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Music and Dance in Boccaccio's Time: Part II: Reconstruction of Danze and Balli (including three dances with music and Labanotation)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2014

Emma Lewis Thomas
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Extract

W. Thomas Marrocco has shown the types of music and dance that are discussed in Boccaccio's Decameron; I should like to present some examples of these art forms, re-created as accurately as we are able to do so, in the form of an entertainment which might have amused the ladies and gentlemen in that secluded villa on the outskirts of Florence in 1348.

In re-creating dances of the past from written documents, two principles must be borne in mind: first, that the records reflect the dance of an earlier period, for the steps and movements must have been tried, learned, and proven successful before a dancing master (or academician) would have deemed them worthy of recording; second, the materials preserved were obviously quite popular in the courts and hence were likely the most “danceable” compositions available. Therefore, it is the task of the reconstructor of these movements to discover the elements that were exciting and appealing to the dancers (and spectators) of the period and to make these elements come to life for contemporary audiences. Besides the obvious necessity of translating verbal instructions for steps and movement patterns and setting these to music, many factors enter into this elusive performance task: the size of the dance area usually employed; the shape, length and weight of clothing worn while dancing; the style and maneuverability of shoes, hats, swords, capes and other accoutrements; body positions generally in vogue as well as attitudes towards the human body, i.e., what was and what was not generally acceptable in terms of the good manners of the day.

Type
Articles
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , Spring/Summer 1978 , pp. 23 - 42
Copyright
Copyright © Congress on Research in Dance 1978

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References

Notes

1. See Sutton's, Julia introductory remarks to “Reconstruction of 16th Century Dance,” in Dance History Research: Perspectives from Related Arts and Disciplines, (New York: CORD, 1970), pp. 56–57.Google Scholar

2. Brainard, Ingrid, “Bassedanse, Bassadanza and Ballo in the 15th Century,” in Dance History Research: Perspectives from Related Arts and Disciplines, (New York: CORD, 1970), p. 65.Google Scholar

3. Originally printed in Paris, 1488; facs. with a bibliographical note by V. Schulderer, London, 1936, for the Royal College of Physicians; reprinted ed., New York: Dance Horizons, 1971.

4. Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, fols. 20v° and 12r°, ms 9085.

5. “The manner of dauncynge of bace daunces after the use of fraunce,” appended to a French grammar, Oxford: Bodleian Library; (reprint ed., F.J. Furnival, ed., London, 1871.)

6. A Christian name assumed sometime between 1463 and 1470, presumably upon abjuration of faith. Michel, Artur, “The Earliest Dance Manuals,” Medievalia et Humanistica 3 (1945), p. 123.Google Scholar

7. Gombosi, Otto, “About Dance and Music in the Late Middle Ages,” Music Quarterly 27 (1941), pp. 299 and 301.Google Scholar

8. As tests for the dancer, Guglielmo suggests that he try a measure or two against the musical time as well as attempting to begin against the time, letting the musician try to bring him into the rhythm, the dancer resisting and remaining uninfluenced by the musical efforts. (Paraphrased from Kinkeldey, Otto, A Jewish Dancing Master of the Renaissance: Guglielmo Ebreo, 1929, reprinted, New York: Dance Horizons, 1972, p. 22.)Google Scholar These tests show the necessity to differentiate between the dance phrase and the musical phrase.

9. Many principles–such as, “when in doubt, begin with weight on the left foot,” and “alternate steps whenever possibie”–are obvious from Domenico's treatise on; however in practice, there are numerous irregular measures, figures and space patterns that add piquant interest to dance performance. The irrevocable shift to absolute symmetry comes clearly between Fabritio Caroso's first dance manual, Il Ballarino (1581) and his second comprehensive work, Nobilità di Dame (1600). In the latter work, he apologizes for his earlier ignorance, attacks its vulgarity, and asserts the principle of symmetry as a criterion of artistic merit. He then proceeds to rework his dances accordingly.

10. The independent but collaborative work of musician John Cage and dancer Merce Cunningham, publicly recognized since 1953 when their New York performance at the Theatre de Lys left both dance and music critics speechless, attests to the re-discovery of this late fourteenth century aesthetic principle.

