Luogo e data di registrazione		Hochschule für Musik, Würzburg (Germania) - 15/18 febbraio 1974 Plenarsaal der Residenz, Mümchen (Germania) - 7 aprile 1974
	Registrazione: live / studio		studio
	Production		Dr. Andreas Holschneider
	Recording supervision		Werner Mayer
	Recording Engineer		Wolfgang Mitlehner
	Prima Edizione LP		ARCHIV - 2533 172 - (1 LP - durata 48' 25") - (p) 1974 - Analogico
	Prima Edizione CD		ARCHIV - 439 964-2 - (4 CD's - durata 71' 35"; 70' 09"; 70' 42" & 72' 56" - [CD2 16-51]) - (c) 1992 - ADD
	Cover		Lambranzi "Neue Und Curieuse Theatralische Tanz-Schul", erschienen 1716. Kupferstich ohne Namensangabe, Archiv fèr Kunst und Geschichte, Berlin
	Note		-

 

Dance Music of the High Baroque After "Dance Music of the Renaissance" and "Dance Music of the Early Baroque Period", "Dance Music of the High Baroque" is the third l. p. record in our anthology made by the Ulsamer-Collegium and Konrad Ragossnig. The period covered by this third record is the second half of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th. That was the century following the Thirty Years’ War in Germany, marked by the glory and decay of the French monarchy, the age when the customs and tastes of the French court were copied at all the other courts of Europe. As had always been the case, folk music was the main source of all dance music. In the refined world of the aristocracy, however, popular dances were greatly polished and urbanized. Side by side with courtly etiquette there was a desire to return to nature, to the vie champêtre, which was expressed strongly in illustrious court society. Thus courtly dance music covered a wide range of styles, from boisterous country dances to stylized ballets, in which the king himself danced. The first side of this record consistes of dances in which the heritage of folk music is direcsly evident. The country dance originated in England, from where it spread throughout Europe, being cultivated above all at the French court. The first and most important dance collection, "The English Dancing Master", published in 1650 by John Playford, appeared in no fewer than 18 editions by 1728. From the second edition onwards the word “English” was omitted from the title, a sign of its increasingly wide popularity. There were two basic types of country dances: "Longways", in which the partners faced each other in two parallel lines (hence the French term "contredanse", a misunderstanding of the English term “country dance”), and "Rounds", in which the dancers formed a circle, with the partners standing side by side. Playford’s collection included, in addition to instructions for dancing (figures and steps) the unaccompanied tunes of country dances. These tunes were probably generally played on the violin, but there were other possibilities. We have used various instruments for the melodies: in the Hrst dance a shawm, in the second (the famous "Greensleeves") a traversière (flute) and pardessus de viole (high descant viola da gamba), in the third a musette (bagpipe), and in the fourth a pardessus de viole and  (hurdy-gurdy). The bagpipe, shawm, hurdy-gurdy and violin were the principal folk instruments used in dance music of the early 18th century. In numerous paintings and engravings we can see scenes of dancing, mostly in the open air, with these instruments being played at a wedding or fair. Michel Corrette, the brothers Esprit-Philippe and Nicolas Chédeville (who were related to the Hotteterre family of musicians) and François Bouin listened to folk dances played on these instruments by wandering musicians; they adapted and edited the dances for use at court. Along with the bagpipe, shawm and hurdy-gurdy, the guitar was also among the instruments originally used for folk music. Since the Renaissance it has been the national instrument of Spain, and it has remained so to this day The dances of Gaspar Sanz (1640-1710) retain the apparent spontaneity and freshness of folk music, although they are in fact skilfully constructed and well balanced. The Canarios, a quick dance in six-eight time which probably originated in the Canary Islands, the Passacalle (from the Spanish pasar una calle, to go along a street), the tender, restrained Españoletas and the exciting Gallarda are examples of this lively yet subtle dance music. After these dances derived from folk music, the suite by Reusner is representative of sequences of dances in several movements and for an instrumental ensemble. Esaias Reusner the younger (1636-1679) was a lutenist at the ducal court of Silesia. In 1668 he published a collection entitled "Tafel-Erlustigung" in the special notation known as lute tablature. No copy of that publication survives, but we possess a four-part arrangement which Johann Georg Stanley, a colleague of Reusner’s at the Silesian court, published during the same year; this is dance music intended for the entertainment of the nobility. As in the case of other similar publications this had a dual purpose: as “table music” to provide an agreeable background to banquets, and as music for dancing. Pieces were chosen to suit the particular occasion, and they could be played in a variety of ways. The theoretician W C. Printz remarked in 1690, in connection with the use of such pieces either for dancing or as table music, that “when the dances are to serve only as table music, greater freedom can be exercised regarding the rhythm than when they are to be played for dancing”. The second side of this record presents stylized, in some cases virtuoso dance music of the aristocracy. Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) was the court composer to Louis XIV. Henri Desmarets (1661-1741) began his career as a musician in the French royal chapel, Jean Fischer (1646 until 1721) was active in Paris for some years as copyist to Lully, and Jean-Baptiste Loeillet II from Ghent (1680-1730) can also be considered a member of the French circle, although he lived in London. Alessandro Poglietti (died 1683) wrote his orchestral dances for the Imperial court in Vienna. The most popular fashionable dances of that period were the Allemande, Courante, Sarabande and Gigue, the basic dances of the suite, together with the Bourrée and Gavotte, the Passe-pied, the older Gaillarde, and above all the Minuet (menuet - from the French menu, small; Poglietti called it Amener, from amener, to lead). In Lully’s ballets the popular and courtly styles were reconciled and combined. "Une noce de village" concludes the ballet "L'Amour malade", which was performed in the Palais du Louvre on the 17th January 1657. It was a small Italian opera introduced into the ballet proper. The vocal music of the opera has not survived, but Lully’s instrumental pieces have. In the last Entrée the ladies and gentlemen of the court acted and danced a village wedding, with the King himself leading the procession of friends of the bridal couple. The musicians, among them Lully and members of the Hotteterre family with their wind instruments, were dressed as minstrels, and themselves appeared on the stage. Andreas Holschneider