On Dec 19, 2014, at 2:48 PM, Mathias Rösel <mathias.roe...@t-online.de> wrote:
> Mace offers quite precise instructions how to perform his sarabands and his > galliards. Mace writes on page 129 of Musick’s Monument: "Galliards, are Lesson of 2, or 3 Strains, but are perform'd in a Slow, and Large Triple -Time; and (commonly) Grave, and Sober. "Corantoes, are Lessons of a Shorter Cut, and of a Quicker Triple-Time [than galliards, the previous referent, I assume]; commonly of 2 Strains, and full of Sprightfulness, and Vigour, Lively, Brisk, and Cheerful. "Serabands, are of the Shortest Triple-Time; but are more Toyish, and Light, than Corantoes; and commonly of Two Strains." I wonder if anyone was still dancing the galliard in 1676, when he wrote this. Offhand, I can’t think of anyone else composing galliards that late, but my offhand recollection is no substitute for fact. Could it be that if a dance goes out of style -- i.e. younger dancers don’t take it up -- it will slow as the people who do dance it get older? Mace was about 64 when MM came out; maybe the only people dancing the galliard were his age and had grown up with it. By the same token, the sarabande may have remained a popular dance with the generations younger than Mace’s, and therefore remained up-tempo. Or not... To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
