Breaking down Barriers in the Study of Renaissance and

Breaking down Barriers in the Study of Renaissance and Baroque Dance
Author(s): Barbara Sparti
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Dance Chronicle, Vol. 19, No. 3 (1996), pp. 255-276
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
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BreakingDown Barriers
in the Studyof Renaissance
and BaroqueDance
BarbaraSparti
Startingin the nineteenthcentury,the terms"Renaissance"and "Baroque"becameusedto indicatetwodistinctanddistinguishable
periods
with characteristicartisticandculturalfeatures.*The terms,however,
havedifferentconnotationsin differentfields-art, literature,andmusic-and, obviously,differentmeaningsin differentcountries.Because
of these and other ambiguities,the designations"Renaissance"and
*"The concept of a new age derives mainly from the nineteenth-century writers Jules Michelet,
John Addington Symonds, and above all Jacob Burckhardt,The Civilizationof the Renaissance in
Italy (1860)" (The New EncyclopediaBritannia, 1980). Subsequent input from historical, literary,
icon-ographical, socioeconomic, and political sources has expanded and/or replaced many of these
nineteenth-century views.
"BAROQUE ARCHITECTURE. The dramaticstyle spanning a period of some two hundred years-c.1570-c.1770-but
finding its full expression in seventeenth-century Italy under the
three-star constellation of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Pietro da Cortona, and Francesco Borromini.
The term, baroque, applied also to sculpture, painting, furniture, and music, is thought to be
derived from the Portuguese barroco, an irregularly-shapedpearl. It appeared in English, via
France, during the nineteenth century. Like "gothic," its original meaning was, on the whole,
pejorative, suggesting something irregular,degenerate, absurd, bizarre-a product of bad taste.
(continued)
? 1996 by Barbara Sparti
255
256
DANCE CHRONICLE
"Baroque" are rarelyused today by art historians and musicologists. As
far as dance is concerned, Curt Sachs in 1933 managed to avoid these
labels entirely. Discussing early dance types and sources, this pioneer
headed his chapters: "The Fifteenth Century," "The Age of the Galliard-1500-1650," and "The Age of the Minuet-1650-1750."' Somewhere along the way, however, English and American dance reconstructors and historians began to identify dance styles according to their
own historical perspectives, so that Italian fifteenth-century dances
were considered on the border between Medieval and Renaissance';
the 1581-1602 Caroso and Negri dances, which corresponded chronologically to Shakespeare's and Elizabeth's England, were dubbed "Renaissance," while the new seventeenth-century French style, very much
in fashion in both England and Germany in the eighteenth century,was
referred to as "Baroque."
These classifications have continued to be reiterated. However,
recent research into lesser-known (Italian) sources and some newly discovered ones has blurred previous border markings and, as a result,
certain classifications call for reexamination. At the same time, a number of other assumptions, related and not, which have formed the basis
for the study of dance history between 1450 and 1700 also need to be
questioned. Are, for example, the choreographies described in the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Italian treatises merely "social dances"
from the noble courts of Lombardy?Is "baroque dance" only French?
(What of seventeenth-century Italy?) Does "theatricaldance" begin in
France with "the first ballet," Beaujoyeux'sBalet comique de la Royne?
Given answers to these questions, what do the familiar terms mean?
The most recent fifteenth-century Italian dance source to come
to light is in the hand of a notary from Montefiascone, at the time a
Baroque was admitted to respectability and recognized as an individual style succeeding the Renaissance (to whose classical discipline it may have been an emotional reaction), by the Swiss art
historian Heinrich Wolflin in his Renraissanceund Barock (1888)" (E. O. Hauser, Italy,A Cul- tural
Guide, New York: Atheneum, 1981, p. 11).
The 1877 edition of Baedeker'sCentralItalyand Rome has this to say: "The authors of the
degenerated Renaissance known as Baroque were really Vignola (1507-73) and ... C. Madera
(1556-1639). An undoubted vigour, with disposition of detail, a feeling for vastness and pomp,
together with an internal decoration which spared neither colour nor costly material to secure an
effect of dazzling splendour: such are the distinguishing attributes of the Baroque style" (cited in
A Supplemen7t to the OxfordEnglish Dictionaiy, 1972).
BREAKINGDOWNBARRIERS
257
small,independentcity-statewith no rulingfamily,lyingone hundred
kilometers(62 miles) to the northof Rome.3Scatteredamongthe notary'svariouspapersare the descriptionsof "flowered"or ornamented
versions of three of the most populardances from the tradition of
Domenico da Piacenzaand GuglielmoEbreo.4In these choreographies, basicsteps are replacedwith "contrapassi"
("counter-to-the-time"
steps) and "decorated"with fast turns-"in and out,""backwardand
forward"-and withjumps.For the male dancerto fit in all these embellishmentsandkeep the danceflowingalongsidehis partner(who,it
seems,stayswiththe basicsteps)requiresenormoustechnicalskilland
virtuosity.Any notion, then, that the fifteenth-centurytreatises describemerely"cutelittle socialdances"is clearlyspurious.
Howtypicalthissortof ornamentationwasis stillunknown.But
the factthatsometimein the 1480sa notaryfromMontefiasconewrote
downthese versions,whichhe himselfhad quitepossiblyembellished,
demolishesanotherbasicassumption
dance.
concerningfifteenth-century
Insteadof the noblecourtsof Lombardy,deemedbyvariousdanceand
musichistoriansthe home of this styleof dancing,5whatwe have here
is specificevidencethat it was practicedin an urbanbourgeoismilieu
in centralItaly.Thatthe bourgeoisiewas alreadydancingmanyof the
bassedanzeand ballicreatedby Domenicoda Piacenzain 1455can be
inferredfromtheiromissionfromAntonioCornazano'streatise.Commentingthat"aninfinite"numberof danceshadgrownold or hadbecome "too well knownand common,"this courtierchose to exclude
them fromhis treatise.6Furtherconfirmationthatthe dancesof Domenico and Guglielmowere not the monopolyof the courtsmaywell be
furnishedby the one folio manuscript,probablywrittenabout 1473,
found in Venice some ten years ago by A. WilliamSmith.7As things
stand,it is reasonableto speculatethatthesesparedescriptionsof seven
dancesare the personalannotationsof a studentor youngcleric,rather
thana fragmentor copyof a treatise.(Thedancesmayhavebeenjotted
The cleardown,possiblyunderdictation,as a personalaide-memoire.)
