The Melody Web what each genre heard, and what it passed on

heard passed on Click or tap a node to recenter. Use a connecting line, or Influence, for the story.

Heard

Medieval dance practice · 1100–1450

The quattrocento ballo book and the Burgundian basse danse do not invent dancing.

Influence
Renaissance lute practice · 1480–1620

The indoor court ball takes lute tablature as a dance vehicle: pavane/galliard pairs and named branles survive as lute strains when the alta capella is outdoors.

Influence

Renaissance court dance

practice · 1450–1600

Also called ballo, basse danse, Renaissance dance, court ball

The fifteenth- and sixteenth-century noble ball: basse danse, ballo, pavane, gaillarde, branle — counted steps, measured airs, and dancing-master books (Domenico, Guglielmo, Arbeau, Caroso, Negri). It hears Medieval dance (estampie, carole, saltarello) as the older court and social job, and Renaissance lute as the indoor dance-tablature vehicle. This is the body parent of Ballet de cour, a dance parent of Italian intermedio, and the opening-walk parent of Grand march. Allemande leftover as a named dance on this node, not a second parent. Alta capella leftover as the loud outdoor band, not a genre. It is not the outdoor military march and not yet the 1661 académie.

Listen

  1. Pavane Thoinot Arbeau (Orchésographie) (1588) YouTube
  2. Gaillarde Thoinot Arbeau (1588) YouTube
  3. Branle Thoinot Arbeau (1588) YouTube
  4. Bassa danza / basse danse Burgundian and Italian court tradition (15th century)
  5. Celeste Giglio Fabritio Caroso (1581) YouTube
  6. Il Canario Cesare Negri / Caroso repertory (1602) YouTube

Passed on

Ballet de cour form · 1580–1670

French ballet de cour is still a night of courtiers who already know pavane, gaillarde, and branle.

Influence
Contredanse form · 1651–1850

Contredanse keeps the assembly-ball job of the late Renaissance hall — published figures, binary strains, a dancing-master book — and recodes it as English country dance and Frenc…

Influence
Grand march form · 1750–1900

The later grand march is the pavane’s job under another name: couples in file, erect carriage, opening the evening.

Influence
Italian intermedio form · 1480–1600

Intermedi are not only sung wonders.

Influence
Ländler form · 1700–

Ländler keeps the turning couple-dance job of the late hall — triple or turning Deutsche, social floor, professional or village band — and plants it in Alpine and South German inn…

Influence
Tarantella napoletana practice · 1600–

The city tarantella keeps the couple-dance job of the late Renaissance hall — named steps, social floor, professional musicians — and gives it a Neapolitan 6/8 name.

Influence

Medieval dance → Renaissance court dance

function and contextmeter and grooveform and structureperformance practicestrength: highscholarly consensus1430–1500danceoralpatronagenotation

Mechanism

The quattrocento ballo book and the Burgundian basse danse do not invent dancing. They write down and school a job the court already has: measured strains, a processional or jumping pulse, couples and files. Strength high for function and body. The new gift of the Renaissance node is the printed/manual named-step literacy (Domenico, Guglielmo, later Arbeau), not the idea of a court dance.

Evidence

Continuity from estampie/saltarello pulse and alta-band color into basse danse and early ballo; Grove on the medieval-to-Renaissance dance handoff; Domenico (c. 1450) as the usual first treatise object.

Debate

Footwork itself is thinly recovered before the manuals; the edge is the social-musical job, not a Seikilos-style step tape. Do not hang this on Renaissance polyphony or on Troubadour as a high hop — those are the donor’s donors. Unnamed village dance is a second stock, not a node.

Mediators

community: Burgundian and Italian dancing-masters; artist: Domenico da Piacenza

Renaissance lute → Renaissance court dance

instrumentationform and structureperformance practicestrength: mediumscholarly consensus1507–1600notationdancepatronage

Mechanism

The indoor court ball takes lute tablature as a dance vehicle: pavane/galliard pairs and named branles survive as lute strains when the alta capella is outdoors. Strength medium. medieval dance renaissance court dance is the step-school hop; this edge is the plucked-polyphony indoor book. Alta capella leftover as the loud outdoor band on the dance node.

Evidence

Dalza’s calate and dance pairs; Dowland pavans; Atlas and Grove on lute dance books.

Debate

Whether the lute is the dance. The dance is the counted noble body; the lute is one hall medium for its tunes.

