Michael Praetorius is one of the major figures of German music during the early Baroque period. An organist and prolific composer of Lutheran church music, he was also an influential theorist whose major work in the field, Syntagma musicum (Treatise of Music) appeared in three parts between 1614 and 1618. In this work, Praetorius revealed his intention of publishing eight volumes of secular music to complement his huge sacred publication, the nine volume Musae Sionae (1607-1610), but he produced only one volume, Terpsichore (1612). This volume contains 312 short French and Italian instrumental and vocal dances in four, five, or six parts, with no specific instrumentation. Selections produced today therefore generally feature a wide number of the instruments of the period, including bowed strings of the violin and viol family, plucked string instruments, such as lutes and harp, wind instruments, including recorders, crumhorns, and sackbuts, and a variety of percussion instruments. Many of the pieces included are anonymous, although composers such as Vecchi and Certon are represented. In particular, Praetorius was much indebted to the music of Pierre-Francisque Caroubel, a French composer of Italian origin who was responsible for 78 of the five-part arrangements. Among the major dance forms included are courantes (162), voltes (48), bransles (21), gaillardes (23), and ballets (37), in addition to which smaller numbers of pavanes, canaries, and bourees make up the total. A remarkable work of musical scholarship, Terpsichore represents one of the major Baroque collections of French dances. ~ Brian Robins, Rovi
Copyright © 2012 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.
