The Influence of the "Ballet de cour" in the Genesis of the French Baroque Suite

Author(s): David Joseph Buch

Source: Acta Musicologica, Vol. 57, Fasc. 1, (Jan. - Jun., 1985), pp. 94-109
Published by: International Musicological Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/932691
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94 J. Chailley:Les huit tons de la musiqueet l'ethos des modes aux chapiteauxde Cluny

Symbolisme donicdes 8 tons - les 8 Beatitudes - mais aussi de leur structuration

en dyades authente-plagal (authentes assis, plagaux debout). Le protus evoque les
Nombres de la Creation: Un originel, fons et origo, que l'on traduira par un homme
jeune, assis, ordonnant ses notes sur un instrument a touche; Deux feminin
symbolise par une danseuse (le chorus matronalis d'Aribon) jouant de cymbales
dont la chainette marque la subordination. Le deuterus groupe les nombres de la
Redemption, mort et resurrection: celle du Christ-Dieu d'abord, tertia die, exempte
de corruption; celle du chretien ensuite, signifiee par la sortie du tombeau de Lazare
le quatrieme jour apres corruption; le Trois sera signifie par un symbole
augustinien: le tetracorde superieur pris dans l'hexacorde figure les membres du
Christ tendus sur la Croix, que le harpiste reanime en les faisant vibrer; le Quatre
sera figur6 par un tintinnabulum funeraire.
A partir du 5eme ton (2eme colonne confiee a un atelier different), la destruction
des figures ne permet plus de connaitre que les maximes, dont le symbolisme se
poursuit sans rupture. Le tritus evoque les vertus de la vie chretienne: vertus actives
pour le Cinq authente (vigilance des 5 Vierges Sages), vertus passives pour le Six
plagal de l'affectum pietatis. Le tetrardus enfin exalte les Nombres de la Vie
Etemelle par l'octroi des Sept dons du Saint-Esprit menant a la felicite des Huit
Beatitudes.
Initiative sans modeles directs, la tentative clunisienne n'a pas non plus connu de
disciples. Lorsque d'une de ses scenes, celle du 4eme ton, sera copiee cent ans plus
tard a Autun, le nouveau sculpteur ne comprendra plus les symboles de son modele
et modifiera la scene a son gre sans en tenir aucun compte.
Ainsi le groupe des 8 tons de Cluny represente-t-il une tentative unique de
spiritualisation de la musique, partie integrante du nouvel humanisme dont pour
longtemps l'abbatiat de St Hugues venait de marquer l'ascendant spirituel dans la
grande metropole.

The Influence of the Ballet de cour in the Genesis

of the FrenchBaroque Suite
DAVID JOSEPH BUCH (MT. PLEASANT, MICHIGAN)

Some of the most perplexing questions for the student of 17th-century instrumen-
tal music concern the origin of groupings of miscellaneous pieces, most of which are
dance types, known today as baroque suites. In his article on the suite in The New
Grove Dictionary, David Fuller notes that while the origin of the suite can be dated
in the decade 1620-30 and located on the London-Paris axis, further details of its
beginnings are obscure.' Fuller also points out the puzzling problem in the origin of

1DAVID FULLER, Suite, in: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians 18 (London 1980), p. 339.
D. J. Buch: TheInfluenceof the Balletde cour in the Genesis of the FrenchBaroqueSuite 95

the ordering of the movements in the "classical" suite (allemande-courante-

sarabande-gigue) .2
The purpose here is to establish that the earliest French baroque suites have an
incipient "classical" order and to demonstrate that the origin of that order is found
in the custom of grouping dances in the ballet de cour. Rather than investigating
these groupings strictly by the genre-titles of the dances, it has proven more
beneficial to analyze general characteristics among classes of dances based on
meter, form, tempo, and style. I believe one will find satisfactory answers to some of
the above-mentioned questions when looking for a common and general sense of
proportion in dance groups rather than a predictable succession of dance names.
A few remarks should first be made about the earliest sources of French baroque
suites. The first dated groups that exhibit an a-c-s order are found in Chancy's
Tablature de mandore of 1629 (for the contents see the Appendix, Table 1).3 The
mandore is described by Mersenne as a "shortened and diminutive lute."4 Pierre
Ballard's publications for the lute are also an important source for early suites.
Although a 1623 print has not survived, save for its title page,5 Ballard's 1631 and
1638 collections exhibit some a-c-s groupings within larger sections, grouped
according to composer.6 (See Appendix, Tables 2 and 3.) Pierre Gaultier's 1638 print
also has examples of a-c-s groups.7 (See Appendix, Table 4.) Few of the surviving
manuscript sources of early baroque lute music can be firmly dated, but those that
can be fixed tend to confirm the emergence of the suite in the third and fourth
decades of the 17th century.8
The arguments presented here are not meant to exclude other factors that may
have contributed to the genesis of the suite. The impact of traditional ordering of
genres in late renaissance compendia and the inventiveness of individual composers
no doubt played a part in the shape of the suite. The present discussion will focus on
the least explored avenue of influence, the ballet de cour.

I.

For over a hundred years scholars have pointed to a gap in our knowledge of the
origins of the suite and have disagreed as to the degree of intentional and predictable

2
Ibid., p. 339. Henceforththe following initials will be used for the variousmembersof the suite: a, allemande;
b, branle; ba, ballet; c, courante;ca, canarie; cd, couranteand double; ch, chaconne; e, entree;g, galliard; ge,
gavotte; gi, gigue; p, prelude; pa, passemezzo; pe, pavanne; po, point d'orgue;r, recherche;s, sarabande;t,
tombeau; v, volte.
3
FRANCOIS DE CHANCY, Tablaturede mandore(Paris 1629).
4 MARIN MERSENNE, Harmonie
universelle,Livretroisiesmedes instrumensa chordes(Paris 1636), p. 93.
5Tablaturede luth de
differentsauteurs sur l'accordordinaireet extraordinairerecueilliepar P. Ballard,in the
collectionof Marc Pincherle.
6 Tablaturede luth des differentsautheurssur les accordsnouveau(Paris 1631); Tablaturede luth des
differents
autheurs sur les accords nouveau (Paris 1638). The majorityof the pieces in these editions are includedin the
modem series Corpus des luthistes Francais, in complete works editions devoted to one or more lutenist-
composers.
7 PIERREGAULTIER,Les Oeuvres de PierreGaultierOrleanois
(Rome 1638).
8 The sources of 17th-century lute music are the
subject of a dissertation by WALLACERAVE, Some
Manuscriptsof French Lute Music 1630-1770: An IntroductoryStudy (Ph. D. diss. Universityof Illinois1972).
96 D. J. Buch: The Influenceof the Balletde courin the Genesis of the FrenchBaroqueSuite