est exampleof urbanbourgeoisdancingfrom this period is that recordedby the GermanmusictutorJohannesCochlaeusduringhisvisit
to Bolognain 1517.Respondingto a requestmadeto himbythe daughters of a leadingcitizen of Nuremberg,he sent off to Germanywhat
appearto be eye-witnessaccountsof the choreographiesof eightwellknownItaliandances.8Whilethechoreographic
descriptionsarewritten
258
DANCE CHRONICLE
in German, the step-names are in Italian (albeit Germanized). What is
particularly significant here is that the Domenico-Guglielmo repertoire-with the same steps and style as in the 1450s and 1460s- was
still being performed in central Italy as late as 1517, and was apparently
familiar in German bourgeois circles.
At the same time, however, a new repertoire-based, judging
the
titles
of the dances, on popular songs, but still related to the
by
Domenico-Guglielmo style-came into being. This is testified to in two
sources which so far have received scant attention.9 In 1510, as a kind
of appendage to an anonymous Florentine copy of Guglielmo's treatise,
choreographies of four "new" balli make their appearance."?Two of
them occur again in a somewhat later treatise, together with thirteen
other dances, the various choreographies attributed to three previously
unknown dancing masters." One of these, who calls himself "II Papa"
(the Pope), also writes a theoretical introduction to the work, which is
entitled "11Papa che insegnia ballare di Balletti a sua [sic] scholari"
(The Pope Teaches [the] Dancing of Balletti to his Students). This unpublished treatise, bound together with the Giorgio manuscript and
donated to the New York Public LibraryDance Collection by Walter
Toscanini, has been judged to date from the mid-sixteenth century.12
However, given the fact that the steps and style used in the dance descriptions, while distinctive, nonetheless strongly recall those of the
Domenico-Guglielmo tradition,* and because a new and different style
of dance emerged in Tuscany about 1550, if not earlier, I would suggest
a date for "II Papa" closer to 1520-30.
Up to twenty years ago, the period between the 1480s and
1581-that is, the hypothetical date markingthe last of the then known
fifteenth-century dance treatises and the publication of Fabritio Caroso's first book, II Ballarino-might well have been known to dance
history as "The Gap." (For a listing of the sources, see Tables I and II
and note 17.) As we have seen, the gap is now being filled in. When
around 1550, if not earlier, a completely new style of dancing began to
emerge, it may well have co-existed and overlapped for a brief period
*All the balli/ballettiin the 1510 Florentine manuscript (FL) and those in "II Papa" are for three
dancers. The choreographies, which recall in style and music "Voltati in ca Rosina" (Giovanni
Ambrosio/Guglielmo Ebreo), are strophic, usuallywith a refrain,and suggest a quadernariamisura
(4/4 meter).
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS
259
Table I
Fifteenth-Century Dance Sources-and Beyond
The sigla used are based on those devised by F. A. Gallo-"II 'ballare lombardo' (circa
1435-1475)," Studi musicali, VIII, 1979, pp. 61-84-and since widely used by dance
historians. The approximate dating of FN, M, NY, S is also his. Dates of treatises and
other sources-when known-are in bold.
*These treatises bear dedications (to nobility).
TREATISES WITH MUSIC (in chronological order)
Author
Pd: Domenico da Piacenza
*V: Antonio Cornazano
Date
c.1455
1455/1465
*Pg: Guglielmo Ebreo
1463
Pa: Giovanni Ambrosio
c.1471-74
(alias Guglielmo Ebreo)
PBN: Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale
RBV: Rome, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
Title
De arte saltandi
Libro dell'arte
del danzare
De pratica seu
arte tripudii
De pratica seu
arte tripudii
Location
PBN f.ital.972
RBV Capponiano
203
PBN f.ital.973
PBN f.ital.476
OTHER VERSIONS OF GUGLIELMO EBREO'S TREATISE
(without music) (locations in alphabetical order)
FL: Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana (Antinori 13), 1510
FN: Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale (Magliabecchiano XIX, 88), c.1477
M: Modena, Biblioteca Estense (ital. 82. a. J. 94), c.1477
NY: New York Public Library,Dance Collection (*MGZMBZ-Res. 72-254), c.1480
S:
Siena, Biblioteca Comunale (L.V.29), c.1474
OTHER KNOWN CHOREOGRAPHIC SOURCES
N:
Niirnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum (HS 8842/GS 1589), 1517
Ven: Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana (It. II. 34 (=4906) 11libro di Sidrach,
c.105), c.1473
Vit: Viterbo, Archivio di Stato, Notarile di Montefiascone, Protocollo 11
("fiorito" dances), c.1480s
"TRANSITION SOURCES"-early 16th century
(contain dances in similar style but unknown in the above sources)
FL (see above): 1510: a bassadanza and four "new"balli.
NY (see above): "IIPapa" MS: 15 "balletti"and a theoretical introduction,
c.1520-30
DANCE CHRONICLE
260
Table II
Dance Treatises and Other Sources for the "Italian Style"
c.1550-1630+
(M), music
(S), step descriptions;(C), choreographies;
S. Zuccolo,La PazziadelBallo(A PolemicAgainstthe Dance)
1549
1555
R. Corso, Dialogo del Ballo (A Defense of Dance)
c. 1540-60
(C)
1559
1560
1581
1587
1589
1600
MS "Tuscan balli"
(C)
Letterwitha descriptionof "lacaccia"
(C)
L. Compasso, Ballo della Gagliarda
(SCM)
(C)
(C)
F. Caroso,IIBallarino
P. Lutij,Gagliardavariations
P. Lutij,re-editionof Gagliardavariations
(SCM)
F. Caroso, Nobilta di dame
(C)
L. Lupi,Librodi mutanzeof gagliarda,passoe
mezzo,canario,etc.
