suite

1. A staff of attendants or followers; a retinue.
2. 1. A group of related things intended to be used together; a set.
   2. () A set of matching furniture: a dining room suite.
3. A series of connected rooms used as a living unit.
4. Music.
   1. An instrumental composition, especially of the 17th or 18th century, consisting of a succession of dances in the same or related keys.
   2. An instrumental composition consisting of a series of varying movements or pieces.
5. Computer Science.
   1. A group of software products packaged and sold together, usually having a consistent look and feel, a common installation, and shared macros.
   2. A group of procedures that work cooperatively: The TCP/IP suite of protocols includes FTP and Telnet.

[French, from Old French. See suit.]

noun

1. A group of attendants or followers: entourage, following, retinue, train. See over/under.
2. A number of things placed or occurring one after the other: chain, consecution, course, order, procession, progression, round, run, sequence, series, string, succession, train. Informal streak. See order/disorder.

An ordered set of instrumental pieces meant to be performed at a single sitting; in the Baroque period, an instrumental genre consisting of several movements in the same key, some or all of them based on the forms and styles of dance music (other terms for the Baroque groups of dances include Partita, Overture, Ordre and Sonata da camera).

The practice of pairing dances goes back at least to the 14th century, but the earliest known groups called ‘suite’ are suyttes de bransles by Estienne du Tertre (1557). These, however, constitute the raw material for a dance sequence rather than a sequence that would actually be played. Most dance groups from the 1540s to the end of the century are pairs, a pavan or passamezzo with a galliard or saltarello. The impulse towards suite-like groupings seems to have emanated from England at the turn of the century, with William Brade and Giovanni Coprario, but the first publication of suite-like groupings as uniformly constituted composite works was Peuerl's Newe Padouan, Intrada, Däntz und Galliarda (1611), where the title's four dances recur in ten ‘suites’ united by key and thematic material. Schein's Banchetto musicale (1617) contains 20 sequences of paduana, gagliarda, courente, allmande and tripla, similarly unified.

The development of the ‘classical’ suite, consisting of allemande, courante, sarabande and gigue in that order (A-C-S-G), took place in two stages. The initiative for the A-C-S group probably lay with the Parisian lutenists or the dancing-masters of the French court; the first such groups that can be firmly dated occur in the Tablature de mandore de la composition du Sieur Chancy (1629). The gigue enjoyed only scattered acceptance when it began to appear in suite formations after 1650, and at first it rarely assumed its classical position at the end. Froberger left only one authentic A-C-S G suite; his usual structure of A-G-C-S was altered by his first publishers in 1697-8, by which time the norm had been set for German composers by Buxtehude, Böhm and Kuhnau. In England the suite with gigue was exceptional (the gigue does not appear in Purcell's suites, for example), and in France during Louis XIV's reign it was common in viol and harpsichord suites to follow the A-C-S-G group with other dances. Features of the French harpsichord suite of L. Couperin, D′Angelbert and others include the Prélude non mesur ée and the tendency to bring together existing pieces (sometimes by a different composer). There are only five more or less classical suites among François Couperin's 27 ordres - in nos. 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8, each consisting of five to ten pieces. The others include programmatically linked groups and miscellanies.

The French also used the ensemble and orchestral suite, the latter often composed of pieces from diverse sources (especially Lully's operas and ballets). Many began with an overture, and the ‘overture-suite’ was enthusiastically taken up by Germans, including J.S. Kusser, J. C. F. Fischer and Georg Muffat. Telemann claimed to have composed no fewer than 200, but Bach's four orchestral suites and Handel's Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks show the genre at its best.

In their other suites both Bach and Handel usually followed the pattern prelude-A-C-S-X-G (where X is one or more extra dances or dance pairs). Handel's keyboard suites, numbering about 22, are mostly compiled from pieces which already existed. Bach showed more interest in the genre, with six cello suites, three partitas for solo violin and sets of six English suites, French suites and partitas for harpsichord. Bach uses the suite as a building-block in a larger whole, arranging each one to do something different - or the same thing in a different way - so that the set is a kind of thesaurus of the suite for that particular medium.

After 1750 the sonata, symphony and concerto began to fill the suite's functions. To write a suite became an archaic exercise, as with Mozart's k 399/385 i and the much later suites à l′antique of Ravel, Debussy, Strauss, Hindemith and Schoenberg. In the 19th century the title ‘suite’ was increasingly used either for an orchestral selection from a larger work (especially a ballet or opera) or for a sequence of pieces loosely connected by a descriptive programme (e.g. Holst's The Planets) or by an exotic or nationalistic one (as in some of the suites of Grieg, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov). Independence from dance forms means that the genre can be said to encompass works to which the title ‘suite’ was not given, including Schumann's piano cycles, Schoenberg's Five Orchestral Pieces and Stockhausen's Momente.

For more information on suite, visit Britannica.com.

A connected group of rooms arranged or designed to be used as a unit.

A group of related pieces of music or movements played in sequence. In the baroque era, a suite was a succession of different kinds of dances. In more recent times, suites have contained excerpts from longer works, such as ballets, or have simply portrayed a scene, as in Ferde Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite.

For other uses, see Suite (disambiguation).

In music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet, (Nutcracker Suite) or incidental music to a play (L'Arlésienne Suites) or film (Lieutenant Kije Suite), or they may be entirely original movements (Holberg Suite, The Planets).

In the Baroque era the suite was more precisely defined, with the pieces unified by key,^[1] and consisting of dances usually preceded by a prelude or overture.^[1] The suite was also known as Suite de danses, Ordre (the term favored by François Couperin) or Partita. In the eighteenth century, the term ouverture or overture may refer to the entire suite, as it does with the orchestral suites of Bach.