ordering of the suite's constituent movements.9 David Fuller points out that while
there is no dearth of theories claiming to explain the development of the suite, none
has satisfactorily accounted for its genesis during the early 17th century.10The most
common explanation has the "classical" baroque order (a-c-s-g) somehow evolving
from various renaissance dance pairs (Tanz-Nachtanz; Pavan-galliard) or groups
(bassedance-recoupe-tordion; Pavan-salterello-piva) in a kind of Darwinian ma-
turation.11
Even a cursory look at the evidence causes one to question these theories. The
principle of contrast in tempo and meter in the renaissance dance groups, as well as
the unity in harmonic and thematic material, is rare in the early 17th-century French
suites.12Often these baroque suites will include chains of identical dance types (viz.,
branles and courantes, often with doubles) with no apparent tempo or meter change
among them. There may also be a succession of dances with seemingly similar style,
character, tempo, and meter (e. g., pavanne, allemande, and gigue). The occasional
claim that the allemande and courante are a type of contrasting dance pair13 is
questionable. These two dances are not always even in close proximity within a
suite and most often occur as two movements among many.14
Some scholars have suggested that there is no consistent principle in the ordering
of the movements in the early French lute suite, save for the unity of a single key.15If
this supposition is correct then why do we most often find sarabandes concluding
groupings and almost never beginning them? Why do pavannes and allemandes
rarely end a suite and are most often found among the early dances in a group ? Why
are courantes usually found in the middle of a suite? The evidence in fact suggests
that these early suites were not a random grouping of pieces at all but a flexible
hierarchy of types of movements, marked by a sense of proportion (and perhaps
decorum) achieved by a somewhat loose ordering of dances of a specific meter,

9 The most influential

scholarship on the suite dates from the early years of this century, namely, HUGO
RIEMANN, Zur Geschichte der deutschenSuite, in: SIMG 6 (1904-1905), p. 501-520; TOBIAS NORLIND,
Zur Geschichte der Suite, in SIMG 7 (1906), p. 172-203; HENRI QUITTARD, Les Origines de la suite de
clavecin, in: Le Courrier musical 14 (1911), p. 675-679, 740-746; HEINRICH BESSELER,Beitriigezur
Stilgeschichteder deutschenSuite im 17. Jahrhundert(Ph. D. diss. University of Freiburg1923).
10 FULLER,Suite, 334.
p.
11 This is a general point of agreement among Riemann, Norlind, and Quittard. Norlind also points to the
ordering of dance types in late renaissance lute compendiums as an indication of a possible order in
performance.Although this is conjecture,these large compendiums(orderedby dance type) often adhereto the
principleof "orderingby dignity,"as describedby ChristopherSimpsonin A Compendiumof PracticalMusick
in Five Parts . . . (London1667), p. 144-145. (See below for furtherdiscussion.)
12 A notable exception to the lack of thematic unity in French baroque suites is possibly found in Denis
Gaultier'smanuscriptcollection(c. 1650) La Rhetoriquedes dieux (Ms. 78 C 12, KupferstichkabinettStaatliche
Museen PreugischerKulturbesitz,Berlin-West).Fordetails see WOLFGANGHAFNER, Die Lautensticke des
Denis Gaultier(Ph. D. diss. Universityof Freiburg1939), p. 32-34; DAVID J. BUCH, La Rhetoriquedes dieux:
A Critical Study of Text, Illustration, and Musical Style (Ph. D. diss. Northwestern University 1983),
p. 266-280.
13 NORLIND, Zur Geschichte, p. 184; WILLIAPEL, The History of Keyboard Music to 1700, trans. and
revised by Hans Tischler (Bloomington,Ind. 1972), p. 260. Both of these authors claim that these two dances
were paired.
14 FULLER,Suite, p. 339; "A-C pairs are extremelyrare and in no sense can be consideredan ancestorof the
classical suite."
15 MANFRED BUKOFZER,Music in the BaroqueEra(New York 1947), p. 167; JAMESANTHONY, French
BaroqueMusic from Beaujoyeulxto Rameau (revised ed.; New York 1978), p. 241.
D. i. Buch: The Influenceof the Balletde courin the Genesis of the FrenchBaroqueSuite 97

character, and tempo. This ordering may have emerged as one among several and
may not have always been the result of conscious planning. The gap in our
knowledge of the origins of the suite may have been in part a result of past failure to
recognize this sense of proportion. This "shape" cannot be traced directly to
renaissance dance groups but is seen in slightly earlier dance arrangments for that
ubiquitous court entertainment, the ballet de cour.l6
What evidence points to the dance as a primary source for style and structure in
early baroque suites ? In fact scholars often state that 17th-century dance music was
taken out of its original choreographic and social context and placed in the realm of
"pure music," that is to say, a context with only aural expectations.l7 Yet the
earmarks of the dance, especially its metrical pulse, were preserved in the style of
17th-century French lute music. Every primary source that discusses rhythm in this
repertory suggests metrical interpretation for dances and nonmetrical interpretation
for the unmeasured prelude. Still a common misperception prevails today that the
French baroque lute style was characterized by a general and pervasive rubato.18
The precise and dance-like rhythms of the French lute repertory are a constant
reminder of the link between the lutenist's art and the dance.
The surviving evidence of ballet performances and dance practice is revealing.l9
In his treatise of 1589, Arbeau states that at least one dance that is later found in the
French suite comes directly from a ballet. Arbeau describes this dance, the canarie,
as coming from a ballet for a mascarade in which the dancers were dressed as kings
and queens of Mauretania or as savages wearing multicolored feathers.20While the
dance that Arbeau describes does not have the same traits found in the canaries of
the French lutenists, the lute canarie (a dance in lively triple-meter) is commonly
found in early 17th-century ballets. Arbeau also offers an intabulation of a dance
titled La Cassandre,2 which turns up a decade later in the printed lute collection, Le