1602
(SCM)
C. Negri, Le gratied'amore
1604
(SCM)
C. Negri,re-editionof Gratied'amorewithnew
1605
1607
(SCM)
(SCM)
c.1615-20
(SC)
F. Caroso,re-editionof Nobiltadi dame
L. Lupi,new editionof Librodi mutanze(1600),
withtwo choreographiesand theirmusic,and
step descriptions
L. Jacobilli,Mododi ballare(MS)
1600
1620
c.1620
c.1628-37
1630
F. degli Alessandri, Discorso sopra il ballo
G. Mancini, Del Origineet Nobilta del Ballo (MS)
(SCM)
Il Corago:anonymoustreatiseon the theatre
F. Caroso,re-editionof Nobilttdi dame,withthe
title Raccolta di varijballi
G.B. Doni, Trattatodella musica scenica
1633-35
1728
title: Nuove inventionidi balli
(SC)
G.B. Dufort,IIBalloNobile(Frenchstyle)
with the transitional style of, for example, the "IIPapa" dances before
these went out of fashion.13 Our earliest known source for the new style
is probably an anonymous manuscript containing four Tuscan dances
and their music.'4Considered by Gino Corti, on the basis of the script,
as dating from "the second half of the sixteenth-century,"'5
Angene Feves
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS
261
insteadsuggeststhat,becauseof theircontent,the dances"mayactually
be earlier,from c.1540 or 50."16The dances use the traditionalsteps
describedlater in the treatisesof FabritioCarosoand CesareNegri,'7
andwhileone dance,"TheWheelof Fortune,"reflectsanearlierform,*
"TheBattaglia"for-as-many-as-will
is alreadyin the traditionof Negri's
of
the
same
name.
is alsothecasefora dancecalled
This
'
choreography
"Lacaccia"(The Hunt),which,describedin a letterdated1559,closely
resembles"Lacacciad'amore"thatNegriincludesin his treatisefortyone years later, althoughthe actualsteps seem to be from a different
tradition.'9The firstgenuinebook or manualin the series of treatises
(publishedand not) thatdealwithvariousaspectsof the "new"dancestyle is Lutio Compasso'sBallo della Gagliarda,a recentlydiscovered
treatiseon the Italiangalliardwrittenby a Romandancingmasterand
publishedin Florence in 1560.20 However,judgingby the number166-and complexityof thevariationsincluded,andbythe specificstep
vocabularyandstyleusedto describethem,it seemsfairto hypothesize
that similarvariationswere alreadybeingpracticeda good manyyears
earlier.At the sametime these samevariations,whichrangefromsimple to intricateandchallenging,also closelyresemblethose thatfollow
at the turnof the century.
Of the seventeensourcesfor this "newItalianstyle"that have
so farcome to light,twelveareseventeenth-century
(see TableII). The
laterworks,andthe secondeditionsof twotreatises,indicatethatwhile
the style did evolve, becomingricherin steps, more embellishedand
technicallycomplex,acquiringa definiteemphasison symmetry,it remainedconsistentand,in someways,unchanged.21
Forexample,sometime between1615and 1620,a futureJesuitpriest,LudovicoJacobilli,
jotted down a few pages (still unpublished)under the title "Modo
di ballare"(How to Dance),22in whichhe describeddances he may
well havelearnedwhilea studentat the RomanSeminary,'includinga
*Angene Feves writes, in unpublished notes on the "Tuscanballi,"that "It seems to me that Ruota
di Fortuna is a choreographic bridge from the basse danse in its first part, to the balanced movements repeated to each side in its third part, which would become the rule by the end of the
century."
tJacobilli was born in Rome in 1598 into an illustrious family of Foligno. In 1615 he played the
part of Nero in a performance at the Seminario Romano, where he was enrolled between October
12, 1614, and March 26, 1615.
262
DANCE CHRONICLE
Spagnoletta,a gagliarda,and a canario, dances already popular forty to
sixty years earlier. Thanks to his clear accounts and step descriptions
we are able to confirm, here at least, a very definite continuing tradition
of step, choreography, and style from the last third of the sixteenth
century through the first two decades of the seventeenth.
That the "Italian style"was still very much alive and well in the
1620s and 1630s is supported by three treatises not previouslyexamined
by dance historians. The first, a manuscript I am preparing for publication, is called "Dell'Origin et Nobilta del Ballo" (On the Origin and
Nobility of Dance)23and was written, probably around 1620, by Giulio
Mancini, a well-known art connoisseur and physician to the Pope. A
purely theoretical work, it nonetheless mentions several popular latesixteenth-century dances among the "dances done today," includes a
specific acknowledgment of Caroso's book, and indicates the names
and gives descriptions of a few of the traditional fundamental steps,
here with some distinctive variations. The other two works are published and known to musicologists specializing in the seventeenth century:
Giambattista Doni's treatise on music for theatre, completed in 1633,
mentions-once again-specific steps and dances, clearly in the Caroso-Negri tradition24;the anonymous "IICorago,"subtitled "Some Advice About How to Stage Dramatic Works,"written sometime between
1628 and 1637, probably in Florence,25 also has some references to
steps, figures, and dances "done today," which correspond to late-sixteenth-century performance practices.
The "Italian Style" continued to be performed in theatres, palaces, and Jesuit colleges for the nobility even after the new French style
of dance, together with other French modes, began to be accepted in
the various courts, republics, and states of Italy.26Indeed, in many parts
of the peninsula, the Italian style was never completely abandoned, and
the two styles, French and Italian, continued to be performed side by
side right up to the end of the seventeenth century.27Even at late as
1703 the students of the Jesuit College of Nobles in Naples were still
dancing Italian balli under the supervision of a Master of Spanish
Dance, although these were interspersed with minuets and a bourree,
taught by the Master of French Dance.28Why Giambattista Dufort,
although undoubtedly eager for professional success, waited until 1728
to publish his treatise presenting the French noble style to the ladies
and gentlemen of Naples29may well be explained by the relatively late
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS
263
arrivalof Frenchdancein thatcity,bothin the JesuitCollegeof Nobles
andby the time it took to be accepted,in place of
and in the theatre,30
Italian
the
style,by Neapolitansociety.