Mediators

artist: Joan Ambrosio Dalza; artist: John Dowland

Renaissance court dance → Ballet de cour

performance practicemeter and grooveform and structurefunction and contextstrength: highscholarly consensus1570–1650dancepedagogypatronagenotation

Mechanism

French ballet de cour is still a night of courtiers who already know pavane, gaillarde, and branle. The gift is the counted noble phrase and the dancing-master’s named step. Strength high for the body. Machines and Olympus are the intermedio hop, not this one.

Evidence

Arbeau (1588) as the French manual sitting next to the first ballets; entrée structure built from social-dance meters; Grove on ballet de cour as danced spectacle, not as a play with incidental steps.

Debate

Fifteenth-century Italian ballo is inside this donor node, not a second parent. The 1661 académie is the child of ballet de cour, not a parent of it.

Mediators

community: French and Italian court dancing-masters

Renaissance court dance → Contredanse

function and contextform and structureperformance practicestrength: mediumscholarly consensus1651–1750dancenotationpatronage

Mechanism

Contredanse keeps the assembly-ball job of the late Renaissance hall — published figures, binary strains, a dancing-master book — and recodes it as English country dance and French contredanse. Strength medium. Playford is this node’s English origin, not a second parent. Do not hang the pavane/gaillarde suite as if it were the longways set.

Evidence

Playford 1651 against Arbeau/Caroso manuals; French court uptake of English country dance as contredanse; Grove on that transfer.

Debate

Whether country dance is a sibling of court dance rather than a child. Consensus: the noble step-dances (pavane, gaillarde) stay on the donor; the receiver inherits the assembly floor and the published-figure job, not those steps.

Mediators

institution: French court and assembly

Renaissance court dance → Grand march

function and contextperformance practiceform and structurestrength: highscholarly consensus1700–1800dancepatronageoral

Mechanism

The later grand march is the pavane’s job under another name: couples in file, erect carriage, opening the evening. Strength high for the social walk. The sounding ceremonial (Handel, then band books) is not this edge.

Evidence

Pavane as the conventional first dance of the Renaissance and early Baroque ball; eighteenth- and nineteenth-century manuals still open with a processional march. Grove on march and ballroom as related walking practices.

Debate

The 1750 start on the grand-march file is the bourgeois-ball name, not the invention of a processional. Do not treat Sousa scoring as the parent of the walk.

Mediators

community: European court and bourgeois balls

Renaissance court dance → Italian intermedio

performance practicemeter and groovefunction and contextstrength: mediumscholarly consensus1480–1589dancepatronagepedagogy

Mechanism

Intermedi are not only sung wonders. They stage the ballo the court already knows — measured steps inside Olympus. Strength medium: dance is a number, not the evening’s spine (that becomes ballet de cour).

Evidence

Dance tableaux in Medici festivals; 1589 numbers built on court meters; Grove on intermedio as mixed spectacle.

Debate

How much of an intermedio is dance versus machine and chorus varies by night. This edge is the body, not the madrigal writing.

Mediators

community: Italian court dancing-masters

Renaissance court dance → Ländler

function and contextmeter and grooveperformance practicestrength: highscholarly consensus1650–1780danceoral

Mechanism

Ländler keeps the turning couple-dance job of the late hall — triple or turning Deutsche, social floor, professional or village band — and plants it in Alpine and South German inns. Strength high for the job. Do not mint Alpine folk as a second parent.

Evidence

Dance-history derivation of Ländler from Deutsche/allemande social dance; Grove on Ländler as a later German turning dance.

Debate

How much is court leftover versus village invention. Consensus: the couple-turn job is inherited; the Alpine inn is local. Schuhplattler is a sibling display dance, not this hop.

Mediators

community: South German and Austrian social dancers

Renaissance court dance → Tarantella napoletana

function and contextmeter and grooveperformance practicestrength: mediumscholarly consensus1580–1650dancepedagogyoral

Mechanism

The city tarantella keeps the couple-dance job of the late Renaissance hall — named steps, social floor, professional musicians — and gives it a Neapolitan 6/8 name. Strength medium. The print type is the Baroque hop.

Evidence

Continuity from Italian ballo/manual culture into seventeenth-century named dances; Grove on tarantella as an early-modern social dance.

Debate

Saltarello as the medieval parent. That alias stays on Medieval dance; do not hang folk saltarello here.

Mediators

community: Italian dancing-masters