Suite

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For other uses, see Suite (disambiguation).

In music, a suite is an organized set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed at a single sitting, as a separate musical performance, not accompanying an opera, ballet, or theater-piece. In the Baroque era, the pieces are usually in the same key, ^[1] and generally modelled after dance music.^[1] The suite was also known as Suite de danses, or Ordre (for example by François Couperin) or Partita. In the eighteenth century, suites were also known as concert overtures or ouvertures. After the symphonic poems of Franz Liszt in the 1840s and 1850s, suites also included collections of tone poems.

1 History
2 Form of suite de danses
- 2.1 Sections
3 Notes
4 References

[edit] History

Estienne du Tertre published suyttes de bransles in 1557, giving the first general use of the term "suite" (suyttes) in music, although the usual form of the time was as pairs of dances. The first recognizable suite is Peuerl's Newe Padouan, Intrada, Dantz, and Galliarda of 1611, in which the four dances of the title appear repeatedly in ten suites. The Banchetto musicale by Johann Schein (1617) contains 20 sequences of five different dances.

The "classical" suite consisted of allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue, in that order, and developed during the 17th century in France, the gigue appearing later than the others. Johann Jakob Froberger is usually credited with establishing the classical suite through his compositions in this form, which were widely published and copied.

Many later suites included other movements placed between sarabande and gigue. These optional movements were known as galanteries: common examples are the minuet, gavotte, passepied, and bourree. Often there would be two contrasting galanteries with the same name, e.g. Minuet I and II, to be played alternativement, meaning that the first dance is played again after the second, thus I, II, I.

The later addition of an overture to make up an "overture-suite" was extremely popular with German composers; Telemann claimed to have written over 200 overture-suites, J.S. Bach had his four orchestral suites along with other suites, and George Frideric Handel put his Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks in this form.

Handel wrote 22 keyboard suites, while Bach produced multiple suites for cello, violin, flute, and other instruments, as well as his English suites, French suites and Partitas for keyboard. For Bach especially, the suite form was a base on which to spin more elaborate sequences. François Couperin's later suites often dispensed entirely with the standard dances and consisted entirely of character pieces with fanciful names.

By the 1750s, the suite had come to be seen as old-fashioned, superseded by the symphony and concerto, and few composers were still writing suites during that time.

In the 19th century, the term "suite" made a comeback, but now meaning either:

an instrumental selection from a larger work such as an opera, ballet, film score, or musical;
a sequence of smaller pieces tied together by a common theme, such as the nationalistically inflected suites of Grieg, Sibelius, or Tchaikovsky; or,
a work deliberately referential of Baroque themes, as in the mischievous Suite for Piano by Arnold Schoenberg.

Brought on by Impressionism, the piano suite was reintroduced in early 20th century French composers such as Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy. Debussy's Suite bergamasque is most likely one of the most famous suites, especially the third movement, Clair de Lune. Ravel is particularly well known for his Mirroirs suite for piano and lesser known for Le Tombeau de Couperin, both requiring tremendous skill and dexterity by the pianist.

Other famous examples of early 20th century suites are The Planets by Gustav Holst, a 'Suite for Orchestra' in which each piece represents the astrological significance of one of the seven uninhabited planets then known, as well as his First Suite in E flat and Second Suite in F for Military Band.

[edit] Form of suite de danses

The term suite de danses (IPA: [sɥit də dɑ̃s]) was the early 17th century name given to a set of dances, which was popularised in the Baroque era.

[edit] Sections

The Suite de danses would contain the following sections:

Prelude (optional)
Allemande - The word Allemande is the French for a stately German dance with a meter of 4/4.
Courante - A Courante is a lively French dance in 3/4 time.
Sarabande - A Sarabande is a slow, stately Spanish dance (actually originating in Mexico) in 3/4 time.
Intermezzi - This section consists of two to four dances at the discretion of the composer that may include a Minuet and/or a Gavotte).
Gigue - The Gigue or 'Jig' originates in England, and is a fast dance, normally with a meter of 6/8.