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Minuet Oxford Reference Online

Pas de menuet always begin with the right foot Both Rameau and Tomlinson describe the two most commonly used steps: the pas de menuet à deux mouvements and the pas de menuet à trois mouvements Each pas de menuet takes two measures of 3/4 time The

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Influences of the Early Eighteenth-Century Social Minuet on

Sep 18, 2014 · version of the menuet, the menuet ordinaire An examination of eighteenth- century dance treatises reveals that the practical necessity of the minuet is not a particular type of phrase structure, as is commonly believed, but rather the presence of consistently maintained metrical levels above the notated metre in

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- Structure in Haydn 104 (third movement) Start with at basic minuet structure (compare to simple Minuet) and relate to Haydn 104 (discuss closely related keys) Comparing A section iterations in Minuet Rounded binary in Trio Tonal relationship to Trio (flat submediant) Motivic structure

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The Minuet and Trio creates a ternary form structure: Minuet - Trio - Minuet - The Minuet is an elegant and graceful dance in triple time - The Trio gets its name because it traditionally used three instruments

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The structure for the Minuet and Trio can be loosely classed as ternary form, with each section (minuet and trio) in binary form The texture is melody and accompaniment = Homophonic

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Influencesof theEarlyEighteenth-Century SocialMinueton theMinuetsfrom J.S.

Bach'sFrench Suites,BWV812-17

EricMcKee

MusicAnalysis ,Vol. 18,No.2. (Jul.,1999),pp. 235-260.

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TueJan 123:52:172008

ERIC McKEE

INFLUENCES

OF THE EARLYEIGHTEENTH-CENTURYSOCIALMmm~

ON THE MINUETS FROM J. S.BACH'SFRENCHSUITES, BWV 812-1 7 It is difficult in today's world of endless entertainment opportunities to appre- ciate fully the central role dance had in eighteenth-century European life.*At that time dance was without question the most popular form of social enter- tainment. It pervaded all levels of society and served a wide range of social functions. For the lower classes dancing served as a diversion from the toils of the day; the upper classes used it as a way of defining themselves individually within their class, and collectively apart from the lower classes; and for all lev- els the activity of dancing was a vehicle for courtship, ceremonies and celebra- tions. It seems that whenever and wherever people got together, there was bound to be dancing. Because of its ubiquity it would seem likely that aspects of the dance as danced, and dance music, carried over into other musical gen- res and in some way influenced the formation of the Classical style, especially with regard to Classical phrase structure. But beyond citing apparent similarities between dance music and Classical music, it becomes very difficult to pinpoint the exact nature and level of the dance's influence. Certainly dance was not the only player in the formation of

the Classical style. As Charles Rosen and others have pointed out, vocal music -both folk and art -also had a tremendous impact and may have influenced

the formation of the Classical style as much or even more so than the dance.2 Furthermore, there is a growing body of evidence which shows that many functional dances in the first half of the eighteenth century exhibited irregular phrase structures and that in many cases dancers did not even pay attention to the music's phrase str~cture.~If this is true, then one cannot argue as convinc- ingly for the practical necessity in dance music of one particular type of phrase structure over another. This, in turn, weakens the position that dance music provided the principal model for the development of phrase structure in Clas- sical music. Questions emerge: Just what was required of the music to make it dance- able?-How did the practical necessities of the dance affect the structure of the music? -and, perhaps most importantly: What might composers have learned An earlier version of this article was given at the 1996 annual meeting of the Society for MusicTheory (Baton Rouge).The author thanksWilliam Rothstein,Robert Hat- ten, Michael Broyles and Laura Macy for their helpful comments on earlier drafts.

