Forgotten Baroque Dance SuitesBefore the idea of the sonata and sonata form took hold of music in the Classical Era, the Dance Suite was an immensely popular form. From Vivaldi to Telemann, JS Bach to Handel, suites of dances were commonplace among the Baroque composers.
The fact is that Dance Suites were not the province of the Baroque composers alone. What you hear in the music of this Era has its roots firmly planted in the music and practices of the Renaissance. From this period came the courtly dances that would have been used to entertain the nobility.
Forgotten Baroque Dance Suites
Development of the Dance Suite Structure
As far back as the 14th Century, musicians often paired two separate dances together to extend a performance and offer the opportunity for improvisation.
Later, as we enter the Renaissance, we discover that the idea of a suite of dances properly establishes itself, and by the time the Baroque Period arrives, the design and order of the suite is complete. The structure of the Baroque Dance Suite varied.
Often a prelude opened the suite. The order of the remaining dances also depended on the composer and to an extent, the occasion. Commonly, there would be an allemande, courante, sarabande, and a gigue.
Each of these dances was distinct with characteristics that would have been easily recognizable to the audiences and musicians of the day. The allemande, for example, is of Germanic origin, although the exact dance from which this music stems is not certain.
It begins with a typical double knock upbeat that leads into a gently flowing repeating rhythm. Many variations exist between the German and French versions.
In contrast, the gigue is a lively dance in compound duple-time (6/8) that is perhaps more easily identifiable as a gig. The character is upbeat and usually in a major key, and the structure is commonly binary.
Origins are thought to be English and Irish; however, in a similar way to the other dances, alternative versions evolved across Europe during the Baroque period. Eventually, the gigue developed into the Rondo form that became typical for the final movement of Classical concertos and symphonies.
Notable Compositions in the Dance Suite Form
Some of the most well-known Dance Suites were naturally composed by JS Bach . His collection of French and English Suites epitomizes the stylistic trends of the time.
They are a bit of a mixture, as often the English Suites are felt to be closer to the French style and the French Suites more aligned to the Italian style.
Nevertheless, JS Bach adopts the familiar pattern of dances, often including extra dances between others such as the double Menuet placed after the sarabande in the 4th Suite. Most forms are binary with the key signature of the suite remaining in place for each respective dance.
One should be careful not to overlook GF Handel’s ever-popular Music For The Royal Fireworks (HWV 351), which was composed as a direct command from George II for the Great Fireworks in 1749.
It is a piece of celebration following the end of the War of Austrian Succession. What you hear is a French-style overture followed by a Bouree, a Siciliana, La Réjouissance, and finally two Menuets.
Handel’s Water Music (HWV 348) is a collection of three suites, each one containing a glorious variety of dance movements, but is an immensely important piece of Baroque music. It demonstrates the diversity of approaches Baroque composers applied to the idea of what a Suite was.
Transition to the Classical Era
The Classical Era moved in a new direction away from many of the aspects that became the mainstay of Baroque music. Polyphony gave way to homophony, modality was seconded in favour of tonality, and the suite evolved into the sonata, the concerto, and the symphony.
With the development of sonata form, the suite lost favor as the new form allowed composers to more fully explore their musical material in a way that they couldn’t in any dance included in the suite.
All was not lost, though, as the minuet remained part of these Classical innovations alongside a form of the slower sarabande that morphed into the slow movements of these works.
Neoclassicism and Its Influences
As is usually the case in all things creative, change occurs at regular intervals. The Classical Era was followed by the Romantic Era, then led towards Nationalism, Impressionism, and what became termed Modernism.
Many interesting developments took place in the 20th Century, and one of those was Neoclassicism. This was led by notable composers such as Igor Stravinsky, Artur Honegger, Paul Hindemith, and to an extent Dmitri Shostakovich.
It was a reaction against the expressionists that included composers Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton von Webern. Their music, full of challenging dissonance as a result of Schoenberg’s dodecaphonic principles, was a step too far for the Neoclassicists.
Stravinsky’s Neoclassical Works
Hard as it may be to believe, following pieces like The Rite of Spring, Stravinsky turned towards a cleaner, sleeker style of music in the 1920s. One fine example of Stravinsky in Neoclassical garb is in his 1919 Pulcinella Ballet.
This piece is not a romantic nostalgic yearning composition but one that, in this case, brings the music of Italian composer Pergolesi (1710-1736) directly into the 20th Century.
Stravinsky turns the tale, or rather four tales of Pulcinella into a 21-part ballet. As was often the case, the comic ballet was commissioned by Diaghilev for the Ballet Russe, with the caveat that Stravinsky should base the music on Pergolesi’s music.
As it turns out, the source of the original music may not have been Pergolesi but the work of several other composers.
How this relates to the article title is how Stravinsky begins to use older forms of music like the overture, the gavotte, and the tarantella within the ballet as a basis for his score. Stravinsky is not composing pastiche, but crafting his music out of something older. The results are startling and marked a new phase in Stravinsky’s creative career.
Other Composers Embracing Neoclassicism
Many other composers leapt gracefully onto the bandwagon looking back to Baroque and Classical forms and musical sources to compose something new. Prokofiev’s First Symphony (1917) is called the classical symphony as it represents a re-imagining of Haydn’s work.
Equally, Richard Strauss in his Op.60, Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, cleverly employs many aspects of neoclassicism that at first make one wonder whether we are hearing Strauss at all. Also, his Dance Suite from the Keyboard pieces of François Couperin is a stunning example of the resurrection of the Baroque Suite.
Czech composer Bohuslav Martinu composed a Concerto Grosso in 1941, amongst other reflections and re-workings of Baroque forms. Spanish composer Manuel de Falla composed a concerto for harpsichord, flute, oboe, clarinet, violin, and cello (1923-26) that also echoes the older styles of music, and many more composers besides.
The Baroque Dance Suite may not be as prevalent today as it was a few hundred years ago, but its influence and importance have not been forgotten.