11. da Piacenza, Domenico, De arte saltandi & choreas ducendi. De la arte di ballare et danzare. Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds it. 972.Google ScholarEbreo, Guglielmo, De pratica seu arte tripudii vulgare opusculum. Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, fonds it. 973.Google Scholar

da Piacenza, Domenico, De arte saltandi & choreas ducendi. De la arte di ballare et danzare Modena: Biblioteca Estense (olim Palatina) Ita. 82Google Scholar, VII. A.82. Published by G. M. Roncaglia as a wedding gift volume in 1885.

da Piacenza, Domenico, De arte saltandi & choreas ducendi. De la arte di ballare et danzare, Florence: Magliabechi Class XIX.9.88.Google Scholar Published with intro, by F. Zambrini, Bologna: Gaetano Romagnoli, 1873.

Ambrosii, Johannis (Giovanni), de practica seu arte tripudii vulgare opusculum, Paris: Bibliothèque Nationale, tonds it. 476.Google Scholar Text almost identical with Guglielmo Paris codex 973.

Comazano, Antonio, Libro dell'arte del danzare. Rome: Vatican Library, Capponiano codex no. 203.Google Scholar Published with notes by Mazzi, C., Firenze: La Bibliofilia, Anno 17, no. 1, pp. 1–30.Google Scholar

Other Guglielmo mss. to consult may be found in Florence, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Antinori 13, published with notes by Pescerelli, Beatrice, “Una Sconosciuta Redazione del Trattato di Danza di Guglielmo Ebreo,” Rivista Italiana di Musicologia, 9 (1974), pp. 48–55Google Scholar; Biblioteca Nazionale, Palatino 1021, fol. 155r–156v(a 16th century copy); in Foligno, Biblioteca del Seminario D 1 42 B.V. 14; in Siena, Biblioteca Comunale L.V.29 (largest collection of dances, no music); and in New York, New York Public Library, Dance Collection at Lincoln Center, “Giorgio” 146- (s) *MGZMB-Res 72–254).

12. Cornazano, 203, fol. 29r.

13. Domenico, 972, fol. 4v.

14. Ibid., 11r.

15. Brainard, op. cit., p. 75: “Each of these four musical measures has its own choreographic tempo, a kind of “Urmotiv” (‘el suo naturale’) which is meant whenever the dance descriptions call for “two tempi de bassadanza,” “16 tempi di saltarello,” “four tempi di piva,” “Uno tempo di quadernaria” etc. Depending upon the ability of the performer and the speed of the passage, these basic step combinations can be cither simple or richly ornamented.”

I refer the reader also to her analysis of the steps available, p. 73 ff.

16. Domenico, 972, fol. 2v, 3r.

17. Ibid., 1r.

18. Ibid., 2r. “da iare” is interpreted “danzare” by Bianchi, Dante in “Un Trattato Inedito di Domenico da Piacenza,” La Bibliofila, 65 (1967), p. 112.Google Scholar Grammatically it does not make sense and my interpretation of the script is reinforced by the inclusion of iare in the later manuals of Guglielmo (aiere) and Cornazano (aero).

19. Curt Sachs mentions the first use of the word “carol” in 600 (by Isidore of Seville) and goes on to discuss the dance without ever saying what it is or how to perform it. (World History of the Dance, New York: W.W. Norton, 1935, p. 269.) Rust, Frances clarifies: “The carole was a song-dance in chain formation, the songs usually being sung by the dancers themselves. It had two distinct forms, the farandole—a line of dancers in single file, each holding the hand of the next person—and the branle, in which the dancers held hands in a circle.” (Dance in Society, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1968, p. 33.)Google Scholar Other sources on the carol approach it from a musical or linguistic viewpoint, failing to shed light on dance movements.

20. Following her precedent, we have recorded the bassadanza in symbol notation as it is done in original materials, each step unit represented by a letter symbol placed under the tenor note which accompanies it. The step units are individually notated and easily accomplished, with no specific floor pattern required. This method saves space and is, I believe, quite clear.

21. Other examples: in “Gelosia,” the ladies feign jealousy as their partners leave them, in turn, to bow and touch the hand of another lady; in “Mercantia,” one lady “sells” her affections to three men partners in turn; and in “Sobria,” the opposite situation presents itself!