3.1 Humanism and the rules of courtesy
In the 14th century, society freed itself from the influence, especially cultural, of the Church and the feudal system, and dance was welcomed in the courts, among the nobility, but also among the nascent mercantile and urban bourgeoisie.
The rediscovery of the classics in the civilization of humanism had ended up reintroducing a pagan and Epicurean spirit into the entire society. In this sense there were also notable improvements in the quality of life; palaces and homes built with notable refinement arose in the cities, considerable impetus was given to the construction of streets, squares, gardens and museums. In the environments of the refined stately palaces, the arts, music, dance, poetry and theater found widespread diffusion. In this era, the lifestyle and behavior of the upper classes throughout Europe was inspired by the same ideal, that of "courtesy" which dictated precise rules of behavior. The dance thus became one of the few moments in which the man was allowed to be freely close to the woman. Starting from the second twenty years of the 15th century, however, dances such as the carol and other collective and sung dances appear less and less frequently in literary descriptions of the social context, especially of the aristocratic classes.
The appearance of new musical instruments had imposed the need to organize movements with well-defined steps. For some time, to the rhythms of the various dance songs, the people had been performing a series of steps and gestures, singing the words of the refrain. The nobility began to adopt some of them, adapting them to noble taste, and trying to achieve the concordance between a step and the rhythm, to establish the alternation between slow and fast steps and to delimit the space in which the dancers had to move.
The geometric choreographies, the mathematical correspondence of music and steps, of divisions of the ground and of the movements of the 15th century dances express an already Renaissance aesthetic. The awareness of the individual in his relationship with the world, the triumph of the joy of living gave new impetus to the life of the nobility and the wealthy merchant bourgeoisie. Dance became the elegant entertainment of the nobles and the mirror of the refinement of the noble courts. The rhythms and steps were modified to adapt them to room receptions, to the sound of lutes, flutes and vielle.
The events of the lord's life (births, marriages, victories, coronations) were celebrated with dance parties. But even in the public events organized to celebrate the anniversaries, the spectacular aspect acquired more and more importance.
In Florence Lorenzo de' Medici invented new forms of musical performances to renew the traditional celebrations that took place on the occasion of the official welcome of an illustrious visitor, of the feasts of San Giovanni, of Calendimaggio and in particular the Carnival. The Magnificent organized traveling theatrical shows, the masquerades, in which the protagonists recited "carnival songs", such as the Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne written by Lorenzo himself, famous for the refrain: "How beautiful is youth, which one nevertheless flees! Whoever wants to be happy should be happy: there is no certainty about tomorrow." Lorenzo was also the author of some dance songs, and the choreography of a well-known bassa danza called Lauro is his.