FIRST PART A SHORT HISTORY OF DANCE FROM ANTIQUITY TO THE BEGINNING OF THE 19TH CENTURY CHAPTER 7 THE EVOLUTION OF INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC AND MUSIC PUBLISHING 7.1 The development of instrumental music and music printing In the second half of the sixteenth century, the history of dance was intertwined with the evolution of instrumental music. The need to compose texts intended for dance, in fact, offers composers the inspiration for the creation of a rhythmic framework in an era in which, as the "metronome" did not yet exist, the "tactus" was measured by heart rate. Tersichore, a collection by the composer Michael Praetorius, a fundamental figure for the transition from the Renaissance to the Baroque as well as one of the main exponents of the German musical Renaissance, testifies to the influence that the dances in vogue in that period also exerted on composers who mainly dedicated themselves to Holy music. Terpsichore contains 312 short texts of music and songs for dance, offering an overview of the entertainment dances in vogue in France at the author's time. The vast publishing production that followed the invention of movable type printing also contributed to the development of music, and therefore of dance music, in the European Renaissance. In 1501 the first collection of printed music made with movable type was published in Venice, the anthology entitled Harmonicae Musices Odhecaton, including 96 polyphonic chansons by Franco-Flemish authors. But it was the typographer-publisher Ottaviano Petrucci da Fossombrone (1466-1539) who gave a turning point to musical printing, inventor of a complex system called "triple impression" based on three phases: in the first phase the musical staves were printed, in the second the notes and the various musical symbols and in the third the words of the text. The difficulty was making the three parts fit together perfectly. Having adapted Gutenberg's invention to musical texts marked a turning point in the history of music and Petrucci obtained an exclusive from the Republic for the printing of musical scores. The music press deserves the credit of having saved from oblivion a heritage of dances, mostly anonymous, therefore linked to tradition, which were very popular in Europe at the time and whose degree of diffusion is revealed precisely by the presence of a same dance in more than one collection. In these anthologies, among the traditional dances of European origin, others appear whose names document the cultural contributions that come from the "new world", which the European powers begin to colonize. Thus, alongside the already well-known pavana, gagliarda and branle, dances with exotic notes such as sarabande, canario and chaconne make their appearance. In the category of publishers, Pierre Attaingnant, who lived between 1494 and 1552, occupies a prominent place. From his native Douai, he arrived in Paris in 1514 to dedicate himself to the book trade; its first edition Chansons nouvelles en musique à quatre partie , dating back to 1527, was followed by around a hundred musical collections which represent almost all of the French production of the first half of the 16th century. Thanks to him, the unique movable type printing developed in France. In fact, Attaignant perfected the technique invented by Ottaviano Petrucci, significantly reducing the costs of printing books, allowing for greater production and, consequently, wider diffusion. In addition to being a publisher, Attaignant was also a composer of dances and chansons, including the famous turdjon, the name with which he titled the second part of the dance La Magdalena , due to its excited and whirlwind character. The dance was very successful throughout the century, but experienced a rapid decline at the beginning of the next, until its definitive disappearance. Much dance music is contained in the Intabolatura de Lauto by Marc'Antonio del Piffero, published in Venice in 1546. It is largely music for the chiaranzana, a court dance similar in structure to the better-known pass'e mezzo. The Flemish Tyelman (or Tylman) Susato (circa 1515-1566) was, as well as a musician, a music publisher. Active in Antwerp, he was first a trumpet player until, in 1543, he started a publishing business which developed widely and was continued after his death by his son Jakob. As a publisher Susato published over fifty volumes of music including some of his own compositions; The famous collection of Danseryes dances dates back to 1551. 7.2 L' Orchésographie by Thoinot Arbeau The condition of priest, or in any case of man of the church, was shared by several musicians who during the Renaissance dedicated an interest to the study, research and publication of collections of dances. Among these the Frenchman Thoinot Arbeau, an anagram of the name Jehan Tabourot (1520-1595). His treatise on dance, entitled Orchésographie, is written, as was customary at the time, in the form of a dialogue between the author and Capriol, a lawyer who supports the need for dance as a complement to the legal profession. In the edition printed in Paris in 1888, the Orchésographie is preceded by a “Notice sur les Danses du XVI siècle” by Laure Fonta, which provides an overview of the main dances of the 16th century: basse danse (danse par bas ou sans