As to sarabands: Are there other factors in deciding whether a given piece is meant to be fast or slow?
I know of one saraband which I was taught as fast, but which I only had known as slow (simple historical error?) if at all: the saraband in Matthew Locke's "Five-part Thinges for the Cornetts" (better known as "Musick for His Majesty's Sackbutts and Cornetts." At 11:54 AM 8/13/2005, Howard Posner wrote: >Stewart McCoy wrote: > > > It has often been observed that the addition of extra notes by > > musicians, or extra steps by dancers, has the effect of slowing > > music down over the years. The saraband started life as a fast, > > lively dance, and ended up as a very slow one. > >Wouldn't the reverse be just as likely: that slower tempo leads to more >notes? >There are other, more intuitive causes for dances to slow down over a >long period. >For example, the people who dance it get older. Or the dance moves up >the social ladder, >to be danced by people in more elaborate clothing. > >HP > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html www3.sympatico.ca/echapin
