Ercole Santucci

Ercole Santucci (* before 1600 , † after 1614 ) was an Italian dancer and dance master , probably in Perugia and Rome .

Life

Little is known about Ercole Santucci's biography. He is the author of the only handwritten dance treatise Mastro da Ballo. Diviso in Tre Trattati con il quale ogni scolaro potrà facilmente imparare ogni sorte di Ballo, senza altra scola , which is dated to the year 1614. The author describes himself as 'Ercole Santucci Perugino', which can indicate Perugia as his place of birth or also as a longer residence. The treatise is written on paper with the coat of arms of the Barberini family (3 bees) as a watermark . This creates a connection to this family and therefore to Rome.

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Santucci's Maestro da Ballo is clearly written but not calligraphically beautiful. A few blank pages or recessed areas indicate that an illustration was intended here. Santucci's extensive script is likely to be the template for a work to be printed.

The treatise contains 214 rules for steps and posture as well as ten choreographies . The choreographies are partially concordant with the choreographies of the same name from the treatises by Fabritio Caroso and Cesare Negri . Nevertheless, the clear deviations show either a personal style or a further development of the art of dance. Santucci's interest is particularly in virtuoso variations by the Galliarde . The description of Galliard steps is interesting. Here Santucci lists 30 possible beginnings for the Cinque Passi step, each with 12 variations. Possible interpretations of a step series extended to exactly 360 variants are still under discussion.

Ten choreographies are included in the third part of the book. Santucci does not insert his own choreographies, but takes over existing dances from mostly printed works, such as Fabritio Caroso's Il Ballarino or Cesare Negri's Le Gratie d'Amore (1602, 1604) in order to expand them primarily with virtuoso Galliard and Canario variations .

• Canario. Balletto fatto conforme alle Regole di Paolo Arnandes Romano; e le Mutanze del Autore, (p. 398)
• Spagnioletta di Aless.ro Barbetta da Bologna, (p. 423)
• Alta Regina di Fabritio Caroso da Sermoneta, Moderata dall'Autore, (p. 426)
• Barriera di Oratio Martire Romano, ed la Mutanza di Gagliarda dell'Autore, (p. 428)
• Pavaniglia di Lodovico Padoello di Padova; Moderata dall'Autore alla Romana, (p. 433)
• Pavaniglia dell'Autore , (p. 440)
• Contrapasso in Sesto di Lutio Compasso Romano, (p. 451)
• Gagliarda di Spagnia , di Fabritio Caroso da Sermoneta, (p. 455)
• Galleria d'Amore di Stefano del Ma (n) cino da Bologna. Con la Gagliarda, e Canario dell'Autore, (p. 462)
• Allegrezza d'Amore di Oratio Martir Romano, Moderata dall'Autore, (p. 466)

Editions

Maestro di Ballo. Diviso in Tre Trattati con il quale ogni scolaro potrà facilmente imparare ogni sorte di Ballo, senza altra scola. Manuscript, Perugia 1614. Facsimile: Hildesheim: OLMS, 2004. Foreword by Bengt Häger. Introduction by Barbara Sparti with 9 illustrations and 2 maps. XIV / 97/474 pp. Cloth. (Carina Ari Library of Dance, Publication No. 1).