MusicAnalysis, 18/ii (1999) 235

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236 ERIC MCKEE

from composing dance music? In addressing the first of these questions, the first part of this article focuses on the practical aspects of the most important so- cial dance of the eighteenth century, the minuet -and specifically the ballroom version of the menuet, the menuet ordinaire. An examination of eighteenth- century dance treatises reveals that the practical necessity of the minuet is not a particular type of phrase structure, as is commonly believed, but rather the presence of consistently maintained metrical levels above the notated metre in which bars are organised in terms of strong and weak beats -what is com- monly referred to today as h~permetre.~ The second part of the article explores the influence of the danced minuet as seen in the minuets of Bach's French Suites. Out of the seven minuets,

I exam-

ine four in some detail (BWV 812,s 14, 8 15 and 817). Bach's solution in pro- viding the minuet's practical necessity was to rely on a particular type of phrase structure in which new groups are initiated every other bar and organised in what is today referred to as 'sentence' structure. I believe Bach's progressive approach to phrase structure in his minuets is directly related to a conscious effort on his part to establish and maintain a prominent two-bar hypermetre. The minuet's true influence, at least in the first half of the eighteenth century, may well lie in directing composers' attention to the establishment, manipula- tion and control of metrical levels above the notated metre.

Minuet as danced

The most common form of the social minuet (as opposed to theatrical minu- ets) was the menuet ordinaire, which was the standard form from the Court of Louis XIV to the French Revolution.The organising component of the minuet and of all French court dances is the step-unit. A step-unit is a collection of individual steps, hops or springs, and involves at least two changes of weight from one foot to another. In the minuet, the principal step-unit is the pas de menuet which contains four changes of weight, always beginning with the right foot (RLRL). The pas de menuet takes six beats in 314 time to complete and begins on the upbeat with a bending of the knees. The bending of the knees, often referred to as a 'sink' (or plii), prepares the dancer for a rise or spring on the downbeat. Step-units were combined to form symmetrical floor patterns called figures. Figures typically comprised four to eight step-units, thus requiring eight to sixteen bars of music to complete. Fig. 1 is from Kellom Tomlinson's 1735 treatise The Art of Dancing.5 It illustrates the standard succession of figures for the menuet ordinaire: the introduction, the S reversed, the presenting of the right arm, the presenting of the left arm, the S reversed, the presenting of both arms, and the concl~sion.~

Each of the figures shown comprises eight dance

steps, which Tomlinson has numbered (in very small print) within the figures.

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Fig. 1 KellomTomlinson's diagram of the standard figures for the minuet (The

Art of Dancing, London [1753],Plate U)

Music Analysis, 18lii (1 999) O Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999

238 ERIC MCKEE

Since each figure comprises eight step-units, and the step-unit involves two bars, the eight-bar musical strains would need to be repeated to conform to the sixteen-bar figures. The entire dance was preceded and concluded with rever- ences to the highest ranking personages (seated at the top of the hall) as well as to one's partner.

What makes the music danceable?

Most scholars today are of the opinion that for minuet music to be danceable there needs to be some congruence between the musical structure and the choreography of the dance. Just where that congruence lies varies from scholar to scholar. On the one hand, Julia Sutton (1985, p. 125) believes that there was complete congruence between the music and the dance at all levels of struc- ture. Other scholars, such as Wendy Hilton (1981, p. 293), Sarah Reichart (1 984, p. 167), and Meridith Little and Natalie Jenne (1 99 1, pp. 69-70), allow for large-level conflicts between dance figures and musical strains, while main- taining the need for congruence at lower levels. Tilden Russell (1983, p. 64), however, believes that 'there was no one-to-one relation between the dance and the [phrase structure of the] music'. Echoing an earlier study by Karl Heinz Taubaut (1 968, p. 169), Russell maintains that 'The music provided a metrical rather than formal basis for the dance' (1983, pp. 61-2). In a later article, Russell retreats slightly from this position, noting that in performance dancers 'concentrated on the tactus and the two-measure groups in the music' (1992, p. 134). In considering the dancelmusic relationship, however, one must first deter- mine the function and context of the dance: theatrical, pedagogical, ceremo- nial court ball, or more informal balls held outside of the court.7 As a general rule, when the dance and music were composed for a specific occasion or when a dancer was given prior notice as to what music would be played, there often was, as Sutton suggests, complete agreement between the music and the dance.This situation would arise in the case of theatrical dances as well as many dances performed at formal court balls where almost nothing was left to chance.* Dances included in pedagogical treatises were also generally choreographed to fit the music exactly, as Tomlinson's diagram given in Fig.