Returningnow to the categoriesof "Renaissance"and "Baroque,"one maywellwonderintowhich"box"to putthis"Italianstyle,"
whichwasbornaround1550or earlierandflourishedthroughthe first
decadesof the seventeenthcentury,andcontinuedto be performedin
some partsof Italyuntilthe end of thatcentury.Does it help to call this
Italianstyle"RenaissanceDance,""LateRenaissanceDance,""ManneristDance,"or "BaroqueDance"?The answerwouldseem to be no.
These categories,designedfor otherfields,simplydo not fit.31
I wishnowto takea closerlook at the Italiandancescene in the
seventeenthcentury.Whathad happenedin Italyduringthat century
to warrant,in the earlyyears of the eighteenth century,the success
of and demandfor Italiandancersin Germany,in England(by John
The answer,unfortunateWeaver,for example),andin Franceitself?32
danceanthologiesor encycloly,is not to be foundin twentieth-century
and
which,
pedias,
by ignoringItaly
devotingthemselvesentirelyto the
of
the
new
in
style France,have given rise to, or maindevelopment
the
credo
that
tained,
"Baroquedance"is French.What the Italian
dancerhad thatwas unsurpassableand uniquewas extraordinary
virand
acrobatic
skill
and
of
see
limbs,"
tuosity
"suppleness
( "agility"
with
an
for
and
plate, p. 264), together
outstandinggift
pantomime
expression.33
Clearly,the dancingofgagliardavariations,togetherwith
the commediadell'artetradition34
and the genreof pantomimicdance,
all madetheircontributionsto the rangeandskillof the Italiandancers.
Pantomime,verymuchin vogue in seventeenth-century
performance,
was certainlynot new. It had alreadybeen an integralcomponentof
Italiandance spectaclein the fifteenth-centurymoresche,which featured monsters,fools, rustics,and allegoricalheroes.35The sixteenthcenturymascarades,intermezzi,andpastoralsall hadtheirpantomimic
elements.36
And continuinginto the seventeenthcentury,initialinvesof
tigations Carnivaland end-of-yearperformancesat the Jesuit colleges for the nobilityin Rome, Parma,and Naples suggest that the
Dances of the Drunkards,Gardeners,Satyrs,and so on were pantomimic.37
Furthermore,judgingby the librettiand engravingsas well as
the music-of whichmuchis unusualand original,includingirregular
DANCE CHRONICLE
264
ASSAI
BEN BALLA,A
CVI
FORTVNA
SVONA.
Cettisiai basso, ' s solleui in alto
Chi concordea suoi passi hd la Fortunc,.
Che jard in tempoe la cadenza,e ' satto.
PROVERBJ
GUS
FIGURATI
MARIA
MITLIdi
GIUSEPPE M1ARA MITELLI
I
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS
265
phrases and frequent fermata-the balli in various seventeenth-century
operas were heavily pantomimic.38
How can we, therefore, affirm that Italy had no "Baroque"
dance of its own? Would it rather not be more correct to say that while
dance in seventeenth-century France has been, and continues to be,
investigated, seventeenth-century Italy has been neglected by dance
historians? This can in part be explained by a general neglect of the arts
in seventeenth-century Italy right up until the 1970s. A notable exception is Giuliano Briganti's book, Pietro da Cortona, published in 1962,
following which art historiansbegan to studyseriously Seicento painters
and sculptors besides Caravaggio and Bernini.39The Society for Seventeenth-Century Music, "dedicated to the study and performance of
17th-century music and related arts," was founded only in 1992, after
the pioneering work in the late 1970s and early 1980s of musicologists
such as Lorenzo Bianconi, Frederick Hammond, and Margaret Murata.4"As far as dance is concerned, the one exception to the dearth of
scholarship is the court ballet from Savoy, that duchy which, founded
in the sixteenth century,was an agglomerate of polyglot lands, including
Turin, Nice, Chambery,and Geneva. These ballets, many of them composed by Philippe d'Aglie (both the choreography and the music) between 1619 and 1667, have been studied, though not recently, by dance
historians, theatre historians, and musicologists.41
In studies of French and/or Italian dance between the fifteenth
and the eighteenth centuries, it is worth keeping in mind the relationships-political, economic, and artistic-between the two countries.
Italian forms of entertainment, for example, were introduced into
France as early as the reign of Louis XII (1498-1515), and Italian influence became particularlystrong under Francis I and Catherine de'
This plate, called "Theydance well enoughfor whom Fortune plays,"fromGiuseppeMariaMitelli'sProverbiFigurati
(IllustratedProverbs,1678;reprinted, Milan:Cerastico, 1963),
suggests how the agility and suppleness of the Italian style
continued through the seventeenth century. The proverb,
translated by Michael Sullivan, reads, "Well dances he for
whom Good Fortune plays./ Whether he rises high or flings
himself adown/ He has Good Fortune who does his steps array,/ Which in time will be, in cadence and the bound."
266
DANCE CHRONICLE
Medici, who together importedgreat numbersof Italian artistsand
musicians,includingBaldassareda Belgioioso(in France,Balthasarde
Beaujoyeux).42
Beaujoyeuxis knownin the historyof danceas thecreatorof Le
Baletcomiquede la Roynewhich,in turn,is still often called-despite
some qualification-"the first ballet." One should point out, however, that Beaujoyeux,thoughthe queen'smusician,neitherinvented
nor conductedthe music.Nor did he compose the text for either the
Even the plot is probablynot his own.44He was,
poetryor the songs.43
instead,accordingto CarolMacClintockin hertranslationof thework,
"impresario,stage manager,and perhapschoreographer."Furthermore, she states,the Baletcomique"isnot a trueballet,nor is it comical."45It is not even, I mightadd, a "first.""Thetrulynew feature in
[the "Baletcomique"(i.e., not "tragique")]is," MacClintockaffirms,
"thatthe intermedio[here]functionsas partof the action,not merely
as a diversionbetweenscenesor acts,andprovidescontinuity."According to anotherscholar,"Thestructuralsignificanceof Circehad little
effect on the followinggenerationof those responsiblefor the balletde
cour.Theirworks,basedlargelyon 'mascaradesa l'italienne,'included
unrelated entreesof colorful and grotesque characters .... Not until
... 1610 with the Ballet de Alcine [de Monsieurde Vendosme]was there
a return to the unified dramaticaction established29 years before
Dance historianshave done, and continue to do,
by Beaujoyeux."46
danceresearcha greatdisservicebyrepeatingthe designation"thefirst
ballet."They erect a barrier,dissuadingstudentsand scholarsof the
danceandof otherfieldsfrominvestigatingthe fifteenth-andsixteenthcenturyItalianmoresche,mascarades,intermedii,pastorals,and other
elements out of whichthe Frenchfashionedthe ballet de cour.47Accordingto PutnamAldrich,"Oneof the Frenchinfluenceswasthe tendency to systematizethe rhythmsof each categoryof dance-that is,
instead of mixingthe patternsas Negri and Carosodo, to keep to a
Furthermore,by extractingand
single patternthroughouta dance."48
this
one
from
its
abstracting
spectacle
sociopoliticaland aestheticconand
from
its
the
texts,
antecedents, way is illegitimatelypaved for a
of
dance
theory
historyas a singleevolutionaryline culminatingin the
classicalballet.
