allemande
American Heritage Dictionary:
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al·le·mande
(ăl'ə-mănd', -mänd', ăl'ə-mănd', -mänd') 
n.
n.
- A stately 16th-century dance in duple meter.
- Music. A composition written to or as if to accompany this dance, often used as the first movement of a suite.
- A lively dance of the mid-18th century in triple meter.
[French, feminine of allemand, German, from Latin Alemannī, an ancient Germanic tribe. See Alemanni.]
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:
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allemande
Processional couple dance with stately flowing steps, fashionable in the 16th century, especially in France. A line of couples extended their paired hands forward and paraded back and forth the length of the ballroom. It was revived in the 18th century as a figure dance for four couples, in which each pair performed intricate turns under each other's arms, a figure that partly survives in the allemand of the U.S. square dance. In the late 17th century a stylized version of the dance in 4/4 time began to be used by composers as the first movement of the suite.
For more information on allemande, visit Britannica.com.
Oxford Food & Nutrition Dictionary:
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allemande
Classic French sauce, velouté blended with egg yolks and cream. Also known as sauce blonde or parisienne. Named for its light colour, as opposed to sauce espagnole, which is dark.
Oxford Grove Music Encyclopedia:
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Allemande
A popular Baroque dance and a standard movement of the suite. It originated in the 16th century as a moderate duple-metre dance in two or three strains. In the 17th century French composers for lute and keyboard developed it as a vehicle for motivic and harmonic exploration, using a wide range of tempo markings in quadruple metre with a short initial upbeat. French contributions to the allemande style were absorbed by German keyboard composers, including Froberger and Bach.
German ensemble allemandes were unaffected by this concern for textural and motivic interest, but Italian and English composers used more contrapuntal imagination; Corelli's vary widely in texture and in tempo (from largo to presto). In the late 18th century the title ‘allemande’ came into use for a new dance in triple metre; Weber's Douze allemandes op. 4 (1801) are actually examples of the waltz-like German dance.
Oxford Dictionary of Dance:
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allemande
allemande (Fr. for German). Term applied to several dances or styles of movement popular between the 15th and 19th centuries, and denoting either a German origin or German characteristics. Arbeau records an allemande in duple time that was a simple processional dance. In the mid-18th century the term denoted lively turning dances in 3/4 time that came from Germany in which couples held each other in an unusually close embrace.
The Austin Symphony's Music Glossary:
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Allemande
(Fr.) "German." A stately 16th-century German dance, initially in a duple meter. During the 17th and 18th centuries, it was used as the first movement of the suite.
Random House Word Menu:
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categories related to 'allemande'
- Sauces
- Types of Music and Composition - allemande: composition in moderate duple or quadruple time, basis for German court dance (17th-18th c.)
- Dances of the World - allemande: court dance performed with interwound arms, developed from German folk dance (17th-18th c.)
Wikipedia on Answers.com:
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Allemande
For the mother sauce of the same name, see Allemande sauce.
"Almain" redirects here. For French theologian, see Jacques Almain.
"Alman" redirects here. For the surname, see Alman (surname).
An allemande (also spelled allemanda, almain(e), or alman(d)) (from the French word for "German") is one of the most popular instrumental dance forms in Baroque music, and a standard element of a suite. Originally, the allemande formed the first movement of the suite, before the courante, but, later, it was often preceded by an introductory movement, such as a prelude.
The allemande originated in the 16th century (Renaissance) as a duple metre dance of moderate tempo, derived from dances supposed to be favoured in Germany at the time. No German dance instructions from this era survive, but 16th century French (Arbeau) and British (Inns of Court) dance manuals for the Almain do survive. In general the dancers formed a line of couples, extended their paired hands forward, and paraded back and forth the length of the room, walking three steps, then balancing on one foot; a livelier version, the allemande courante, used three springing steps and a hop.[2]
French composers of the 17th century experimented with the allemande, shifting to quadruple meter and ranging more widely in tempo. The form of the allemande was used for the tombeau. Other identifying features include an upbeat of one or occasionally three sixteenth notes,[3] the absence of syncopation, its combination of short motivic scraps into larger units, and its tonal and motivic contrasts. German composers like Froberger and Bach followed suit in their allemandes for keyboard instruments, although ensemble allemandes tended to stay in a more traditional form. Italian and English composers were more free with the allemande, writing in counterpoint and using a variety of tempi (Corelli wrote allemandes ranging from largo to presto).
The allemande was traditionally regarded as a rather serious dance; in his Musikalisches Lexicon (Leipzig, 1732), Johann Gottfried Walther wrote that the allemande "must be composed and likewise danced in a grave and ceremonious manner." Likewise, in Der Vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg, 1739), Johann Mattheson described the allemande as "a serious and well-composed harmoniousness in arpeggiated style, expressing satisfaction or amusement, and delighting in order and calm" [3]
Late in the 18th century, "allemande" came to be used for a new type of dance in triple meter; Weber's Douze allemandes op. 4 of 1801 anticipate the waltz. Additionally some of the close embraces and turns of the original Allemande were carried over to Square Dance and Contra Dance, with the moves "Allemande left" and "Allemande right", (often spelled "Alamand") in which couples hold hands and turn around each other.
References
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Look up allemande in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
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Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Allemande. |
- ^ Blatter, Alfred (2007). Revisiting music theory: a guide to the practice, p.28. ISBN 0-415-97440-2.
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Online (2007). "Allemande". http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9005783. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
- ^ a b Bach. The French Suites: Embellished version. Barenreiter Urtext
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Oxford Grove Music Encyclopedia
The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.
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Oxford Dictionary of Dance
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