1 illustrates. No

doubt the dancing master did not want to introduce any unneeded complexity. But dancing masters also probably approached the dances in their manuals as they did theatrical dances where, given the opportunity to choreograph a dance to a specific tune, the natural inclination was to mould the dance around the tune.9 However, at less formal court balls and balls held outside the court, which accounted for the vast majority of the occasions for dance, there was no oppor-

0 Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999 Music Analysis, 18/ii (1999)

tunity for the dancer to know beforehand what music would be played. And because there was no standard phrase length for the minuet or for any of its dance figures, it would only be by sheer coincidence that the dancer's choreog- raphy would fit the music (Russell 1992, pp. 125-6). Conflict between dance and music is further suggested in that in the ball- room it was considered in good taste to add embellishments at will to the menuet ordinaire. Not only were flourishes added to the steps, but steps were also added to increase the length of the figures. Thus the length of the dance and of its components could be altered 'according to the dancer's pleasure' with apparently little concern for the relation of the dance to the musical ac- companiment (Tomlinson, [1735], p. 140). Tomlinson summarises: .. . in Effect [the minuet] is no more than a voluntary or extemporary Piece of Performance, as has already been hinted, in Regard there is no limited Rule, as to its Length or Shortness, or in Relation to the Time of the Tune, since it may begin upon any that offers, as well within a Strain as upon the first Note or commencing thereof. It is the very same with Respect to its ending, for it matters not whether it breaks off upon the End of the first Strain of the Tune, the second, or in the Middle of either of them, provided it be in Time to the Music. (p. 137)
Tomlinson is clear on another matter that would result in noncongruence be- tween the music and the dance: the opening reverences. After making the opening reverences to the highest ranking personages and to one's partner, Tomlinson instructs the dancers not to wait for the opening of the next strain to begin the dance. Instead, they should . . . begin upon the first Time that offers, in that it is much more genteel and shews the Dancer's Capacity and Ear in distinguishing of theTime, and from thence begets himself a good Opinion from the Beholders, who are apt to judge favourably of the following Part of his Performance; whereas the at- tending the concluding . . . of a Strain has the contrary Effect. (p. 124) 'Time' From the evidence cited above, it is obvious that dancers -at least good danc- ers -were little concerned with a minuet's phrase structure. According toTom- linson and other dancing masters of the eighteenth century, the key to dancing a minuet in good taste was the dancer's ability to coordinate his or her dance- steps with the minuet's time. 'Time' was a term commonly used in the eight- eenth century to refer to a piece's metrical structure (Hilton 198 1, pp. 82-3). In general, Tomlinson instructs the dancer to 'mark the time' of any dance by rising from a sink to the first note of a bar. In doing so, the dancer gesturally marks the downbeats of each bar, thereby visually and physically supporting the notated metre. For the menuet, however,Tomlinson observes that the dan- Music Analysis, 18/ii (1 999) 8 Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999

240 ERIC MCKEE

cers are not to mark the downbeats of each bar but of every other bar (pp. 148-

49). By rising from a sink to the first note of every two bars dancers not only

mark downbeats, but potential hypermetrical downbeats as well. Thus, to dance the menuet ordinaire effectively, dancers would need only to attend to the minuet's metrical structure. By gesturally marking the downbeats of every other bar, dancers provided a potential basis of congruence between the dancer's step-unit and a two-bar hypermetre. Composers of functional minuets generally responded to the dancers' cueing requirements and pro- vided in their music a clear and consistent two-bar hypermetre. Although Tomlinson is perhaps the most explicit of all eighteenth-century writers on the metrical relationship between the minuet as danced and minuet music, he is not alone. For example, in order to feel two bars of the minuet as one metrical unit, dancing masters often instructed their students to count in