Mentionof the balletde courbringsme, in conclusion,to a brief
discussionof the categories"court,""social,"and "theatrical"dance.
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS
267
As we haveseen,the dancescomposedbyDomenicoda Piacenza,GuglielmoEbreo,andotherswerenot performedexclusivelybythe nobility
(or court,where present),althoughthey mayhave been the audience
or readershipthe dancingmastershadin mindwhentheycreatedtheir
choreographiesor dedicatedtheir treatises.(It is, in fact, significant
that only two of the extantfifteenth-centurytreatisesbeardedications
to membersof the nobility:Cornazano,courtier-humanist-poet
andnot
a dancingmaster,dedicatedhis Librodell'artedel danzareto Ippolita
Sforza in 1455, while Guglielmo Ebreo's De pratica seu arte tripudii,
1463, is dedicatedto the future duke of Milan, the young Galeazzo
Sforza.*)Furthermore,the bassedanzeandballidescribedin the treatises and intended, at least in some instances,for the nobility,were
ignoredin ambassadorial
reportson dancingperformedatvariouscourts.
For diaristsandchroniclers,"courtdancing"wasspectacle.Solo dancing by a younggirl performingalone or with her dancingmasterwith
"outstandingagility, grace, and virtuosity,"was occasionally mentioned,49but almostalwaysit wasthe dancedandmimedmorescheand
intermediiwith their allegoryand exoticism,their rich and impressive
Anotherfaccostumes,scenery,andspecialeffectsthatgot described.50
torto consideris thatthe originof manyof the so-called"courtdances,"
like the gagliardaand other dance-typesincludedin the treatises,was
popular(i.e., traditional,folk).51Thus,the term"court"dance is inappropriateand restrictivewhenused to designatethe dancescomposed
by Domenico,Guglielmo,Caroso,andNegri.
Oftenthese samedancesare referredto by modernscholarsas
"social"dances, as opposed to "theatrical"dances.However,for the
fifteenthand sixteenthcenturies,these classificationsare,for the most
part,meaninglessand need to be replacedby an understandingof the
contextandthe intentionof each dance-the whenandwhere,the why
and who. Were the bassedanze,balli,andballetti,like, for example,the
*SeeTableI. An exactcopyof the nowlost 1455Librodell'arte,thoughtto be set downten years
later,was dedicatedby Cornazanoto Ippolita'shalf-brother,
SforzaSecondo,andit is this copy
alone-still, however,bearingthe inscriptionto Ippolita--thatsurvives.The Sienaredactionof
Guglielmo'sDe pratica,thoughparchmentwithrichlydecoratedlettersanda coatof arms(asyet
unidentified)has, on the other hand,no dedication.Two other copies (now lost) of the GugAmbrosiotreatisewerein the courtlibrariesof PesaroandUrbino,butwhether
lielmo/Giovanni
or not theybore dedicationsis not known.
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DANCE CHRONICLE
fifteenth-centurysaltarelloand the seventeenth-centuryVenetian "promenades,"52only recreational,with no limit on the number of participants,
no rehearsal and formal training necessary, with for the most part no
specific music or specific performance place? Or were they "composed"
or "art"dances that the dancing master/choreographer created, in accordance with particular aesthetic principles, to be observed and admired as well as performed? We know for certain that in the cases of
Domenico, Guglielmo, Caroso, and Negri each choreography was for
a specific number of dancers, had a precise form and organization, and
its own steps, technique, and music, all of which had to be learned and
faithfully reproduced. These "composed" dances could be performed
in private chambers for one's own pleasure or for informal, or exclusive,
princely audiences as well as formally during great public festivities.53
Yet occasionally these same dances were performed by the ladies and
gentlemen of the local aristocracyas part of a spectacle or court entertainment, in costume and on a special platform.54As one can see, the
modern dichotomy-"social" or "theatrical"-applied to fifteenth- and
sixteenth-century Italian dance fails to net anything. This oversimplification tends, furthermore, to patronize "social dance" by bestowing a
higher value on "theatrical dance," inaccurately associating it alone
with virtuosity. This notion is belied, on the one hand, by the extraordinary turns and jumps in the Montefiascone notary's "flowered"versions of fifteenth-century "hits"and by sixteenth- and seventeenth-centurygagliarda variations, and, on the other, by the simple steps, choral
movements, spatial designs, and pantomime that were to characterize
early seventeenth-century spectacles and opera.55
Finally, when Domenico, Guglielmo, Caroso, and Negri comtheir
dances, they undoubtedly considered each an original choposed
reography or "art"dance. But depending on the performance context,
the same choreography could be considered "court,""theatrical,""social," or "popular"dance. Indeed, the gagliardawas a popular dance,
refined by choreographers, danced in public and private, on the stage
and in the square, by "professionals,"princes, peasants, and the bourgeoisie.
As we have seen, old borders delimiting fifteenth- and late-sixteenth-century Italian dance have grown indistinct and obsolete. Categories and polarities such as "Renaissance" and "Baroque" no longer
help us to understand the dance of certain periods; other labels, like
BREAKINGDOWNBARRIERS
269
that of "the first ballet" for Beaujoyeux's "Ballet comique," actually
curtail research, while still others, such as "court dance" and "social"
and "theatrical dance," do not truly represent the sociopolitical and
aesthetic realities. Perhaps what is needed now, to stimulate rethinking
and foster fresh and original research in the fifteenth to seventeenth
centuries, particularlyin Italy, are new categories or headings. Some of
these might be Dances in and Dances not in the Traditional Treatises;
"Art" Dances (those composed by dancing masters with their own
music) and Popular (traditional) Dances; Dance in Spectacle; Pantomime and Dance; and last, but certainly not least, the heading French
and Italian Dance: Differences, Similarities, Interactions, and Mutual
Influences.