16
While the suggestion of the ballet as a possible sourceis not new, no supportiveevidencehas been mustered
to support an argument. In his article Suite, in: MGG 12, col. 1710, Daniel Heartz mentions the ballet as a
possible influence. David Fuller,in his above-mentionedarticleon the suite for The New GroveDictionaryalso
suggests the ballet as a precedent, specifically the entree and various other dances. Without citing direct
evidence Fullersays that some of the pieces in suites may have been "assembledfrom some pre-existingwork
like a ballet." (p. 334)
17 This idea is basic to the notion of stylizationof dance movementsin instrumentalrepertories.It is commonin
the work of the German scholars cited above, as well as more recent French scholarshipon lute music. For
details see JEAN-MICHELVACCARO, La Musique de luth en Franceau xvie siecle (Paris 1981), p. 350ff.
However, stylization is an assumption that needs to be re-examinedin the light of the close relationshipof the
suite to the ballet and to dance styles ratherthan viewing this music as an exampleof the onset of a
19th-century
notion of "pure music."
18 For a further discussion of these elements of lute style see BUCH, La Rhetorique,p. 225-234; IDEM, review
of D. Gaultier's La Rhetorique des dieux (recording, Das Alte Werk, 6.42122 AW), in: MQ 69 (1983),
p. 149-152; IDEM, Style bris6, Style luthe, and the Choses Luthees, unpublishedpaper read at the annual
meeting of the American Musicological Society, Philadelphia1984; in preparationfor MQ.
19 Of the hundreds of ballets performedin the 16th and 17th centuriesrelativelyfew survive.Thereis still less
indication of how the dances were integrated into the performance.Direct informationconcerning the ballet
during the critical period 1600-1630 is very rare. The detailed accounts of CLAUDE-FRANCOISMENES-
TRIER, Des Balets anciens et modernesselon les regles du theatre(Paris1668); Des representationsen musique
anciennes et modernes (Paris 1681), and MICHELDE PURE, Idee des spectacles anciens et nouveaux(Paris
1668), date from later in the century. The surviving dance manuals, save that of THOINOT ARBEAU,
Orchesographie(Langres1589), providelittle help in regard to the music and its style.
20
ARBEAU, Orchesographie,95v-95r.
21 Ibid.,
74r-75v.
98 D. J. Buch: TheInfluenceof the Balletde courin the Genesis of the FrenchBaroqueSuite

Tresor d'Orphee, by Antoine Francisque.22 Significantly, ballet transcriptions

played the major role in Robert Ballard's 1611 and 1614 prints for lute.23 Some
fifteen years later the first prints of baroque suites for mandore and lute continue to
include some movements from ballets. For example, the series of branles, common to
the early publications of Pierre Ballard (R. Ballard, 1614; Chancy, 1629; Bouvier, in
the 1638 Tablature; P. Gaultier, 1638), are common in the surviving ballet repertory.
Some of these are actually timbres from firmly dated ballet performances. In the
manuscript collection of ballet music collected by Philidor24branles are found in
ballets from the 1620's (t. 1, p. 171) and from 1635 (t. 2, p. 37). This latter dance, a
Branle de Metz, is the same dance intabulated by Mesangeau in Ballard's 1638
Tablature de luth. Branles are an integral part of the earliest ballets.25The greatest
number of branles from the ballet are preserved in Michael Praetorius' Terpsi-
chore,26many of which are also preserved in lute versions.
A variety of titled pieces appear in the early lute and mandore sources seeming to
be transcriptions of ballet entrees. Les Rocatins is such a piece and versions for
mandore (Chancy, 1629) as well as lute (Ballard, 1631; Bouvier, 1638) survive.
Pieces with the title "ballet" are also common to this repertory (Ballard, 1631).
Titled pieces also appear in the lute and mandore collections and appear to be
intabulations of airs de cour or recits from ballets.
The gavotte, with its characteristic half-measure displacement of phrases and
binary form, first appears in the ballet repertory (1603)27 and as vocal pieces in the
air de cour repertory.28The earliest gavottes for lute are unrelated to this type of
piece.29The first instances of the newer type of gavotte occur in the lute repertory as
transcriptions of airs de cour or recits.30
The Unmeasured Prelude. The unmeasured prelude has no precedent in dance
music but it has elements in common with vocal music, specifically the declamatory
style found in the ballet's recit. It is revealing that the recit seems to have had an
introductory role as specified in the 1632 Grand Ballet des effects de la nature.31
Unlike the Italian recitative, the French recit is characterized by a restrained use of
chromaticism, arpeggiated accompaniment, and standard cadence types, all of

22
ANTOINE FRANCISQUE, Le Tresor d'Orphee, Livre de tablature de luth ... (Paris 1600), 32v.
" ROBERTBALLARD,PremierLivre(1611), transcribedand edited by Andr6Sourisand Sylvie Spycket with
an historical introductionby Monique Rollin (Paris 1963); IDEM, Deuxieme Livre(1614) et pieces diverses,
transcribedand edited by Andre Souris, Sylvie Spycket, and Jacques Veyrier, with a concordancestudy by
Monique Rollin (Paris 1964).
24 Bibliothequede Conservatoirede Paris, Res. F. 496, CollectionPhilidor,tomes 1 and 2.
25 For details see FRANCOIS LESURE, Le Recueil de ballets de Michel Henri (vers 1620), in: Les Fetes de la
Renaissance I, ed. Jean Jacquot (Paris 1956), p. 210; ARBEAU, Orchesographie.
26 MICHAEL
PRAETORIUS, Terpsichore (1612), ed. Gunther Oberst in: Gesamtausgabe der musikalischen
Werke von Michael Praetorius 15 (Wolfenbiittel 1928-43), p. 2, 4-5, 8-11, 20-21, 24-26.
27 Philidor, t. 1, p. 19.
28
ANDRE VERCHALY, ed., Airs de cour pour voix et luth (1603-1643), in: Publication de la Societe Francaise
de Musicologie 16 (Paris 1961), p. xxvii-xxviii.
29 For an
example see the gavotte in FRANCISQUE, Le Tresor d'Orphee, 21r.
30 See P. BALLARD's Tablature de luth (1631), p. 46, 59; IDEM, Tablature de luth (1638), p. 15, 34. The first
example of the characteristic gavotte in the French baroque repertory is found in Chancy's Tablature de
mandore,p. 18[r]. Chancy's experiencesas a composerof ballet music for the King may have contributedto his
composition of this type of gavotte.
31 Cited in MARGARET McGOWAN, L'Art de ballet de cour en France 1581-1643 (Paris 1963), p. 164.
D. J. Buch: TheInfluenceof the Balletde cour in the Genesis of the FrenchBaroqueSuite 99