614 rather than in 314, despite the moderate tempo.10 Reflecting this practice,

many early minuets -especially those used in dance treatises -were either notated in 614 or used a dotted line to indicate the metrically weak bars." In conducting their students, dancing masters and music teachers reinforced the hypermetre by beating down on the first (good) bar and up on the second (false) bar.12 Later in the century the Italian dancing master, Gennaro Magri, reiterated the importance of time in the minuet. He not only described the two-bar metrical unit as the minuet's 'real substance' and 'indispensable regu- lator', but also as 'a rock against which many are dashed' ([1779], pp. 88-90). In eighteenth-century dance sources, discussions of two-bar metrical units only occur in connection with the minuet. Why were two-bar metrical units so important to the minuet as compared with other dances? For the simple reason that the minuet was the only court dance, aside from the passepied (which is very closely related to the minuet), that employed a two-bar step-unit.13 All other dances contained step-units that were no longer than one bar. With one- bar step-units, the downbeat of every bar is equally marked by the dancer's movements by a rise from a sink. So long as dancers know where the down- beats are, they will be 'in time' with the music. Because of this, there was no practical reason to cue dancers' metrical levels above the notated metre. With a step-unit duration of two bars, however, it is critical for dancers to hear a con- sistent two-bar hypermetre, especially when they first begin to dance. For if, as Tomlinson says, '[the dancers] should happen to begin out of Time, it is a thousand to one if they ever recover it throughout the dance. ... and not being able to recover it afterwards, they dance the whole Minuet out ofTime' ([1735], p. 124). Certainly the incentive to keep track of the two-bar hypermetre was enhanced by the fact that the menuet ordinaire was danced by only one couple at a time while everyone else watched. Any mistake certainly would have been noticed and would have resulted in some loss of reputation. The insistence of Sutton, Hilton, Reichart and others on the presence of O Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999 Music Analysis, 18/ii (1 999) two-bar groups stems from a common confusion between phrase structure and metrical structure.While they rightly identify the presence of two-bar units as a defining feature of minuets, they mistakenly attribute those units to the phrase structure rather than to the metrical structure. The phrase structure may in- deed support the metrical structure, thus resulting in a succession of two-bar groups. This congruence, however, is not essential to the minuet. Indeed, minuets consisting entirely of two-bar segments are exceedingly rare. One scholar, tightly holding onto the notion of symmetrical, duple-length phrases as the norm in the minuet, has suggested the fantastic notion that through some quirk in historical preservation, only the exceptional irregular minuets have survived (Helmut Goldmann 1956, p. 17). I agree with Taubaut's and Russell's more extreme position that in order to dance the menuet ordinaire it was not necessary for the music's phrase structure and the dancer's choreography to be congruent at any level. While

I also agree

with their position that the minuet's music provided a metrical rather than formal basis for the dance, that basis can be refined as a two-bar hypermetre.

The minuets from Bach's French Suites

Although there is debate over the provenance of the posthumously-applied modifier 'French' in the title 'French Suites', both the use of French dance titles and the simpler, more elegant, galant melodies and less discursive and contrapuntal treatment of the dance music, especially in comparison with Bach's earlier English Suites and later Partitas, do suggest a connection with the dances of the French court. This connection is circumstantially supported in that Bach, as Little and Jenne (1 991, pp. 3-1 5) have shown in their book on Bach's dance music, was well-acquainted with the social dances of his time, and especially those of the French court. Indeed, as reported by Little and Jenne, three of Bach's personal acquaintances taught French court dancing (Johannes Pasch,

Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Jean-BaptisteVolumier).