Notes
1. Curt Sachs, WorldHistoryof the Dance (Berlin, 1933; English translation, New York: W.W. Norton, 1937; reprinted 1963).
2. This despite the fact that the Italian "Renaissance"was in full bloom,
and humanists and artistssuch as Leon Battista Alberti, Lorenzo de'
Medici, Aeneas Piccolomini (Pius II), Piero della Francesco, Antonella da Messina, Carlo Crivelli, Benozzo Gozzoli, Filippo Lippi,
Pisanello, Cosimo Tura, and Paolo Uccello, among others, were contemporaries of the dancing masters and choreographers Domenico
da Piacenza and Guglielmo Ebreo (see note 4).
3. State Archives, Viterbo, Notarile di Montefiascone, Protocollo 11.
For a complete description of the source and transcriptions (and
English translations)of the dances, see BarbaraSparti,"R6ti Bouilli:
Take Two; 'El Gioioso Fiorito,' " Studi Musicali, Vol. XXIV, No. 2,
1995.
4. Domenico da Piacena, De artesaltandj& choreas ducendj/De la arte
di ballare et Danzare (Paris: Bibliotheque Nationale, MS ital. 972;
edition D. R. Wilson, Cambridge:Early Dance Circle, 1988). Guglielmo Ebreo, De pratica seu arte tripudii... (1463) (Paris: Bibliotheque Nationale, MS ital. 973; ed. and English translation Barbara
Sparti, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993, 1995). See Table I for other
redactions of Guglielmo's treatise.
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DANCE CHRONICLE
5. See, for example, Ingrid Brainard's TheArt of CourtlyDancing in
the EarlyRenaissance(West Newton,Mass.,1981),and her "The
Art of CourtlyDance in Transition:Niirnberg,Germ.Nat. Mus.
MS. 8842, a HithertoUnknownGermanSource,"in EdelgardE.
Dubruck and Karl Heinz Goller (eds.), Crossroadsof MedievalCivilization:The CityofRegensburgand its IntellectualMilieu, Medieval
andRenaissanceMonographSeriesV, 1984,pp.61-79;F. Alberto
Gallo's"II'ballarelombardo'(circa1435-1475)"in StudiMusicali,
VIII, 1979,pp. 65-9; and AlessandroPontremoliand PatriziaLa
Rocca,II ballarelombardo(Milan:Vita e Pensiero,1987).
6. "Altriinfiniti balli, et bassadanqe,perche sono o troppovecchi,
o troppodivulgaticon silentiogli passo...." Antonio Cornazano,
Libro dell'artedel danzare(Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana,
Capponiano203,fols. 29v-30r;editionC. Mazzi,La Bibliofilia,17,
1915;translatedbyMadeleineInglehearnandPeggyForsyth,London:Dance BooksLtd., 1981,fol. 20v).
7. Venice, BibliotecaMarciana,It. II. 34 (=4906) Librodi Sidrach,
c. 105.See A. WilliamSmith,"Unafonte sconosciutadella danza
italiana del Quattrocento" in GuglielmoEbreoda Pesaro e la danza
nelle corti italiane del XV secolo, Proceedings of the 1987 Pesaro
Conference,ed. MaurizioPadovan(Pisa: Pacini, 1990), pp. 7184; and AlessandroPontremoliand PatriziaLa Rocca,La danza
a Venezia nel Rinascimento (Vicenza: Neri Pozza, 1992-93), pp.
13-26, 103-8.
8. See IngridBrainard'sreporton this sourcein "TheArt of Courtly
Dance in Transition."See also IngridWetzel'sfacsimilesandtranscriptionsof the dances in her "'Hie innen sindt geschribendie
wellschentenntz':le otto danzeitalianedel manoscrittodi Norimberga,"in the GuglielmoEbreoProceedings,pp. 321-43.
9. Neithersourcehasmusic.The namesof manyof the dancescorrethe musicand
spondto titlesof well-known,contemporaryfrottole,
often
See
Beatrice
choreography
matching.
Pescerelli, "Una
sconosciutaredazionedel trattatodi danzadi GuglielmoEbreo,"
RivistaItaliana di Musicologia, Vol. XI, 1974, pp. 50-1.
10. The copy,nowin the BibliotecaMediceaLaurenzianain Florence
(Antinori13), is writtenin Tuscanin a "clerk's"cursivehand,and
bearsno dedicationor signature.See descriptionandtranscription
of the four dancesin Pescerelli,pp. 48-55.
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS
271
11. All the dancesareherereferredto asballetti,at the time a synonym
for balli.
12. *MGZMB-Res.72-254.Forthe dating,see Toscanini'scorrespondence in the Dance Collectionof the New YorkPublicLibraryfor
the PerformingArts at LincolnCenter.
13. AngeneFeves,in her"FabritioCarosoandthe ChangingShapeof
the Dance, 1550-1600,"DanceChronicle,Vol. 14,Nos. 2 & 3, 1991,
pp. 159-74, has pointedout that there is at least one anonymous
danceinllBallerino(1581)-the "Bassaet Alta"-that showsa link
with the past.
14. Florence,BibliotecaNazionaleCentrale,MS Magl.XIX.31.Transcriptionsof the dancesandthe incipitsof theirmusic(originalsin
lute tablature)are publishedin Gino Corti's"Cinqueballitoscani
del Cinquecento," RivistaItaliana di Musicologia, Vol. XII, No. 1,
1977,pp. 73-82.
