Orchésography
Orchésographie , full title: Orchesographie et traicté en forme de dialogue par lequel toutes personnes peuvent facilement apprendre & practiquer l'honneste exercice des dances is a treatise on the execution of dances by Thoinot Arbeau , Canon of Langres (France), published in 1589 after the royal printing privilege was granted on November 22, 1588 in Blois .
The work was reissued posthumously in 1596 and appeared in numerous new editions from 1878 to 1988. It was quoted by Louis de Cahusac in the 1754 Encyclopédie by Diderot and d'Alembert .
Content and form
The book has an educational purpose and is therefore written in the form of a dialogue that takes place between Capriol , a young courtier , and the dance master who appears under his name Thoinot Arbeau , an anagram of his real name Jehan Tabourot. Capriol asks the questions to which Arbeau answers. Capriol explains his inexperience in dance in the introduction to orchésography: “I like fencing and also play jeu de paume , so that I am seen and familiar with young men around me. But I lack the experience in dance to please young women, on which, it seems to me, the good reputation of a young man of marriage completely depends. "
Arbeau was the first to introduce a new way of describing dance in his work. The five-line staves are written from top to bottom instead of - as usual - from left to right. In addition to the individual notes corresponding then individual steps noted, which in turn are grouped by brackets at certain sequences such as Simple, Double, etc. Grue.
The work is not divided into chapters. In the dialogue between pupil and master, around a dozen dances and their steps are explained, with hundreds of music examples, embellished with some learned quotations from Virgil's Aeneid , Greek mythology and the Bible, the actual subject of the author who is the canon. Before the introductory dedication, the author puts his book under a Latin motto from the book Ekklesiastes : Tempus plangendi, et tempus saltandi ( Latin there is a time to complain and a time to dance , Koh 3,4 EU ). After greeting the two protagonists, the author used the opportunity for a short theological exegesis : When asked by the pupil whether Moses himself did not consider the dance to be despicable, Arbeau replied: As for the prophet Moses, he was not angry when he saw (the people) dancing, but he was saddened that it was a dance around the golden calf , which was idolatry.
The work itself begins with a tablature for learning to play the drums, as well as explanations about the pipe . Then the following dances are explained:
- Basse danse - p. 26
- Pavane . The French song Belle qui tiens ma vie in four-part choral setting is given as an example - p. 30
- Tourdion - p. 51
- Gaillarde - p. 52
- Volte - p. 63
- Courante - p. 65
- Allemande - p. 67
The middle section contains numerous explanations on Branles , which are usually used to initiate a series of dances in good company . We distinguish between different variants of Branles: branle double , branle simple , branle de Bourgogne , branle de Poitou , branle d ' Écosse , branle de Malte , etc. (p 68-92)
Another Branle's music, Branle de l'Official , was made for the English Christmas carol thing in the 1920s ! Dong! Merrily on High used.
The final part deals with some social and show dances :
- Gavotte - p. 93
- Morris dance - p. 94
- Canarie - p. 95
- Pavane from Spain p. 96
- Bouffons - p. 97. This is a theatrical sword dance for four dancers who appear on the stage as soldiers or amazons with swords and shields. The origin of the dance is traced back to King Numa in the text .
meaning
Orchésography is the main source of information about dance in the Renaissance . But above all, it is the first textbook with a precisely specified dance notation . It is also the world's first method of learning to play the drum . The exact details of the respective dance steps ( tempi , agogic , expression , atmosphere , interpretation , level of difficulty, etc.) are an essential prerequisite for observing historical performance practice .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Original version, page 105
- ↑ vol. 4, p. 627
- ↑ Original French: “J'ay prins plaisir en l'escrime & jeu de paulme, ce qui me rend bien voulu & familier des jeusnes hommes. Mais j'ay deffault de la dance complaire aux damoiselles, desquelles il me semble that depend toute la reputation d'un jeusne homme à marier ».
- ↑ Original in French: "Et pour le regard du S. prophete Moyse, il ne se courrouça pas de veoir dancer, mais il estoit marry que ce fust a-lentour d'un veau d'or, qui estoit une ydololatrie:"
- ↑ … en bonnes compagnies, on commence ordinairement les dances par branles Orchésographie, p. 68
- ↑ Robert Goute, Le tambour d'ordonnance, sa pratique, son enseignement , Volume II, Domont., 1981
Web links
- Original version with page numbers (Library of Congress)
- HTML transcription