Although the various dance types appearing in Bach's French Suites were not specifically intended for dancing, it would be a mistake to assume that they are unsuitable for dancing. Depending on the degree of stylisation, some are clearly more suited than others. As a general rule, older dance types that were out of fashion as social dances were subject to greater stylisation. Allemandes and gigues, for example, are among the oldest dances contained in the suites and were dances that were rarely, if at all, used as social dances at the time Bach wrote them. And in Bach's suites they are among the most stylised. They serve a functional purpose within each suite as a whole, in that the allemandes, metrically very free and improvisatory, are used as opening preludes whereas the gigues, with their weighty and extended contrapuntal passages, serve effec- tively as closing movements. Music Analysis, 18lii (1999) 0 Blackwell Publ~shers~td.1999

242 ERIC MCKEE

Of all the dances contained in the French Suites, the minuets are among the least stylised, showing little substantive differences from functional minuets of the time.14This is not surprising, given the fact that the minuet was among the newest and by far the most popular of the social court dances used in the suites. Here there were fewer opportunities for either idealised reminiscence or stylistic corruption from external influences. Bach's practical knowledge of the minuet as it was danced is evidenced by the presence of a strong, unambiguous and consistently-held two-bar hyper- metre in every minuet of the set. This is a musical characteristic that defines the minuet apart from the other dance types of the suites, both new and old. While other dances may at times project a strong sense of hypermetre, very few do it as clearly or as consistently as the minuets. Bach employs a variety of techniques to project a two-bar hypermetre. In general terms, it is achieved by consistently placing some sort of phenomenal accent on the downbeats of every other bar. A phenomenal accent is any musi- cal event that 'gives emphasis or stress to a moment in the musical flow' (Ler- dahl and Jackendoff 1983, pp. 17-1 8).15 Sudden changes in dynamics, register, contour, texture and timbre are some examples. Most typically, though, Bach uses phenomenal accents brought about by locating the inception of an 'event' of relatively long duration at the beginnings of every other bar. The event may be a pitch, harmony, texture, pattern of articulation, or some combination thereof. The beginnings of such durations receive an accent; when they are consistently placed two bars apart, a two-bar hypermetre emerges.

BWV 812

Ex. 1 presents the opening section of the minuet from Bach's French Suite in D minor, BWV 812. Between the staves is a hypermetrical analysis (represented by Arabic numbers) and beneath the music is a grouping analysis '(represented by brackets). At the bottom I have listed the phenomenal accents or 'cues' used by listeners to extrapolate the beginnings of each two-bar hypermeasure. In this example Bach employs a consistent pattern of phenomenal accents brought about by changes in texture, contour, register and harmony to estab- lish a clear two-bar hypermetre. The first beat is clearly marked as a downbeat by all voices entering simultaneously with i in the outer voices.16 It is also strongly articulated by the relatively long durations that begin on the first beat: the opening harmony, bass note and texture are sustained until the downbeat of bar 3. The downbeat of bar 2 receives some emphasis through a sudden change in the soprano's register, a change in contour in the inner voice, and through the sequential repetition in the top voice. But this downbeat is less strongly articulated than the downbeat of the first bar, and thus it serves as the second hypermetrical beat. O Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999 Music Analysis, 18/ii (1999)

244 ERIC MCKEE

A two-bar hypermetre is unequivocally established by the strong emphasis given to the downbeat of bar

3. Particularly important is the change of har-

mony -harmonic rhythm is one of the most important perceptual inputs in the establishment of metre. As part of a plagal cadence, the iv6 not only effects a harmonic change but also initiates the beginning of a two-bar cadential pro- gression, which provides durational emphasis as well. In the remainder of the excerpt similar events verify and reinforce the two-bar hypermetre established in the first four bars. Another more effective way Bach projects a two-bar hypermetre, in this ex- ample and in his minuets in general, is through the use of a particular type of phrase structure in which new groups are consistently initiated every other bar.quotesdbs_dbs6.pdfusesText_12