15. Ibid.,p. 74.
16. Angene Feves, letterto the author.
17. FabritioCaroso,II Ballarino(Venice: Ziletti, 1581;facs. reprint,
New York:BroudeBrothers,1967),andNobiltadi dame(Venice:
Muschio,1600, 1605;facs. reprint1600ed., Bologna:Forni, 1970;
trans.JuliaSuttonwithmusicaltranscriptions
by F. MarianWalkOxford:
Oxford
er,
UniversityPress,1986).CesareNegri,Legratie
d'amore(Milan:Ponte& Picaglia,1602;reissueasNuoveinventioni
di balli, Milan:G. Bordone, 1604;facs. reprintof 1602 ed., New
York:BroudeBrothers,1969,and Bologna:Forni,1969).
18. "LaBattaglia"in Negri,Le gratied'amore,pp. 256-63.
19. A transcriptionof the letter is includedin Corti's"CinqueBalli
Toscani,"pp. 73, 75-6. The basicstep-unitis the "morescha,"the
dance ending with "voltedella camaiorese."Negri's "La Caccia
d'amore"is on pages 281-4 of Le gratied'amore.
20. The extant copy is in the WiirttembergischeLandesbibliothek
Stuttgart(Sport8?230),whereit wasdiscoveredbyUwe Schlottermuller.See his facsimileeditionwith an introductionby Barbara
Sparti(Freiburg:fa-gisisMusik-undTanzedition,1995).
21. See Feves, "TheChangingShape."
22. Foligno,BibliotecaJacobilli,A.III.19,fols. 102-4. The manuscript
wasbroughtto the attentionof AngeneFevesandmyselfaboutten
years ago in Foligno by Bruno Marinelliand Fabio Bettoni,who
272
DANCE CHRONICLE
had made a first(unpublished)transcriptionof it. Feves has since
madeherownedition,togetherwithanEnglishtranslation,neither
as yet published.
23. Rome, BibliotecaApostolicaVaticana.
24. Trattatodella musica scenica, included in Doni's LyraBarberini,II
(firstprintedin Florencein 1763;facs.reprint,Bologna:Forni,1974).
See pages60,93, and95 (Ch.33, "DelBallo,e Passeggiode' Cori").
25. Il corago o vero alcune osservazioniper metterbene in scena le com-
posizioni drammatiche,ed. Paolo Fabbri and Angelo Pompilio
(Florence: Olschki, 1983), especiallychapters17-19 on "Cori,"
"Ballie passeggi,"and "Barriereet abbattimenti."Roger Savage
and Matteo Sansone'sarticle,"IICoragoand the stagingof early
opera:fourchaptersfroman anonymoustreatisecirca1630,"Early
Music,Vol. XVII, No. 4, 1989,pp. 494-511,givesEnglishreaders
a good overviewof the book,thoughnotnecessarilyfroma dancer's
pointof view.Thecorago,theyexplain,wassomethingof a director,
and stage-manager."
"impresario,movementcoach,dramaturg
26. See, for example,Filippo degli Alessandri,Dialogosoprail ballo
(Terni:T. Guerieri,1620),p. 51; VincenzoGiustiniano,"IImodo
e maniera di cantare. . .", in his Discorso sopra la musica de'suoi
tempi,1628 (p. 112, no. 7, in Angelo Solerti'sLe originidel melo-
dramma, Turin: Fratelli Bocca); the Balletto delle Ninfe and other
"balletti"by LorenzoAllegri(1605-18);GaetanoCapasso,Collegio dei Nobili di Parma(Parma,1901), pp. 70, 91-1; Alessandra
Sardoni,"Lasirenae l'angelo:la danzabaroccaa Roma tra meravigliaed edificazionemorale,"La Danza Italiana,Vol. 4, 1986,
pp. 24-6. See also BarbaraSparti's"Baroqueor not Baroque-Is
that the Question?,"includingthe "Chronologyof 17th-century
Sources," forthcoming in the Proceedings for the conference
L 'Artedella danza ai tempidi ClaudioMonteverdi,Turin, 1993 (Isti-
tuto per i Beni Musicaliin Piemonte).
27. BarbaraSparti,"GiambattistaDufort andLa DanseNoble-Ital-
ian Style,"Society of Dance History Scholars Conference Proceed-
ings, 1988,p. 223 and note 54; and note 26 above.
28. See the librettofor the operaClitennestra,
nowin the libraryof the
Conservatoriodi Musica"S.Pietroa Majella"in Naples.
29. GiambattistaDufort,Trattato
delBalloNobile(Naples:FeliceMosca; facs. reprint,New York:Gregg,1972).
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS
273
30. Dufort performedwith other Frenchdancersat the San Bartolomeo theatrein Naples and the Royal Palace in 1709, 1710,and
Dufort."
1713.See Sparti,"Giambattista
31. See ChapterV, "Renaissance,Anti-Renaissance,Classicism,Mannerism,andBaroque,"in AndrewC. MinorandBonnerMitchell's
A Renaissance Entertainmentfor the Marriageof Cosimo de'Medici
and Eleonora of Toledo (1539) (Columbia, Mo., 1968).
32. KathleenKuzmickHansell,"IIballo teatraleall'epocadell'opera
alla veneziana (1640-1720)" in Storia dell'OperaItaliana, ed. Lor-
enzo Bianconi and Giorgio Pestelli (Turin:Edizioni di Torino,
1988),Vol. 5, pp. 183, 189,and 190,note 29. An Englisheditionis
forthcoming.
33. Hansell.The quotationsare fromJohnWeaver,An Essaytowards
an Historyof Dancing, p. 168.
34. See Marian Hannah Winter, The Pre-RomanticBallet (London:
Pitman,1974),p. 13.
35. See Sparti, GuglielmoEbreo, pp. 53-5.
36. See, amongothers,the final "drunken"intermediofor satyrsand
bacchantesin the 1539 marriageentertainmentfor Cosimo de'
Medici and Eleonoraof Toledo, in Minor and Mitchell,A Renaissance Entertainment;and Henry Prunieres, L'Opera Italien en
France avant Benserade et Lulli (Paris: Henri Laurens, 1914), p.
34.
37. Sardoni,"Lasirena,"in particularpages25-6. See also the dance
descriptionsin the librettoof Clitennestra,
performedin Naples at
the JesuitCollegeof Nobles in 1703and cited above.
38. See, for example,the engravingsof the devilsin hell "whodance
and temptandseduceSaintAlessio"in StefanoLandi'sSant'Alessio (Rome, 1634;facs.reprint,Bologna:Forni,1970),betweenpp.