sauter), la pavane, la gaillarde (danse per haut ou sautée), la volte, la courante, l’allemande, le bransles, la triory, la gavotte, la morisque ou moresque, les bouffons ou mattachins. The Orchésographie is not only an important testimony of the dances popular during the sixteenth century, but it is also a mirror of the society of the time which describes in particular the customs and entertainment of young people and the nobility. The relationship that Arbeau, as a man of the Church, has with young people is interesting, as is his conception of the Catholic Church, presented as open to understanding the passions of the youth of the time and tolerant even towards youthful entertainment. Jehan Tabourot shows the ladies who refuse to attend the game of fencing and tennis for fear of being hit by a broken blade or a ball hit. He also highlights the primitive simplicity beneath the rich clothing of the ladies: in the dance the nakedness of their knees is revealed. We also learn from him the custom of the sérénade, which at that time was worn in front of houses at night. In the dialogue with Capriol Arbeau tells his interlocutor how dance has always been present in human civilization despite repeated condemnations and accusations of indecency and explains where the term dance comes from: “dancer... saulter, saulteloter, caroler, baler, treper, trepiner, mouvoir & remuer les piedz, mains & corps de certaines ca- dances, mesures & mouvementz, consistans en saultz, pliement de corps, divarications, ingeniculations, elevations, iactations de piedz, permutations & aultres contenances...”. For each of these movements, whether war or courtship, a whole series of musical instruments is provided, each of which has a precise meaning, from marching to retreating, and particularly significant is the drum, for which a Tabulation is presented containing all the diversity of beats. 7.3 Giorgio Manerio Another man of the church who directed his interests towards dance was Giorgio Mainerio (1535-1582), a native of Parma, but probably of Scottish origins as would appear from the fact that he signed himself Mayneir. Mainerio is a character whose personality would lend itself to an adventure novel: a fortune teller, an adept of magic, he was suspected of magical practices by the Inquisition tribunal, who however was unable to gather sufficient evidence to prepare the trial. From 1560 he was a chaplain in Udine, but his curiosity for the occult sciences attracted the suspicion of the authorities. He then moved to Aquileia, after winning a competition as job description and chapel master of the Patriarchal Basilica. Mainerio published in Venice, in 1578, the Primo libro de' balli , a work which, under the pretext of providing the musicians of the time with a handbook of all the available dance rhythms, tries to break down the barriers between the cultured and the popular tradition. The best-known dance music in the collection are Ungaresca and Schiarazula Marazola . The first was perhaps the melody that accompanied an ancient Moorish song, so much so that the author himself traces it back to the period of the Hungarian invasion of Friuli. The second, which owes its popularity to the reworking of the singer-songwriter Angelo Branduardi entitled Ballo in F sharp minor, seems inspired by the ancient rites that were still practiced in the countryside in the sixteenth century: to evoke the rain, processions made up of women walked through the fields singing and dancing , often facing accusations of witchcraft. 7.4 THE ENGLISH DANCING MASTER BY JOHN PLAYFORD The Englishman John Playford (1623-1686), as well as a composer, was also a publisher and owed his fame to this second activity. Playford published books on musical theory, for the study of various instruments and sacred music, but his best-known work is the treatise The English Dancing Master, published in 1651 in its first edition, which was followed by numerous others. The treatise contains music and instructions for learning to dance all the dances practiced in England at the time. Even if many of the songs in the book are attributed to him today, he was probably not the author, but simply collected the popular melodies accompanying the various dances that had already been practiced for years. The English Dancing Master includes 104 dances, each accompanied by music. The second edition of the volume, simply entitled The Dancing Master, does not provide a description of the steps, but of the numerous choreographies in vogue at the time. A curiosity concerns the fact that, while in the first edition of the manual all the dances begin with the left foot, as was customary in Renaissance dances, in the second edition the dancers begin the performance with the right foot. Dance formations can be classified into three types: circle dances for an indefinite number of couples; longways, for an indefinite number of couples lined up, men on one side with women on their right hand; geometric formations such as squares or triangles usually for two, three, or four pairs. The dances usually develop progressively so that each couple moves up to the head of the ensemble with each repetition of the figure pattern. 