FIRST PART A SHORT HISTORY OF DANCE FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE BEGINNING OF THE 19TH CENTURY CHAPTER 4 THE DANCE MASTERS OF THE 15TH CENTURY 4.1 Dance and good manners In the noble courts of the fifteenth century, a character appeared on the scene for the first time, destined to play an important role not only on a technical level, but also on a social and cultural level: the dance master. Girls belonging to noble or upper middle class families, who were educated in the refinement of manners in view of future marital alliances, were given a musical education which included the practice of singing, some musical instruments and dance. Teaching took place at home and was entrusted to specialized teachers. Later, even for men, dance ended up becoming a skill to be exhibited in public like fencing, a virtue that the perfect courtly man cannot lack, as theorized in the Book of the courtier Baldassare Castiglione. The phenomenon of dance masters exploded particularly in northern Italy. Dancing parties were organized in all the courts and there was no prince who did not have his trusted master. The various lords of the peninsula competed for dance masters because knowing how to dance had become a matter of custom, even before that of entertainment. In noble weddings, the presentation of the bride took place with dance steps: in some cases, the master took the place of the bride's father. The "dancing masters" were in most cases not simple technicians, but people endowed with vast culture who were interested in philosophy, mathematics, astronomy and alchemy, therefore perfect Renaissance men.With the formation of the category of masters, the fashion for dance manuals that established the rules of dance spread. Gone were the times in which everyone could move as they wanted, from this moment a long process of evolution of the dance language began and the gap between the way of dancing of the people and that of the aristocratic classes became even more acute, which increasingly had to obey a set of behavioral rules, codified steps, defined styles. After all, form has its most significant development parable starting from the Renaissance. Just think of the importance that visual evidence, the organization of space and the image (with the affirmation and elaboration of perspective) assumed in the 15th and 16th centuries, passing through microscopic and telescopic observations, to reach the over the centuries to current image production techniques such as photography and cinema. During the Renaissance, a great rediscovery of dances from all times occurred in Europe. Heterogeneous elements from various eras and different peoples were taken up, while musical fashions and dance forms were easily transmitted from one nation to another. In Italy, France, Germany and England, dozens and dozens of new dances were produced with increasingly detailed and complex programs. In the 15th century, the first manuscript codes on the art of dance appeared. The oldest is the , attributed to the daughter of Charles I the Bold, Mary of Burgundy. The collection includes 59 dance arias, but does not provide details either on their character or on the way to dance them, limiting itself to indicating the name of the steps and the movements. Manuscrit des Basses Danses 4.2 Domenico da Piacenza The first theorist to collect and systematize the theories relating to the dance of his time in a written work was Domenico da Piacenza. His treatise De arte saltandi and choreas ducendi indicates the steps and music of the choreographies in vogue at the various courts, many of which Domenico himself was the author of. The discussion is divided into two parts: a theoretical section, in which the principles of the art of dancing are exposed, and a practical part containing the description of twenty-two dances, eighteen of which have musical intonation. The doctrine of Domenico, an accredited master of good manners and a professional dancer requested by the most influential families of his time, formed the basis of the entire evolution of court dance, in Italy and Europe. There is not much certain information about his life. He was presumably born in Piacenza, although some texts cite him as Domenico or Domenichino from Ferrara, probably because he was active in that city at the court of Lionello d'Este, a great patron who, during the nine years of government (1441-1450) made Ferrara is an important cultural center and, in the field of dance, "the cradle of the Lombard style". Domenico dedicated the Lioncello dance to him. The dance entitled Marchesana was probably dedicated to one of the two wives of Duke Lionello. Two other dances in the collection, Belriguardo and Belfiore , bear the name of two of the "Estense delights", the summer residences built by the Dukes of Este in the countryside around Ferrara. Perhaps it was precisely the intense cultural activity promoted by the Ferrara court that convinced Domenico da Piacenza of the need to transform dance practice, until then entrusted to oral transmission, into a real discipline that had both theoretical foundations and artistic dignity. If we do not know Domenico's biographical events precisely in the years he spent at the Este court, we know with certainty, however, that he worked in Milan with the Sforza family where he oversaw the direction of grandiose parties. A pupil of Domenico, Guglielmo Ebreo, in his treatise De practical sue arte tripudii vulgate opusculum , claims to have collaborated with the Master for the celebrations of the engagement of Ippolita, daughter of Francesco Sforza and Bianca Maria Visconti, with Alfonso d'Aragona, son of the king of Neaple: «And I found myself with Messer Domenicho doing Moorish dances and many dances». In the period in which Domenico provided his advice to the Sforza, his first public outing was linked to the wedding party of Tristano Sforza, in Milan, in 1455. On that occasion he acted as dance partner to Bianca Maria Visconti, wife of the Duke of Milan, «because she, engaged in a dance of which she didn't feel sure, wanted to have the prompter of the steps and the bass dances and the pives and the leaps at her side». 