which are commonly found in the unmeasured prelude.32The earliest unmeasured

preludes are called recherches and entrees in Pierre Ballard's prints for lute and
mandore. As a generic term the recherche falls into a category associated with the
fantasy and other free types of composition. Thus its place as the opening member
of the suite may reflect not only its function as a warm-up and tuning exercise,33but
possibly its primacy in dignity and seriousness, as stated by Christopher Simpson
in 1667.34The sole surviving fantasie in the Frenchbaroque lute repertory is found in
one of Denis Gaultier's prints35 as the first movement following an unmeasured
prelude, although there was placed between these two pieces a short suite of dances
by Gaultier's older cousin, Ennemond "vieux" Gaultier.36 Free, introductory
instrumental compositions date back to organ preludiums in the Renaissance.37
The Pavanne. Arbeau provides us with insight into the function of the pavanne in
the French dance tradition as music to accompany a majestic entrance of an
important personage.38Arbeau further confirms the pavanne's function as an entry
or beginning dance when he tells us that it is the pavanne that announces the grand
ball and precedes the bassedance as a dance grouping.39 In this respect the
pavanne's role as the dance preceding the galliard in that dominant 16th-century
dance pairing is carried over to the baroque style in its use as a slow opening dance.
Margaret McGowan states in her book on the ballet de cour that certain dances
reflected the hierarchy of contemporary society and that the pavanne, by virtue of its
dignified character and slow pace, was used at the entrance of a divine or noble
personage in a ballet.40The 17th-century sense of propriety and decorum may have
contributed to the pavanne's placement at the beginning of a suite, recalling the
entrance of a high-ranking character at the beginning of a ballet. It is in this regard
that Christopher Simpson orders dances according to their dignity. The most
dignified instrumental piece is the fancy or fantasy. Following the fancy, Simpson
orders the dances according to their dignity as follows: Pavan; galliard; almane;
then "corants, sarabands, jiggs, country dances, etc."41Thus Simpson rationalizes
the suite order by resorting to a decorum recalling social rank. He is in fact
describing a sense of proportion in the suite in an unusual and original manner.

32 For further details of French recitative see FREDERICK

NEUMANN, Ornamentation in Baroque and Post-
Baroque Music (Princeton, N. J. 1978), p. 31ff., 562ff.
33 The use of the prelude as a warm-up and
tuning piece is mentioned by the author of Mary Burwell's lute
book. See THURSTON DART, Miss Mary Burwell's Instruction Book for the Lute, in: The Galpin Society
Journal 6 (1958), p. 45.
34
SIMPSON, A Compendium, p. 141-142.
35 DENIS GAULTIER, Pieces de luth de Denis Gaultier (Paris c. 1669) and Livre de tablature (Paris
1672), facs.
repr. (Geneva 1975), Livre, p. 20-21.
36 Most
large lute collections in this period were arranged according to separate lute tunings called accords.
Within these groups appear smaller groups, often with a-c-s order or a similar arrangement. Examples appear in
the appendix of this article.
37 ALAN CURTIS, Unmeasured Preludes in French Baroque Instrumental Music (Master's thesis,
University
of Illinois 1956).
38 ARBEAU, Orchesographie, 29r.
39 Ibid., 29v-29r.

40 McGOWAN, L'Art de ballet, p. 32.

41 SIMPSON, A Compendium, p. 141-145.
100 D. J. Buch: The Influenceof the Balletde courin the Genesis of the FrenchBaroqueSuite

The word entree is often associated with the pavanne. The entrees de luth printed
in Robert Ballard's 1611 Livre are all similar in style and meter (simple quadruple)
to the pavanne. In both his 1611 and 1614 prints Ballard consistently begins his
ballet groupings with dances of this character, many of which seem to have the
"decorum and measured gravity" that Arbeau and Mersenne attribute to the
pavanne.42In many cases Ballard actually prints the words "mesure grave" below
the initial dance of the group. Dances in a similar style are often called ballets in
many sources.43In his 1631 print Ballard begins the first suite with a prelude and
allemande, followed by one such ballet. Praetorius's Terpsichore, one of the larger
collections of ballet dance music, contains similar dances at the beginnings of its
ballet groups.44The other major source of dance music from the ballet de cour, the
Philidor collection, also favors this type of dance as an opening movement for
groups of entrees. Only seven of 125 ballets begin in triple meter. The other ballets
begin with quadruple-meter entrees that suggest the pace and style of the pavanne.
Although the dominant form of the pavanne in the lute repertory comes to be
ternary, the earliest French pavannes in the ballet repertory are through-compos-
ed.45The earlier pavannes in the lute repertory can be either binary or ternary.46
The Allemande. In Pierre Ballard's prints for lute and mandore (1629, 1631, 1638)
the allemande can be identical in form and style to the pavanne - a ternary dance
with a pseudo-imitative texture.47While the most common form for the allemande in
these sources is binary, the form that is passed down to later generations, the
distinction between pavanne and allemande in the earliest repertory is blurred in
form and style, and it is often impossible to tell them apart.
Arbeau describes the allemande as he does the pavanne, as a grave dance.48
Mersenne says it is "mesuree comme la Pavanne."49 For his tombeaux Denis
Gaultier selects either the pavanne or the allemande, suggesting the similarity in
grave tempo.50(See Appendix, Table 5, for the contents of Gaultier's La Rhetorique
des dieux.)
In early French suites an allemande often follows a pavanne, appearing to
continue the slow and grave style. After mid-century, when the pavanne begins to
fade from the suite, the allemande continues to fulfill the same role as a grave,

42
ARBEAU, Orch6sographie, 28r-29v, 33v, 96r; MERSENNE, Harmonie universelle, Livre ii, La Theorie et la
pratique de la musique, p. 164-165.
43
FRANCISQUE, Le Tr6sor d'Orphee, 31r; See also Ballard's prints for lute and mandore, as well as others too
numerous to mention.
44 For details of the ballets
represented in Terpsichore see FRANCOIS LESURE, Die Terpsichore von Michael
Praetorius und die franzbsische Instrumentalmusik unter Heinrich IV, in: Mf 5 (1952), p. 7-17.
45 Collection
Philidor, t. 1, p. 135. The pavanne for the 1615 Ballet des L'Hypocondriaques is a through-
composed piece without internal divisions.
46 See the binary pavanne included in Francisque's Le Tresor d'Orphee, 25v. This pavanne is played on a lute in
the first true baroque scordatura, called cordes avalees, which heralds in the baroque lute tunings called accords
nouveaux.
47 See the allemandes of Chancy in Ballard's prints for lute and mandore (1631, 1629).
48 ARBEAU, Orchesographie, 67v.
49 MERSENNE, Harmonie universelle, Livre ii, p. 164-165.
50 For a modern edition of Gaultier's pieces see DENIS GAULTIER, La Rhetorique des dieux et autre pieces de
luth, ed. Andre Tessier, in: Publications de la Societe Francaise de Musicologie, 6, 7 (Paris 1931-32).
D. J. Buch: The Influenceof the Balletde courin the Genesis of the FrenchBaroqueSuite 101

quadruple-meter dance that serves to open the suite of dance movements proper,
after the prelude. Thus the allemande and the pavanne should be seen as belonging
to the same class of dances, marked by a specific style, meter, tempo, and function.
The Gigue. The third and final member of the class that includes the allemande
and pavanne is the gigue. It occurs somewhat later in the French repertory and is
championed by Ennemond "vieux" Gaultier and later by Denis "jeune" Gaultier. In
the Gaultier ceuvre it is indistinguishable from the allemande - a quadruple-meter
dance with a pseudo-imitative texture.51The Gaultier gigue, like the allemande,
often has an opening imitative gesture, as the following example shows, suggesting
consecutive entries of a contrapuntal piece.