44 and 45; the dancemusicreprintedin MargaretMurata,Operas
for the Papal Court1631-1668 (Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Research
Press, 1981),pp. 181-2 andAppendix;and IreneAim'sPh.D. dissertation, "TheatricalDance in Seventeenth-CenturyVenetian
Opera"(Universityof California,Los Angeles, 1993), which in
book form is forthcomingfromUniversityof ChicagoPress.
39. GiulianoBriganti,Pietroda Cortona(Florence,1962;reprint,Sansoni, Florence,1984).Muchof the firstpart(pp. 14-33 and notes)
is dedicatedto a discussionof the meaningof baroque.
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DANCE CHRONICLE
40. Lorenzo Bianconi, II seicento (Turin: Edizioni di Torino, 1982;
English trans., Music in the SeventeenthCentury,Cambridge University Press, 1987,1989); Frederick Hammond, articles on Frescobaldi and "Music in Casa Barberini 1634-1643," inAnalecta Musicologica, Vol. XIX, 1979, and StudiMusicali, Vol. XIV, No. 1, 1985,
as well as his recent Music & Spectaclein BaroqueRome (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1994); and Murata.
41. See Gino Tani, "Le comte d'Aglie et le ballet de cour en Italie," in
Fetes de la Renaissance, ed. Jean Jacquot (Paris, 1956), Vol. I, pp.
221-35; Margaret McGowan, "Les Fetes de Cour en Savoie, l'oeuvre de Philippe d'Aglie," in Revue d'Histoiredu The'tre, No. 111,
1979, pp. 183-241; Mercedes Viale Ferrero, Feste delle Madame
Reali di Savoia (Turin, 1965); Marie-Therese Bouquet-Boyer, "Autour du ballet de Cour dans les Etats de Savoie: Le Theatre de la
Gloire, Turin 1637,"in Les Gouts Reunis, 1982, and "MusicalEnigmas in Ballet at the Court of Savoy," in Dance Research, Vol. IV,
No. 1, 1986, pp. 29-44.
42. See Carol MacClintock'sIntroduction to the English translation of
Le Balet Comique de la Royne 1581, Carol and Lander MacClintock, American Institute of Musicology: Musicological Studies and
Documents 25,1971, pp. 12-4. See also Dietrich Kamper, "Studien
zur instrumentalen Ensemblemusik des 16 Jahrhunderts in Italien,"Analecta Musicologica, Vol. 10, 1970, pp. 158-9.
43. MacClintock,Balet Comique,p. 11. Those who did, she adds, "were
not France's best talent."
44. Ibid., p. 12.
45. Ibid., p. 16. My emphasis.
46. James R. Anthony, "Ballet de cour," in The New GroveDictionary
of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie (London: Macmillan,
1980).
47. As early as 1914, Henry Prunieres in L'Opera said that the Balet
comique was an outgrowth of earlier forms, like the Italian intermedio, and the pastoral (pp. 20-34, especially 34, and 79). See also
Angelo Solerti, Gli alboridel melodramma (1903; facs. reprint, Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 1969), Vol. I, pp. 26-8. The musicologist Silke Leopold, on the other hand, continues to maintain
that "Ottavio Rinuccini, the Florentine court poet in the retinue of
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS
275
the FrenchQueenMariade' Medici,hadimportedthe French'ballet de cour' to Italy"(Prefaceto "Ballettodelle Ninfe" in Frutti
Musicali,Vol. I, Kassel:Barenreiter,1989).PutnamAldrich,in his
Rhythmin 17th CenturyItalian Monody (London: J.M. Dent, 1996,
p. 85), affirms,"Theinterchangesand blendingof the social arts
of FranceandItalyduringthe seventeenthcenturyare reflectedin
the evolutionof a typeof balletde courthat containsso manyelements of both Frenchand Italianoriginthat it can only properly
be describedas Franco-Italian."
48. Aldrich.
49. For references, see Sparti,GuglielmoEbreo,pp. 52-3, and note
17.
50. For fifteenth-and earlysixteenth-century
chronicles,see Cronaca
ferrarese (Ugo Caleffini), Diario ferrarese(anon., and Bernardino
Zambotti), Diari senesi (Allegretto Allegretti), Cronaca senese
(TommasoFecini),andDiarii(Venice,MarinoSanuto).ForRome,
see StefanoInfessura(Diarioromano),JohannesBurchard(papal
masterof ceremonies),andEl Prete(Isabellad'Este'sambassador)
in FerdinandGregorovius,LucreziaBorgia;for Milan,Tristano
Chalco (historianat the Sforzacourt) and GiacomoTrotti (Este
ambassador) in Guido Lopez, Festa di nozzeper Ludovico il Moro
(Milan:De Carlo,1976).
51. For example,the saltarelloandpiva in the fifteenth-centurytreatises, and the voltaandcorrentein the followingcentury.This area
of studyhas, so far,receivedlittle or no attention.
52. Irene Aim spoke about the "promenades"in her presentation,
"Crossingthe Proscenium:Thefestadi balloin Seventeenth-Century Venetian Opera,"at the 1995 conferenceof the Society of
DanceHistoryScholars,"BorderCrossings,"
Toronto,Canada.See
her dissertationand forthcomingbook cited above.
53. See, for example, Sparti, GuglielmoEbreo, pp. 51-3.
54. See Negri's"BrandoAlta Regina"(pp. 285-96 of Gratied'amore),
danced at the end of the intermediiforArmenia Pastorale, and his
"torchdances"(pp.270-6), all performedat the theatreof Milan's
Ducal Palace. Negri's balletto "PastorLeggiadro"(pp. 225-8)
was also performed there during the play-and intermedi-of
Fetonte.
276
DANCE CHRONICLE
55. See Doni (Trattatodella musica scenica) and II Corago on "Cori"
and "balli."See also Sardoni,"Lasirena,"pp. 17-8 and 22-4, and
GiacomoSpiardo'schoreographyfor the "Festaa Ballo,"Delizie
di Posilipo,performedin Naples in 1620and reprintedin Roland
Jackson's modern edition (Recent Researches in the Music of the
Baroque,Ann Arbor:A-R Series,1978).