4.2.1 Il De arte saltandi et choreas ducendi Domenico's manuscript, which has a double title – De arte saltandi et choreas ducendi and De la arte di ballare et danzare – has created some problems for scholars regarding the attribution of authorship, as it presents itself with contradictory characteristics: from on the one hand, it introduces a rigorous discourse on dance, which can be assimilated to a real method, on the other, it contains formal imperfections, errors, repetitions, a total lack of language properties. There are two most accredited hypotheses: that it is a work written under dictation by several students, given the undeniable presence of different writing styles, or that the original manuscript has been lost, and that the work that has come down to us, preserved at the National Library of Paris, is a hasty copy of not always cultured scribes. Despite the formal and literary problems, the innovative significance of Domenico's treatise is beyond question, above all because it presents, for the first time in the history of dance, a method. For each dance covered, precise musical notations are reported, attributable to the Maestro himself or in any case to professional musicians. Contrary to what one might think when faced with an informative text, this book is not aimed at hypothetical students whose sole objective is to learn to dance. Reading the text presupposes basic musical knowledge, as well as a particular inclination for the art of dance. This has led to the hypothesis that the work was created to train new teachers, given that at the time, the demand for teachers was much greater than the supply. It is no coincidence that they were students of Domenico Antonio Cornazano and Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro, authors of two other important treatises of the 15th century. 4.2.2. The classification of the steps Domenico conducts a precise cataloging of the fundamental steps used up to that point in the world of dance, classifying them into two types of movements: nine natural movements and three accidental movements. Natural movements consist of carrying out steps that are very similar to those that are performed habitually or spontaneously: sempio (simple step), doppio (double step), reprexa (reprise), volta tonda (complete turn), movimento (rhythmic bending of the body), jump . The accidental movements arise from certain choreic needs and imply steps and figures that are not natural, but studied in advance: frapamento (ornament, affectation), scorsa (spent) and cambiamento (exchange). At the end of each sequence of the choreography the dancers greet each other with a reverence which is performed by flexing the knee and extending the other leg backwards with a rather slow movement. As regards the classification of dances, there are four that are significant from a technical and aesthetic point of view: bassa danza, quaternaria, saltarello, piva. The bassa danza of French origin, was a slow-moving dance, as opposed to the high dance, which required less formal movements. It was so called because it was performed without losing contact of the feet with the ground. The quaternaria , called German saltarello in Italy, had a rather simple order of steps: two simple steps, each of which took two quarters of time, were followed by a bar. The saltarello , called High Dance in Spain and Pas de Brabant in France, is a lively dance, with large movements, but which, despite the name, does not include actual skipped steps. These are mostly double steps in quick time that are performed while swaying, that is, with a lifting of the body at the second short step. The piva was probably born as a dance to the sound of the bagpipe from which it took its name. It was therefore a country dance that the nobility had adopted. The ladies performed it with a fast double step, while the knights could try their hand at jumping from all sides. The bassa danza, with slow and elegant steps, was considered the most important of the measures (“bassa danza is the queen of measures"), while the piva, due to its fast rhythm, was the closest to popular dances. Saltarello and quaternaria are measures that fall between bassa danza and piva. By mixing the steps of the four fundamental typologies, the Maestro created new choreographies from time to time in a unified vision of the various movements in relation to the music. It is precisely this approach that gives a turning point to the analytical study of dancing techniques and establishes a theoretical platform for the construction of choreography as a discipline. 4.2.3 The rules of body movement With De arte saltandi et choreas ducendi the dance becomes movement of the body in space acted according to six precise rules: measurement, memory, manner, measurement of the terrain, offering help, fantasmata . Measure is understood as a sense of rhythm and time but also as "the grace of the posture and bearing of the whole person". The synchrony between music and movement is a concept that was already discussed in the Middle Ages. In the 11th century, the Arab doctor Ububchasym from Baghdad, author of a treatise entitled "Tablets of Health", maintained that rhythmic order is obtained when there is a proportion between the sound and the person's movements. Memory is the ability to remember steps and music to adapt to variations in tempo and style. The same dance, for example, is often composed of several sections with different rhythms that dancers must be able to recognize in order to promptly adapt to changes in rhythm. Manner is the ability to