Example D. Gaultier, Le Panegirique (allemande or gigue), La Rhetorique des dieux, no. 3.

Jj j
y^t
- 29 -CrF: ,
4. I

The pavanne, allemande, and gigue most often occur at the beginning of the early
French suite. It is precisely this proclivity (and not a rigid formula of dance
ordering) that is described by the lutenist-writer of the Mary Burwell Instruction
Book for Lute, who advises his pupils that "When you have prepared the attention of
the company with a preludium . . . you shall begin with the gravest lessons and the
most airy."52
The placement of the gigue in the final position in the suite is a much later
development and is associated with another type of gigue entirely, a triple or
compound meter dance with strong rhythmic accent. In some sources this type of
gigue is called a gigue angloise, perhaps betraying an English ancestry.53This type
of gigue is not a part of the early history of the suite and thus will be left out of the
present discussion.
Courantes and Branles. Courantes and branles often occur in large clusters of
identical types. Branles date back to renaissance dance practice and become a part
of the ballet repertory (see above). Courantes most often are placed in the middle of
a suite of dances. The predictable binary form of the courante with ornamented
repeats (known later as doubles) is apparent at least as early as the 1590s in lute
prints and remains a staple of the French repertory.54The long series of similar

51 This is the reason for the "allemandeor gigue" attributionfor many unicumdances in La
Rhetoriquedes
dieux that bear no indicationof genre.
52 DART, Miss
Mary Burwell's InstructionBook, p. 45.
53 For an example of a gigue angloise see The Robarts Lute Book (1654-68), in: Musical Sources11 (Kilkenny
1978), G6V.
54 The earliest examples I found were the courantesof the Frenchlutenist-composerMontbuyssonin ADRIAN
DENSS, Florilegiumomnis fere generis ... (Cologne 1594), 91v-92v.
102 D. J. Buch: TheInfluenceof the Balletde courin the Genesis of the FrenchBaroqueSuite

dance type is not uncommon in either of the larger sources of ballet repertory, the
Philidor manuscripts and the Terpsichore of Praetorius. However it should be
pointed out that form seems to be less of a distinguishing characteristic for dances in
the ballet repertory than in lute music.
The Sarabande. In the ballet the sarabande is almost always associated with the
end of a set of entrees, most often with the culminating entree known as the grand
ballet. Menestrier tells his readers that the grand ballet is the final entree, and it has
earned its title because the number of dancers participating is greater than in any
other entree.55
The large number of dancers, often not the best, would have necessitated a dance
with a clear and simple rhythm. It seems that the sarabande, or a similar dance, was
the most common choice. In Michel Henri's index to his now lost collection of
ballets, a 1608 ballet is said to have ended with a grand ballet in four parts, the last
of which was specified as a sarabande.56The same entree is described in another
source as a "Grand balet dans lequel passe une bouffee de la zarabande."57Henri's
index records a 1617 ballet with seven airs: two entrees de flamebeaux, three de
Madame la duchesse, a gaillarde, and a sarabande at the end.58Similarly the Ballet
du Monde Renverse of 1625 had a "sarabande de grande ballet."59The Ballet de
Caprices (1640) specifies a "conclusion: une sarabande d'hommes et de femmes."60
This last citation supports the idea that the sarabande was chosen for its simple
triple meter, easily danced by large numbers of dancers, perhaps even members of
the audience. In fact Mersenne claims that the root of the word sarabande includes
the word banda, which signifies "assembled, as if many assemble themselves for
this sort of dance."61 Lully's frustration at the ineptitude of the second estate in its
dancing the grand ballet was noted by Michel de Pure.62It is not surprising that
Lully retained the simple triple-meter dance as his final entree in his ballets.63
One should note that in two of the above-mentioned references the sarabande is
placed at the end of a series of dances. This occurs in ballets from 1608 and 1617, at
least a decade before the first dated instrumental suites. In a 1637 publication of airs
de cour, two dances are included. Both are sarabandes for solo lute, attached to
recits as concluding movements.64
The main sources for dance music from the ballet de cour offer many examples of
concluding pieces that if not specifically named sarabande, bear its traits.

55 MtNESTRIER, Des balets, p. 27.

56
FRANCOIS LESURE, Le Recueil de ballets, p. 212.
57 Cited in DANIEL DEVOTO, De la zarabanda a la sarabande,in: Recherches sur la musique francaise
classique 6 (1966), p. 31.
58 LESURE, Le Recueil, p. 217.
59 DEVOTO, De la zarabanda,p. 32.
60 Cited in a vers for the ballet in PAUL LACROIX,Ballets et mascaradesde cour de Henri III a Louis XIV
(Geneva 1868) v, p. 316.
61 MERSENNE, Harmonie universelle, Livre ii, p. 165.
62 This account is discussed in ANTHONY, French
Baroque Music, p. 31.
63 JEAN-BAPTISTE LULLY, Les Ballets, ed. Andre Tessier in Oeuvres
completes, vols. 1 and 2 (Paris 1933).
64 These are taken from FRANCOIS RICHARD, Airs... (1637), and are given in modem edition in
VERCHALY, Airs de cour, p. 192-193, 195-196.
D. J. Buch: TheInfluenceof the Balletde courin the Genesis of the FrenchBaroqueSuite 103

