:25","slug":"suite","status":"web-only","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-music-rford\/chapter\/suite\/","title":{"raw":"Suite","rendered":"Suite"},"content":{"raw":"

The Baroque Suite<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/vccs-tcc-mus121-1\/wp-admin\/post.php?post=292&action=edit<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe Dance suite was a characteristic baroque form and a\u00a0\u00a0widely used genre in the Baroque. \u00a0By definition suites are ordered sets of instrumental or orchestral pieces usually performed in a concert setting. (Some dance suites by Bach are called partitas, but this term also refers for other collections of musical pieces). The dance suite \u00a0typically consists of four movements (described below), plus an overture at the beginning.\r\n\r\nTransition:<\/strong> Dance Music became the framework of instrumental music. The focus changed from\u00a0 the actual dance to the music itself.\u00a0 In the Renaissance and early Baroque, composers wrote collections of short dance pieces for actual dancing at court. But over time\u00a0 people\u00a0\u00a0focused on the music written for the dances rather than on the dance for which the music was written.<\/span>\r\n\r\nNote the similar 20th century transition of dance music to concert performance in the account below:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\r\n
\u00a0This evolution of music for dancing to \u00a0music for listening happened in the 20th century with the big bands of the 1940's (Duke Ellington, Stan Kenton, Glen Miller etc.) As they transitioned from playing int the large dance halls of the 40's and 50's, to \u00a0concert venues, they focused on arrangements \u00a0unencumbered by \u00a0dance requirements. \u00a0Works \u00a0became \u00a0more complex rhythmically and stylistically with added virtuosity and improvisation. This expansion of the big band era led to even compositions such as \u00a0Gershwin's \u00a0American in Paris and Rhapsody in Blue.<\/div>\r\nBy the late Baroque, the suite was used primarily as a concert piece They\u00a0were especially favored by composers of keyboard music.\r\n\r\nAs you read this page, pay attention to the order of the pieces and the fact that each dance had its own character. Individual dances had their own meter, tempo, and style. Though Baroque composers generally followed the pattern of dances listed below when they composed suites\u00a0 they did not hesitate, especially by the late Baroque, to depart from the normal order or even insert movements that had nothing to do with dances.\r\n\r\n. \"Painting<\/a>\r\n\r\nConcert, c. 1630, by Mattia Preti\r\n

Movements of the Baroque Suite<\/h3>\r\nOverture<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe baroque suite often began with a French overture (\"Ouverture\" in French), which was followed by a succession of dances.\u00a0https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Overture \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>As a musical form\u00a0the French overture first appears in the court ballet and operatic overtures of Jean-Baptiste Lully, \u00a0Italian born composer who was in the Court of Louis XIV in \u00a0the Palace of Versailles \u00a0France. The French Overture in an elaborated \u00a0two-section form called\u00a0<\/i>is\u00a0<\/i>found in the French ballets<\/strong> as early as 1640. Note the\u00a0 slow \"dotted rhythm\"\u00a0 introduction\u00a0 followed by a fast fugal\u00a0 section at 0:56. Listen for the imitation.\r\n\r\nThe overture would\u00a0 then\u00a0 frequently\u00a0 be followed by a series of individual \u00a0 dance like \u00a0movements before the curtain rose for the ballet dance. Listen to this example of a French \u00a0Overture by \u00a0Lully. Note the dotted rhythm of in the first section. A\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/obp7zVNILdo\r\n\r\nAllemande<\/strong>\r\n\r\nHere is a video \u00a0of two \u00a0people in 18th Century dress dancing the Allemande, often the first dance of an instrumental suite.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/cZWDrjLO7r4\r\n\r\nThis dance\u00a0 was very popular in duple meter with its origins in the German Renaissance era. Tempo is moderate.\u00a0 \u00a0Note the grace of this and other dances of this time.\r\n\r\nListen to this\u00a0 Allemande \u00a0by Bach for harpsichord. Note the \u00a0long \u00a0unwinding expressive melodies \u00a0extended by sequences. \u00a0Bach being a late baroque composer \u00a0has taken this dance \u00a0into a purely instrumental style<\/span>.\u00a0 \u00a0It has the same m movement title (Allemande) and some similar styles\u00a0 but no longer is the actual dance.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/jEJvA4Evu3I\r\n

Courante<\/h3>\r\nThe second dance is the courante, a lively, French dance in triple meter. The Italian version is called the corrente<\/em>\r\n\r\nListen to this Courante \u00a0from \u00a0Suite in D minor \u00a0by Locke. Notice how the style of this piece differs from\u00a0 \u00a0the\u00a0 previous allemande.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/WOJTXQJadw0\r\n

Sarabande<\/h3>\r\nThe sarabande, a Spanish dance, is the third of the four basic dances, and is one of the slowest of the baroque dances. It is also in triple meter. \u00a0There is an emphasis on the second beat, which creates\u00a0the characteristic \"halting\" or iambic rhythm of the sarabande.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/52oTcSvWX8U\r\n\r\n\u00a0Sarabande from Bach Cello Suite No 1<\/strong>https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Cello_Suites_(Bach)<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>These suites for unaccompanied cello are remarkable in that they achieve the effect of \u00a0contrapuntal and polyphonic music yet performed in a single musical line. This is one movement (Saraband) typical of a Baroque musical suite in which each movement is based around a baroque dance style. \u00a0(This performance \u00a0is especially fine though some background noise does detract). Note the expressive almost \u00a0romantic style.\r\n\r\nFollowing is the Allemande form Bach Cello suite No 1\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/-i49P0LalKY\r\n\r\n \r\n

Gigue<\/h3>\r\nThe gigue is a lively baroque dance in compound meter. \u00a0It is typically the concluding movement of an instrumental suite - \u00a0the fourth of its basic dance types.This meter is compound meter (6\/8 meter) in which the six beats in the measure \u00a0are grouped in two groups of three beats. With this subdivision the meter would \u00a0be felt in twos. The gigue is easily recognized by its rhythmic feel. It \u00a0gigue originated in the British Isles. Its counterpart in folk music is the jig.\\\r\n\r\nNote this example of a \u00a0Gigue \u00a0 by Giardino Armonico. \u00a0You can count the meter 1<\/strong>23 4<\/strong>56. Note that while being a livlerier dance there is still an element of gentility and \u00a0grace.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/J_lthPnJ59E\r\n\r\nOptional Movements<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThese four dance types<\/strong> (allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue) make up the majority of seventeenth-century suites; later suites interpolate one or more additional dances between the sarabande and gigue:\r\n