coordinate agility and style. The measurement of the terrain is the ability to pay attention in calibrating the steps with respect to the space. Offering help is the understanding between the dancers. Of the last element, the phantasmata , one of the most debated by scholars, Domenico gives the following explanation: «I tell you, whoever is worth learning about the trade must dance to be ghosted. And note that a corporal strength is phantasmazed, which is moved with the mind of the mind... making each one rest for a time like having seen the head of Medusa, as the Poet says, that is, that having made the movement be entirely of stone in that instant and in that instant I set my wings like a falcon that is moved by pace, according to the rules above, that is, operating mexura , memoria , mainera , cum mexura of land and air". The phantasmata is therefore a sudden stop between two consecutive movements, a movement coming from the emotional sphere which interrupts for a moment the natural and regular development of the movement; it is an opposition that sees, on the one hand, the elegance that derives from moving according to nature and, on the other, the energy with which the dancer's body is charged when the movement reflects the sensations of the soul, realizing thus the humanistic ideal of the synthesis of body and spirit. A further interpretative key to the concept of phantasmata , understood as an occasional stylistic element ("Talhor to be silent for a time and stay dead") is offered by the Libro dell'arte del danzare (1455-1465) by Antonio Cornazano, a pupil of Domenico. It therefore seems that it is a stylistic characteristic, so much so that - writes Cornazano - if this peculiarity of style is taken away from bassa danza, dance loses what by its nature belongs to it: elegance. Therefore bassa danza cannot be conceived without dancing as a phantasmal. Domenico da Piacenza's treatise can also be considered the methodological premise for the definition of an idea of ballet and its first rules. The term "ballet" appears for the first time in the work of his student Antonio Cornazano, the content of which is practically the sum of the Master's teaching, which brought dance to a very high stylistic level. In practice, Domenico intends to affirm the principle that the construction of choreographies and the teaching of dances are things that cannot be improvised, but that require professionalism and specific competence and that only specialists must dedicate themselves to this art. This statement is the sign of the split between artistic dance and popular dance. 4.3 Guglielmo Ebreo The universality of the knowledge of this period meant that many masters and treatise writers were also mathematicians, astronomers, alchemists and men of letters, who ended up transferring the principles of the sciences they dealt with into their dance creations. This is the case of Guglielmo Ebreo, also known as Giovanni Ambrosio da Pesaro, a name he took when he converted to Christianity, which probably happened in Milan, hence the choice of the surname Ambrosio. Guglielmo was born around 1420 and was active as a dance teacher and dancer among the Sforza family, but he also had contact with Lorenzo de' Medici for whom his brother, Giuseppe Ebreo, also worked as a music and dance teacher. In 1465 he went to Naples, perhaps following Ippolita Sforza who had married Alfonso of Aragon. In a letter from Naples dated July 1466, addressed to the Duchess Bianca Maria Visconti, the Maestro justified himself by not being able to go to Milan because he was busy teaching "Lombard dancing" to the two very young daughters of King Ferrante. In the last years of his life Guglielmo stayed in Urbino with the Montefeltro family, where he passed on the secrets of the trade to his son Pier Paolo, cited by Baldassare Castiglione in The Courtier as a negative example of a professional dancer who dances «with so much attention that he certainly seems to be enumerating the steps”. 4.3.1 Dance as a gentle art Guglielmo, a perfect Renaissance man who believes in the rationality of the natural order and sees a parallel between musical harmony and the harmony of nature, establishes further rules in the execution of dances: moderation, sweetness, lightness, correct bearing, elegance. For him, dance, as well as an art, is a science and must be studied like other sciences, with a speculative and a practical intent, in the sense that all theories must be tested and verified with execution. Guglielmo also underlines the moral requirements necessary for those who are about to learn the art of Terpsichore: dance, a "gentle art" is reserved for those with a good spiritual disposition and precluded "from the scoundrels and plebeian machanics" who would make it "a science adulterous and servile". And in fact the treatise De Pratica seu arte tripudii , dedicated to Galeazzo Maria Sforza, in addition to giving indications on dance steps, also dictates the code of behavior for the perfect gentleman and above all the perfect gentlewoman, anticipating some of the rules set out later by Castiglione in the Courtier. Guglielmo defines himself as "a most devoted disciple and fervent imitator of the most dignified knight Messer Domenico da Ferrara in the art of virtuous and honest, learned dancing" and claims to have learned from him how much "prominent learning I was able to gather". In the treatise the figures are divided into two groups, bassa danza and ballet. The names of the codified basse danze are the following: Reale, Alessandresca, Zinevera, Migniotta, Piatosa, Cupido, Pellegrina, Febus, Daphnes, Gioliva, Pazienza, Principessa, Partita crudele, Alis, Venus, Zauro . The choreography of the last two is the work of Lorenzo the Magnificent, who later asked Guglielmo to include them in his treatise. The codified dances, some of which already appear in the manuscript