Praetorius' Terpsichore includes three courante-sarabandes and several ballets

concluding with sarabande-like dances.65The mixing of the courante and sarabande
genres points to a tendency to use general dance types (here distinguished by simple
triple meter) for a specific function, rather than an inflexible set of dances in a suite.
Although sarabandes are most commonly found concluding suites, it is the simple
triple meter that was the essential quality for the concluding dance role. The
Philidor manuscripts support this notion. In this source the grand ballet is most
often found in a final position in the ballet. 70 % of the ballets that include a grand
ballet use the simple triple-meter variety. 68 % of the total ballets end in a simple
triple-meter dance.
Robert Ballard's 1611 Livre contains groups of dances from seven ballets. Three
of these end with untitled dances that are clearly sarabandes by virtue of the simple
triple meter and the anticipatory bass notes, inaugurating chord changes on the
third beat of the measure before the upper voices enter with the new chord.66
Another group has a similar untitled dance in the penultimate position. Of the three
ballet groups in R. Ballard's 1614 print, one group ends with a sarabande-like piece
(untitled).67
The sarabande style appears to be determined by a strong and rhythmic simple
triple meter and a sparse, somewhat homophonic texture. Form is not an essential,
even in the lute repertory. Sarabandes may exhibit through-composed, rondo,
binary, ternary, or variations forms.
Direct evidence of the transference of ballet sarabandes to solo lute repertory is
seen in Pierre Gaultier's 1638 print. Pieces specifically labelled ballet occur in three
groups spread throughout the book. (See Appendix, Table 4.) In each case the
fourth ballet is subtitled "sarabande" and has the characteristics of the dance as
described above. Like the groupings in the Henri index one finds a short group of
ballet dances concluding with a sarabande. Pierre Gaultier also uses the sarabande
to end small groups of dances, usually with the a-c-s order, within larger groups
organized according to tuning (key). The sarabande in the lute repertory often
retains its Spanish flavor in the use of strummed, repeated chords. Perhaps the
anticipatory bass notes similarly betray its ancestry.
The question of tempo in the sarabande is one that has been subject to frequent
misunderstanding. It would appear that the sarabande was a fast dance until well
into the second half of the 17th century.68 Thus in the early suites there was
probably a sense of increasing tempo as the dances progressed from slow pavannes,
allemandes, and perhaps gigues, to moderate courantes, and faster courante-
sarabandes, sarabandes, and canaries. The compound duple-meter gigue might
thus be seen as another member in this latter group of faster dances with a feel of
three beats per measure.

65
PRAETORIUS, Terpsichore, p. 44-45, 75-76, 142-145, 148-150, 160.
66 BALLARD, Premier Livre, p. 12-13, 19-20, 29.
67
IDEM, Deuxieme Livre, p. 7-8.
68
For details on the tempo of the sarabandesee DEVOTO, De la zarabanda.
104 D. J. Buch: TheInfluenceof the Balletde courin the Genesis of the FrenchBaroqueSuite

II.

In addition to the direct evidence provided by dances in the surviving sources and
written commentary, collateral evidence may be cited to support a strong tie
between the dance music of the ballet de cour and the origin of the French baroque
suite.
The lute apparently played an important role in the earliest ballet manuals as the
instrument favored for the dance music accompanying the given choreography.69
Lutes were also integral instruments in ballet productions.
The texture of the baroque lute dances circa 1629-90 reveals an important link to
the writing style of the ballet repertory. As stated earlier, the ballet dances survive
in three main sources. The largest of these is the Philidor collection, which generally
offers only the upper and lower parts. Praetorius' Terpsichoregives four- and five-
voice versions arranged from two-voice originals by the editors. Robert Ballard's
lute intabulations of 1611 and 1614 have similarly added voices, probably provided
by the editor. Therefore the texture and style of ballet music seems to have been
conceived as a polyphonic art in which the arranger-performer could assert a
creative contribution in providing contrapuntal realizations.
The pseudo-imitative style of the baroque lute composers is itself a kind of artful
construction based on a somewhat imaginary but clear polyphonic composition that
has been reduced in range, texture, and completeness of voice leading in order to be
idiomatic to the lute. Recalling a platonic "pure form" the imaginary model might
be reconstructed in score. In fact, Praetorius includes an arrangement of the lutenist
Julien Perrichon's courante in three different versions in four and five parts.70The
lutenist-composer Jacques Gallot claimed that if a connoisseur wished to perform
his solo lute pieces with an ensemble of instruments, he would find all the parts
within his music.71 If solo lute pieces could be "fleshed out" then they could also be
reduced to two-voice versions common to the ballet de cour repertory. In fact the
works of early 17th-century lutenist-composers were reduced in such a manner in a
later print for flute or violin and continuo.72
The lute style is actually little more than an intabulation process (with attention
to certain idiomatic practices) applied to contemporary polyphonic instrumental
part music (a music that undoubtedly was favored for use in the ballets), employing
many of the same devices initiated by 16th-century intabulators when they
arranged polyphonic part music for solo lute. These processes include: 1. Reduction

69 The lute seems to be the chosen instrument for early dance manuals such as FABRIZIOCAROSO, II
Ballarino (Venice 1581; repr. New York 1967); CESARENEGRI, Le oratie d'amore(Milan 1602; repr. New
York1969). The variationssuite of the Italianand Germancomposers(Brunelli,Frescobaldi,Schein, Peurl)may
owe something to these variation-danceswith characteristicshort sections in contrasting meter as well as
harmonicand thematicunity. Unlike the Frenchbaroquesuite, a line may be tracedfrom the renaissancedance
groups to the variations suite by virtue of its typical contrastingmeter and thematic and harmonicunity.
70 PRAETORIUS, Terpsichore, p. 54-55, 102.
71
JACQUES GALLOT,Pieces de luth ... (Paris [1684], repr. Geneva 1978), p. 1.
72 Suittes
faciles pour i flute ou I violon et basse continue de la compositionde MM. du Fau, I'Enclos,Pinel,
Lully, Bruynings,Le Fevre,et autres (Amsterdamn. d.).
D. J. Buch: TheInfluenceof the Balletde cour in the Genesis of the FrenchBaroqueSuite o05

of the range to fit the lute. 2. Ornamentation to enhance the impression of

articulation - legato phrases receiving more passage work. (There was far less of
this practice of ornamental "divisions" in the baroque style.) 3. Interchange of voice
parts. 4. Displacement of octaves. 5. Emphasis of upper and lower voices. 6.
Reduction of voices. 7. Breaking of intervals and chords, in effect weakening the
polyphonic illusion in favor of a more idiomatic and mannered style, resulting in 8.
oblique or diagonal motion up and down the texture.73
Thus it is revealing to consider the lute style as a further development of the
intabulator's art, applied to a new type of composition - the baroque polyphonic
dance, whose realizations were often left up to the performer-arranger. This new
type of composition may have enjoyed its greatest development in the ballet de cour
owing to the dominance of the ballet in the cultural milieu of the period.74The
musical style of this type of dance composition continues in the century and is
developed impressively in England up to the time of Henry Purcell.75
Perhaps the most compelling ancillary evidence for our purposes is the fact that
some of the new generation of lutenist-composers who ushered in the baroque
instrumental style (and the suite ordering for their dances) were leading composers
of dance music for the ballet de cour. The first publication to offer a consistent use of
this suite order is the mandore collection by Chancy, cited above. Francois, Sieur de
Chancy, was a celebrated composer of ballet music for both Louis XIII and Louis
XIV. We also find him cited in Michel Henri's index of ballets. His secular vocal
works (air de cour and chanson) were published in seven volumes by Ballard.
Chancy's music also appears in the 1631 Tablature de luth published by Ballard.76
Jacques, Sieur de Belleville's lute pieces were also included in Ballard's 1631 print
and his work as a dancer and choreographer is well documented. He is described as
the intendant and conducteur of ballets for the King beginning in 1615. At least
eight ballets are recorded as including his music.77