7.4.1 Contraddanze , quadrilles and cotillons . The dances collected in Playford's manual, of which numerous editions were printed in the 18th century, spread throughout Europe, often taking steps and movements of the baroque style. In Italian they were called "contradanze", an adaptation of the English country dance. It was a form of popular dance, performed in opposing groups, which recalled elements of ancient circle dances such as the medieval carol and which in the 17th century underwent a process of refinement, becoming a court and society dance. The French distinguished the English country dances which develop with couples in columns (longways) from the French country dances, also called quadrilles or . During the nineteenth century the contraddanze were supplanted by the waltz, but remained in the British Isles as popular dances. In Italy they survive in some Piedmontese Occitan valleys under the name of countradanse . 7.5 Professional dance and social dance In the sixteenth century the Italian style of dancing became a model for the courts of Europe. Alongside the ballets de cour, interludes were staged, sumptuous performances that served as intervals to the theatrical works in which the nobles participated as amateur actors and dancers. The court ballets increasingly took on the appearance of sumptuous processions, with decorated self-propelled floats and large mobile platforms on which the dancers moved, who were not professionals, but the nobles invited to the party. Even when they were organized inside stately palaces, the ballets were performed by amateurs and did not take place on a stage, but in the center of large halls. These representations were characterized by special effects, impressive choreography and extremely virtuosic dance steps that reached the highest levels in the following century, at the court of Louis XIV. The sovereign himself was an excellent dancer, so much so that the nickname of the Sun King seems to have come from an interpretation of the Sun in a court dance entitled Ballet de la nuit. The court performances opened with the branle, often transformed into contradanza, which was followed by a current performed by one couple at a time. The current or courante (in French "to run") was a pantomime dance, which simulated courtship and rejection by the lady. It was usually performed after an allemande, a sarabande and a jig. Later these dances were supplanted by the minuet, the most popular baroque dance at European courts, alongside the bourrée, the rigaudon, the gavotte and the contradanza. In 1661 Louis XIV founded the Académie Royale de Danse, which during the second half of the century coined a dance terminology that has since made French the language spoken in ballet classes. Pierre Beauchamp, first director of the Académie Royale de Danse and personal dance teacher of the king, developed the five basic positions of academic dance. 7.5.1 The minuet Between the 17th and 18th centuries the minuet, a popular dance from the Poitou region, was introduced to the court of Louis XIV by the composer and choreographer Jean-Baptiste Lully, establishing itself as an artistic expression both in ballroom dancing and on theatrical scenes, while dance as pavan and current were almost completely forgotten. The minuet takes place in two 3/4 beats. Before the start there are eight musical tempos during which the dancers reach their places. The couple moves in composed figures with small, slow steps forward and backward, left and right, completing a quarter turn that follows an S- or Z-shaped path. You start with a plié with the right foot forward (III position). Rising from the plié, take a sliding step forward with the right; a plié follows again and at the same time the left foot moves from 4th position (with the heel of the front foot in line with the toe of the back foot) and three small steps forward are taken on demi-pointe. "King's Minuet", "Queen's Minuet", "Dolphin's Minuet", "Court Minuet" were the names of the various versions of what between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was the most successful dance in good society for its graceful poses and the subtle erotic play that implied. While as a musical movement it was adopted by numerous composers of suites and symphonies, in dance practice it underwent an evolution as the dancers combined the figures oat will with the result that the dancing couple was free to improvise provided that the design of the letter Z was traced on the ballroom floor. With the spread of baroque taste, dance acquired its own specific language, becoming a particular genre of entertainment, albeit complementary to forms of representation still considered superior. The theatrical practice of amateurs was replaced by a specialist vocation which found its best context in the Academies, which acted both as centers of culture and as laboratories for musical and dance performances. Even religious schools (particularly Jesuit colleges) took up dance as a teaching subject and as a communication tool. With the birth of public theater alongside melodramatic performances, dance acquired a fundamental role. It was not yet an autonomous genre, as it represented an important visual ornament to melodrama, but, nevertheless, it was moving towards professionalism. Dance aimed at entertainment aimed to become the art of ballet, starting a prestigious journey through the centuries and across continents.