of his master Domenico da Piacenza, are: Gioioso, Duchesco, Leggiadra, Colonnese, Pettirosso, Giove, Prisonera, Marchesana, Bel fiore, Ingrata, Anello, Gelosia, Belriguardo, Graziosa, Spero, Lioncello, Mercanzia. From the names of the figures it is immediately clear what the dominant themes are in couple dance: love and courtship, although the author repeatedly underlines the ethical value of dance, condemning any exploitation. But it is clear to everyone that dancing has been a form of amorous courtship throughout the ages. Guglielmo Ebreo examines the various hypotheses relating to the origins of music and dance, starting from Greek mythology. He therefore specifies that “dancing is the friend of lovers and of those who use it correctly at parties; while he is the enemy of the plebeians who, with corrupt souls, transform this liberal and virtuous art into an adulterous science”. 4.3.2 The Measure and the rules For the perfect execution of a dance it is necessary to know and apply some rules: Measurement : it is the basic rule, which requires agreement of voice and tempo, on the one hand, and of tempo and steps, on the other. Manner : formal perfection. Memory : constant attention to the sound, to match the steps to the tempo from time to time. It is an essential requirement for participating in parties, so as not to run the risk of interrupting a dance due to a moment of amnesia. Measurement of the ground : it is the evaluation of the place and the room where one dances; it is the dancer's ability to move away from the lady and recover her while respecting time, commensurate with the steps available. Aere : majestic and light movement, aesthetically pleasing; dexterity in dancing. Body movement : dancers must have perfect bodies, without defects, and must move with grace. Leaving the beats : it is the ability to distinguish the tempos and to dance in a technically correct manner by dividing the time of each measure, depending on the case, from the bassa danza to the dulcimer. Dancing against the beat : more than a rule, it is a test to learn to dance to the beat. The dancer must try to dance against the beat on the first or second measure. It must then re-enter in time. Putting in time : it is a second type of test. The dancer dances against the beat; the player puts it back in time, adapting the music to the steps; the dancer does not allow himself to be put in time, continuing to dance against the beat. Making time : the dancer must go to the beat; even when the player tries to put him out of time, the dancer must immediately get back into time. Keys : knowledge of the two fundamental musical keys which, according to the Author, are B_molle and B_quadro. Composing dances : to invent a new dance, you must first establish whether the music should be in B_molle or in B_quadro. Secondly, the figures must be pleasant to look at, and must especially appeal to women. The public's judgment, in fact, is based more on the aesthetic impact than on technical evaluations. Guglielmo advises, in his treatise, to practice dancing in backbeat and proposes forms and movements in the rhythm of the dances whose music and choreography he describes. William's manuscript is preserved in the National Library of Paris: it is bound in grey-green velvet, with the coat of arms and arms of the Viscontis, to whom he belonged before passing to the royal house of France. Thumbnail from by Guglielmo Ebreo De pratica seu arte tripudii 4.4 Antonio Cornazano The third important treatise writer of the 15th century is Antonio Cornazano, poet and humanist as well as an expert in dance, born in Piacenza around 1430 and died in Ferrara in 1484. In Cornazano, who was in the service of the Sforza and Estensi families, we owe the distinction between the elegant way of dancing and popular dances. The difference, according to the Maestro, lies not so much in the repertoire - as many steps of popular dances are found in ballroom dances - but in the style of execution. The bassa danza, in fact, is more difficult to perform because it must be performed while maintaining the characteristics of solemnity, harmony and dignity. These considerations echo the theories of the master Domenico da Piacenza, whose work represents not only the literary reference model, but also the theoretical and cultural background of that art of dance which is on its way to becoming, precisely with Cornazano, a rigorous discipline. Il (“The book on the art of dancing “) that has come down to us is the second draft, as the author himself states, after a first version, lost, from 1455. The definitive work is preserved in the Capponiano codex, Vatican n. 203. After the dedication, in triplets, for a total of 82 hendecasyllables, the theoretical part begins which immediately establishes the fundamental requirements of the dance: «The perfect dance is measure, manner, air, diversity of things, and compartment of terrain». This is followed by the presentation of the main measures: piva, saltarello, quaternaria, bassa danza. libro dell’arte del danzare The piva is composed of accelerated double steps. The saltarello, which the Spaniards call , is the happiest of all dances and is composed of double steps, the second of which is skipped. The quaternary is the “Todescho saltarello" which consists of two "simple steps and a repeated step after the second step in trauerso". Bassa danza is considered the "queen of other measures". high dance The dancing movements are described following the theoretical formulation of Domenico da Piacenza: nine natural and three accidentals. Finally, we theorize about ballets, the concept of "swaying" and the various levels of the art of dancing. After the theoretical part, we move on to the presentation of the individual "balls and basse danze... created for stately rooms, and to be only dansed for most worthy Madonnas, and not plebeians”.