Contents 1 History 2 Form of suite de danses 2.1 Sections 3 See also 4 References

History

Estienne du Tertre published suyttes de bransles in 1557, giving the first general use of the term "suite" 'suyttes' in music, although the usual form of the time was as pairs of dances. The first recognizable suite is Peuerl's Newe Padouan, Intrada, Dantz, and Galliarda of 1611, in which the four dances of the title appear repeatedly in ten suites. The Banchetto musicale by Johann Schein(1617) contains 20 sequences of five different dances.

The "classical" suite consisted of allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue, in that order, and developed during the 17th century in France, the gigue appearing later than the others. Johann Jakob Froberger is usually credited with establishing the classical suite through his compositions in this form, which were widely published and copied, although this was largely due to his publishers standardizing the order; Froberger's original manuscripts have many different orderings of the movements, i.e. the gigue preceding the sarabande. The publisher's standardized order was, however, highly influential especially on the works of Bach.

Many later suites included other movements placed between sarabande and gigue. These optional movements were known as galanteries: common examples are the minuet, gavotte, passepied, and bourree. Often there would be two contrasting galanteries with the same name, e.g. Minuet I and II, to be played alternativement, meaning that the first dance is played again after the second, thus I, II, I.

The later addition of an overture to make up an "overture-suite" was extremely popular with German composers; Telemann claimed to have written over 200 overture-suites, J.S. Bach had his four orchestral suites along with other suites, and George Frideric Handel put his Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks in this form.

Handel wrote 22 keyboard suites; Bach produced multiple suites for lute, cello, violin, flute, and other instruments, as well as English suite, French suites and Partitas for keyboard. For Bach especially, the suite form was a base on which to spin more elaborate sequences. François Couperin's later suites often dispensed entirely with the standard dances and consisted entirely of character pieces with fanciful names.

By the 1750s, the suite had come to be seen as old-fashioned, superseded by the symphony and concerto, and few composers were still writing suites during that time. But since the 19th century composers have frequently arranged ballets, operas and other works into suites for concert performance. Arrangement into a suite can make the music more accessible and available to a wider audience, and has greatly helped popularize the music itself, such as in Tchaikovsky's suite from The Nutcracker, or Aaron Copland's suite from Appalachian Spring. Orchestral suites usually consist of one or more movements. An example of this could be Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt Orchestral Suites I and II, both consisting of four movements. Such suites may consist of

• an instrumental selection from a larger work such as an opera, ballet, film score, or musical;
• a sequence of smaller pieces tied together by a common theme, such as the nationalistically inflected suites of Grieg, Sibelius, or Tchaikovsky and The Planets by Holst;
• a work deliberately referential of Baroque themes, as in the mischievous Suite for Piano by Arnold Schoenberg.

Brought on by Impressionism, the piano suite was reintroduced by early 20th century French composers such as Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy. Debussy's Suite bergamasque is most likely one of the most famous suites, especially the third movement, Clair de Lune. Ravel is particularly well known for his Miroirs suite for piano and lesser known for Le Tombeau de Couperin, both requiring tremendous skill and dexterity from the pianist.

Other famous examples of early 20th century suites are The Planets by Gustav Holst, a 'Suite for Orchestra' in which each piece represents the astrological significance of one of the seven uninhabited planets then known, as well as his First Suite in E-flat and Second Suite in F for Military Band.

Form of suite de danses

See also: Baroque suite. The term suite de danses was the early 17th century name given to a set of dances, which was popularised in the Baroque era.

Sections

The Suite de danses would contain the following sections:

• Prelude
• Allemande - Literally translates from French as the word 'German'. It is a stately German dance with a meter of 4/4.
• Courante or Corrente - A Courante is a lively French dance in 3/4 time, while the Corrente is an Italian dance in quick 3/4.
• Sarabande - A Sarabande is a slow, stately Spanish dance in 3/4 time.
• Intermezzi - This section consists of two to four dances at the discretion of the composer that may include a Minuet, Bouree, Polonaise, and/or a Gavotte.
• Gigue or giga - The Gigue or 'Jig' originates in England, and is a fast dance, normally with a meter of 6/8. The Italian giga is rarer than the gigue, and is faster with running passages over a harmonic basis.

See also

Category:Suites

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "suite - Encyclopædia Britannica" (overview), Encyclopædia Britannica Online, 2006, Britannica.com webpage: BritannicaCom-suite.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - suite, møblement, følge

Nederlands (Dutch)
suite, gevolg, groep bij elkaar horend dansen (muziek), compositie met aantal samenhangende delen, set van meubilair, set samenhangende computerprogramma's

Français (French)
n. - mobilier, suite (chambres), (Mus) suite, suite (d'un prince)

Deutsch (German)
n. - Suite, Garnitur

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - σουίτα, διαμέρισμα, συνοδεία, ακολουθία, (μουσ.) σουίτα, (Η/Υ) πακέτο προγραμμάτων

Italiano (Italian)
suite, seguito

Português (Portuguese)
n. - conjunto (m)

Русский (Russian)
набор, комплект, сюита, номер-люкс (из нескольких комнат)

Español (Spanish)
n. - suite, apartamento, juego, séquito, comitiva, cortejo, acompañamiento, serie, sucesión

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - svit, följe, uppvaktning, möblemang, uppsättning, omgång, serie

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
随员, 随从, 一套家具, 套房, 系列, 组, 套

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 隨員, 隨從, 一套家具, 套房, 系列, 組, 套

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 일행, 한 벌

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ひと続きの部屋, スイートルーム, 1そろい, 組曲, 随行者, 一続きの部屋

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) شقه , جناح‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מערכת חדרים, מדור, מערכת רהיטים, דירה, פמליה, סגל, סוויטה‬

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