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Thoinot Arbeau

  • Born March 17, 1520 in Dijon
  • Died July 23, 1595 in Langres
  • Period: Renaissance (1450-1599)
  • Country: France
  • Genres: Chamber

Biography

Today, when men of the cloth are popularly assumed to be hostile to dancing, it may come as a surprise to learn that one of the most important dance treatises of the Renaissance was published by a cleric. Under the anagrammatic pen name Thoinot Arbeau, Jehan Tabourot published his Orchésographie, an almost comprehensive how-to book on popular dance in the sixteenth century. Two editions were published in Langres in 1588 and 1589; by this time, Tabourot was vicar-general of his diocese. His career had begun in Langres in 1542 and he steadily rose through a series of administrative posts, including treasurer, ecclesiastical judge, and inspector of the diocesan schools. Dealing as he did with money, education, and personal conflict, Tabourot understood the real world better than some of his more-sheltered colleagues, and strongly advocated dancing for reasons of health, spouse-hunting, and manly display. Indeed, in his Orchésographie, he argues at some length that dancing is as virile a pursuit as fencing and military marching. The Orchésographie prints a number of dance tunes, but more importantly maps out precisely how each dance was to be performed with a tablature apparently of Tabourot's own invention, correlating the steps to the music and providing information on tempo and style -- matters often taken for granted in other treatises. Although Tabourot/Arbeau was not necessarily an authority on the style of dancing at the French court, he did describe common practices in northern Europe during his lifetime. He ignored complicated dances and favored simple steps (and accompanying music) that required only a modicum of skill. He described 15 forms of the galliard, 25 kinds of branles, the pavane, courante, allemande, and many other dances, including the popular four-person sword dance called Les bouffons. Of special importance to today's musicians, Tabourot/Arbeau, uniquely among Renaissance sources, illustrated tabor rhythms. He also provided detailed information on the use of the fife, recommended instrumental combinations and tempos, and emphasized the importance of improvisation. He even offered advice on dancing etiquette ("spit and blow your nose sparingly"). ~ James Reel, All Music Guide

 
 
Music Encyclopedia: Thoinot Arbeau

(b Dijon, 17 March 1520; d Langres, 23 July 1595). French writer. After studying in Dijon, Poitiers and possibly Paris, he held ecclesiastical posts at Langres and became vicar-general there. His Orchésographie (1588), an illustrated dance manual, is invaluable, explaining the basic social dances of his time with a new tablature to correlate steps and music. It includes many tunes and reveals much about the way 16th-century dance music was performed.



 
Dictionary of Dance: Thoinot Arbeau

Arbeau, Thoinot (orig. Jehan Tabourot;b Dijon, 17 Mar. 1520 (some sources say 1519), d Langres, 21 July 1595 (some sources say 1596)). French dance writer, author of the famous L'Orchésographie. Published in 1588, this treatise on 16th-century dancing, fencing, piping, and drumming was written in the form of a dialogue between Arbeau and his student Capriol. It supplies descriptions of numerous dances, plus musical notation, with the steps and positions clearly defined, e.g. basse danse, pavane d'Espagne, galliarde, volte, courante, allemande, morisque, and 24 versions of the branle. Although Arbeau (a provincial writer) may not have accurately known how these dances were performed at court, his work provides insights into contemporary musical performance practice and also social convention (Capriol is instructed to ‘spit and blow [his] nose sparingly’ and to converse affably). It was translated into English by C. W. Beaumont in 1925 and inspired Ashton's ballet Capriol Suite (mus. Warlock, 1930).

 
Wikipedia: Thoinot Arbeau

Thoinot Arbeau is the anagrammatic pen name of Jehan Tabourot (March 17, 1520, Dijon - July 23, 1595, Langres). He was a Catholic priest, a canon of Langres, and a theoretician and historian of the dance.

A dance manuscript written by Tabourot was published in 1588, and reprinted in 1589 and 1596. This manual contains detailed instructions for numerous styles of dance (branle, galliard, pavane, tourdion), as well as short sections about military music, drumming, and marching, and a few details about dance forms such as the Morisco (whence the English Morris dance), the Canary (reputed to be from the Canary Islands), the Allemande, Courante, and Basse danse.

This manual, Orchésographie (Orchesography), is a major source of information about Renaissance Dance. It is available online in facsimile and in plain text, and there is an English translation by Mary Stewart Evans, edited by Julia Sutton, in print with Dover Publications. It contains numerous woodcuts of dancing and musicians, and also includes many dance tabulations in which extensive instructions for the steps are lined up next to the musical notes (though this is misrepresented in some modern editions), a significant innovation in dance notation at that time.

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Persondata
NAME Arbeau, Thoinot
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tabourot Jehan (real)
SHORT DESCRIPTION French dance manual author and priest
DATE OF BIRTH March 17, 1519
PLACE OF BIRTH Dijon
DATE OF DEATH July 23, 1595
PLACE OF DEATH Langres

 
 

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Copyrights:

Artist. Copyright © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ® , a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Music Encyclopedia. The Concise Grove Dictionary of Music. Copyright © 1994 by Oxford University Press, Inc.. All rights reserved.  Read more
Dictionary of Dance. The Oxford Dictionary of Dance. Copyright © 2000, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Thoinot Arbeau" Read more

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