73 For details see

VACCARO, La Musique de luth, p. 131ff., to whom I owe the particularsof the discussion
above. The art of intabulationwas widespreadenough to warrantpublicationsthat instructedin the art. A briefe
and plaine instruction to set all Musicke of eight divers tunes in tablature (London 1574) was an English
translationof ADRIAN LeROY, Instructionde partirtoute musique des huit divers tons en tablaturede luth
(Paris [1557]), now lost.
74 The use of polyphonicdevices,
originallyin vocal music and later appliedto dance repertories,seems to have
enjoyed pre-eminencein England and may have in fact been strongly reinforcedin Franceby the influenceof
English lutenists. In his La Musique de luth, Vaccaroprints a Fantasiaen pavana from a manuscriptsource
(Uppsala, Bibl. univ., ms. 412, f. 34r), which appears to be a precursorof the polyphonic dance style of the
baroque (p. 295-297). Polyphonic allemandes are evident in the Philidor collection where they are the only
dances to receivea full 4-part realizationas opposed to the 2-partwritingof the rest of the dancemusic. Another
example of the polyphonic dance is that of Henri Dumont's contrapuntalAllemande (Fugue), printed in
ALBERTCOHEN, A Study of InstrumentalEnsemble Practice in the Seventeenth-CenturyFrance,in: The
Galpin Society Journal15 (1962), p. 16-17.
5 For examples see Purcell's Pavans
(Z. 750, 749, 752). These clearly exhibit an ideal French baroque
contrapuntalstyle with their harmonicclarity, transparenttextures,and lack of a dominantmelody in any one
voice. This is exactly the melodic style that E. G. Baron criticizedthe Frenchlutenists for - a lack of what he
termed cantabile. For details see E. G. BARON, Historisch-theoretischeund praktische Untersuchungder
Lauten(Nuremburg1727; repr. Amsterdam1965), p. 85ff.
76 For a brief summary of Chancy's life and work, see
Monique Rollin's historicalintroductionto Oeuvres de
Chancy, Bouvier,Belleville,Dubuisson, Chevalier,ed. Andr6 Souris (Paris 1967), p. xiv-xvi.
77 Ibid., p. xvii-xix.
io6 D. i. Buch: TheInfluenceof the Balletde courin the Genesis of the FrenchBaroqueSuite

Robert Ballard contributed to the 1615 production of the Ballet de Madame as the
director of the lutes.78His transcriptions of dance music from the ballet de cour are a
central source (see above). A suite of his compositions begins the 1631 Tablaturede
luth.
A great number of other lutenist-composers (many of whose works only partially
survive) were also associated with the ballet productions.79Our knowledge of just
how they were influenced by the ballet will probably never be complete. But at least
one instance of a direct transference of contemporary dance music to the lute
repertory is recounted in a letter written by the poet Malherbe in which Ennemond
"vieux" Gaultier is said to have composed a sarabande inspired by a species of
branle danced before the Queen by six "Topinambous" (savages from the Brasilian
island of Maragnan).80
The link between these composers of ballet music and composers of the earliest
baroque lute repertory enhances the connection between England and France as the
axis on which the suite is first firmly established. The political connections between
these two nations and the transference of musicians such as the lutenists Ennemond
and Jacques Gaultier (who, among other French musicians, contributed to the
masque) argue for a French stylistic influence as well as a clear English contribution
to the French musical landscape. In Antoine Francisque's 1600 Tresor d'Orphee
English dances are present,81 and French lute pavannes, allemandes, and gigues
may in fact owe something of a debt to the English lute repertory of John Dowland
and his contemporaries, who standardized many formal aspects of these types.82
A footnote to this discussion is offered in Denis Gaultier's mid-century
manuscript, La Rhetorique des dieux. Not only the lute suites but the literary
elements (an introduction describing the contents and purpose of the book, two
sonnets, and various emblematic inscriptions of a mythological and allegorical
nature, appended to some of Gaultier's pieces) bear a marked resemblence to
elements in the ballet. Many of the characters and plots expounded in the
inscriptions recall entrees from a contemporary type of ballet, the ballet a entrees, in
which each entree has its own subject matter and characters, yet all is somehow
related to a collective idea expressed in the title. This is exactly the idea behind the
Rhetorique des dieux. The use of sonnets, a short explanatory introduction, and a
series of brief, often seemingly unrelated inscriptions (really edifying anecdotes
from classical antiquity, mythology, or contemporary literature) recalls the vers (a
type of explanatory libretto) in a contemporary ballet.83 It is of no small moment

78 Cited in Monique Rollin's historical introduction to ROBERT BALLARD, Premier Livre, p. xii.
79 See Monique Rollin's introductionsto Oeuvres de Vaumesnil,Edinthon,Perrichon,Rail, Montbuysson, La
Grotte, Saman, La Barre (Paris 1974), p. xi-xxxiii, and Oeuvres des Bocquet (Paris 1972), p. xii-xiv.
80 Cited in Monique Rollin's historical introduction to Oeuvres de "vieux" Gaultier, ed. Andre Souris (Paris
1966), p. xi.
81
FRANCISQUE, Le Tresor d'Orphee, 10v-13v.
82
Besides the proclivity for contrapuntal dance textures, the ternary form for the pavanne and the binary form
for the allemande and gigue are first prevalent in the English repertory. Compound duple and quadruple-meter
gigues are first found in English sources.
83
Surviving examples of vers for the ballet de cour are printed in PAUL LACROIX, Ballets et mascarades,
6 vols.
D. J. Buch: TheInfluenceof the Balletde courin the Genesis of the FrenchBaroqueSuite 107

that in this period artists sought to find greater unity among the arts, and the ballet
itself is perhaps the most noteworthy attempt to bring the various arts together in a
single project.84The Rhetorique does this as well in its use of art work, literature,
and music in a single volume.
In a recent article on Saint-Amant's great poem La Pluye, William Roberts
suggested how a ballet may have provided a structural framework for this large-
scale poem.85In a similar sense the dance styles and ordering of dances in the ballet
de cour may have provided the early baroque suite with its sense of order and
proportion.

III.
The a-c-s order conforms to a general sense of proportion in the arrangement of
dance movements in the early baroque suite. This sense of proportion is also
apparent in dance orderings for the ballet de cour dating from a slightly earlier
period (1600-1630). Thus the ballet may have provided composers (many of whom
wrote dances for the ballets) with a general shape when grouping dances in their
suites.
This sense of proportion is characterized by an opening dance or group of dances
in slow tempo, quadruple meter, and grave character, often following an introduc-
tory prelude in free rhythm. Most commonly these grave dances were allemandes,
pavannes, or ballets, perhaps even gigues. One or more courantes (often with
doubles) would follow the slow quadruple dance(s). These were more moderately
paced, graceful dances in triple meter (often with a characteristic hemiola). The
closing role was usually taken by the sarabande (or a similar dance in triple meter
and quicker tempo).
Within this basic framework much variety was possible. One will find interpola-
tions of intabulated vocal pieces as well as other instrumental types, often arranged
with a freedom that belies a rigid formula and establishes this sense of proportion as
a dominant shape for dance groupings from which composers could strongly deviate
according to their imagination and individual genius.

APPENDIX

Table1. Chancy, Tablaturede mandore(1629).

1. r-a-c-c-c-s-pa-Enm'en revenantde S. Nicolas-v.
2. r-a-c-c-s.
3. r-a-c-c-s.
4. r-a-c-c-c-s.
5. b-b-b-b-b-b-ge.
6. r-a-c-c-s-LeRocatins.
7. r-a-c-c-v-s.

84McGOWAN, L'Art de ballet, p. 11-27.

85
WILLIAMROBERTS,Beyond the Frame:Saint Amant's Mixture of Poetry, Paintingand Ballet,in: French
Literatureand the Arts 5 (1978), p. 81-93.
1o8 D. J. Buch: TheInfluenceof the Balletde courin the Genesis of the FrenchBaroqueSuite

Table 2. Tablature de luth (1631).

R. Ballard
1. p-a-ba-c-c-Rocantins-c.
Mesangeau
1. a-a-c-c-c-s.
2. a-a-c-c-s-s.
Dufaut
1. r-a-a-a-a-c-c-c-c-c-c-s-s.
Chancy
1. e-a-c-c-c-s.
2. e-a-c-c-c-s.
Bouvier
1. e-a-a-a-Vous qui n'avez-Rocatins-c-c-s-s.
2. p-p-a-a-c-c-c-c-g-Mon petit doit.
Belleville
1. c-c-c-c-c-s.
Dubuisson
1. po-c-a.
Chevalier
1. a-a-c-c-c.
2. a-c-c-s.
3. a-c-c-s-s.

Table 3. Tablature de luth (1638).

Mesangeau
1. p-a-a-c-c-c-c-c-c-s-b-Tu es enrusme compere.
2. p-a-a-a-a-a-s.
Dufaut
1. p-po-c-c-s-C'est ou je vous attends-Frere Frappart.
2. a-c-s.
Bouvier
1. p-a-c-ca.
2. b-b-b-b-b-b-b-ge-Frere Frappart.
Dubut
1. e-a-c-s-s.

Table 4. Les Oeuvres de Pierre Gaultier (1638).

1. Sinfonie fugue-p-a-c-c-s/a-c-s-s/c-c-s/c-c-c-s.
2. a-c-c-s-s/p-a-c-c-s/c-c-s.
3. p-a-c-s.
4. p-p-a-c-c-s/a-c-s/pe-c-c-s/a-c-c-c-s/ba-ba-ba-ba(s)/a-c-c-s/c-c-s-s.
5. p-a-c-c-c-s/a-c-s/a-ch-ba-ba-ba-ba(s)/c-b-b-b-b.
6. p-Sinfonia Fugue-[a]-c-c-s.
7. p-a-c-c-s.
8. [p]-a-c-c-s.
9. ba-ba-ba-ba(s).
10. Bataille.
 D. J. Buch: TheInfluenceof the Balletde courin the Genesis of the FrenchBaroqueSuite lo9

Table5. Denis Gaultier,La Rhetoriquedes dieux (c. 1650).

1. pe-a-a (or gi)-c-cd-s.
2. p-a (or gi)-c-c-a (or gi)-a or gi)-s.
3. t (a or gi)- rondo-g-cd-s.
4. c-c-c-a (or gi)-a (or gi).
5. No music was copiedinto this sectionof the manuscript.
6. c-cd-cd-cd-s.
7. a (or gi)-c-cd-s.
8. a (or gi)-c-ca.
9. pe-c-s.
10. a-c.
11. p-a (or gi)-a (or gi)-c-c-s-g-cd.
12. pe-a (or gi)-c-c-s/t (a)-c-s.

Musit in the Life of Man: Theoreticaland Practical

Foundationsfor a World History*
BARRY S. BROOK AND DAVID BAIN (NEW YORK CITY)

I
The 19th-century philosopher of science Charles Sanders Peirce once offered that
"thought is what it is, only by virtue of its addressing a future thought."l It will
serve our purpose to spend a moment with that statement, rooted as it is in one of
the more sophisticated conceptions of joint human inquiry to come from a
philosopher. For a world history of music, as individually daunting as it may seem,
is very much a matter of joint human inquiry and subject to its laws, whatever they
may be.
Peirce's formulation can be brought a lot closer to home with a simple
substitution of terms. Try this one: Labor on a set of volumes is what it is only by
virtue of its addressing a future set of volumes. That proposition is both grand and
humbling in its implications, and we will return to it before we conclude. An even
simpler substitution yields this result: Labor on a set of volumes is what it is, only
by virtue of its addressing a future thought. Here we come round to the heart of
what a daunting project such as our Music in the Life of Man can and should mean:
mean within what Peirce would call variously "the community of scientists" or "the
community of philosophers" (and for which, in Peirce's language, we may read the
"unlimited" community of "disciplined and candid minds" - our projected
audience).
So, let us first describe the labor in question and then maybe we can,
hypothetically of course, catch it in the act of addressing a future thought.

* The internationaloffice of the

project is: Music in the Life of Man: A WorldHistory, InternationalMusic
Council, UNESCO, 1, rue Miollis, 75732 Paris CEDEX15, France.
1
CHARLESSANDERS PEIRCESome Consequencesof the FourIncapacities,in: PhilosophicalWritingsof
Peirce,ed. Justus Buchler (New York 1955), p. 250. The CollectedPapers of CharlesSanders Peirce,Volumes
I-IV are published by the BelknapPress of HarvardUniversity Press, Cambridge,Mass. 1965.