Basse Danse, Bassa Danza, Ballo

The engagement of Maximilian, Bianca Maria and their court with this core international repertoire of dances is already evidenced several years before their travels to Worms and Mechelen in 1494. In 1491, for example, Maximilian had participated in ‘mancherlei tentz auf welsche und niderlendische art’[4] (several dances in the Italian and Netherlandish style) while in Nuremberg, and in December 1493, shortly after her initial arrival in Innsbruck from Milan, Bianca Maria was reported as having danced ‘most beautifully in the French, Italian and German styles’.[5] While these accounts indicate the familiarity with which both King and Queen engaged with particular national dance styles, elsewhere we find evidence of local dance customs that challenged the participants with unfamiliar steps. For example, envoys of the Ferrarese court remarked on the Italian dances performed by Bianca Maria following her arrival in Innsbruck in December 1493, which included ‘the longaresca, as is sometimes danced in the castle in Milan’ (» I. Kap. The arrival of Bianca Maria Sforza). The Innsbruck courtiers then appear to have performed a dance unfamiliar to those recently arrived from the Sforza court, the Ferrarese ambassadors noting a performance of the ‘Pizighitone, which the Milanese cannot get used to’ (» I. Kap. Entertainments under Sigmund and Katharina). Despite these differences, a common repertoire of choreographic elements seems to have existed that allowed courtiers from various regions of Europe to engage with even unfamiliar dances.[6] For example, Barbara Crivelli Stampi, who had accompanied Bianca Maria from Italy to Innsbruck, apparently familiarised herself with the German dances she encountered there by relating these to the customary dances of Milan.[7]

Abb. A dancing couple (Michel Toulouze, 1496)

Representation of two dancers on the final page of the treatise L’art et instruction de bien dancer, published in Paris by Michel Toulouze, in or before 1496. Caption ‘Cy finissent les regles de dancer[.] toutes dances avecqs celles regles sont notees pour Jouer a tous Instrumens’ (Here finish the dancing rules. All the dances that go with these rules are notated for playing on all instruments). Facsimile: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/toulouze/.

The primary forms of dance performed at European courts at that time can be determined from several treatises of French, Burgundian and Italian origin, the earliest of which was written in the mid-15th century: no equivalent sources have been identified for the German-speaking lands for this period.[8]  At the heart of the dance repertoire described in these treatises stood the basse danse associated with the Burgundian court, its Italian equivalent the bassa danza, and another Italian courtly dance form, the ballo. As reflected in its name, the Burgundian basse danse (literally ‘low dance’) was a steady, serene dance performed by one or more couples, often in procession, with steps low to the ground and lacking leaps or rapid movements. The basse danse had four basic dance steps (five if including the reverence – the bow by the male dancer at the start of each dance) which were strictly organised into a number of distinct patterns known as mesures. A single dance comprised several mesures, which were also carefully arranged so that different step patterns alternated with one other. During the fifteenth century, basse danses varied in their duration as a result of the various combinations of mesures that might be employed. However, as Daniel Heartz has established, treatises of the early sixteenth century point to the gradual emergence and eventual predominance of a standardised basse danse choreography.[9]  Heartz also identifies a German off-shoot of the basse danse that appears to represent this later stage of the dance in its repetition of step patterns; this also introduced a distinctive syncopated rhythm in its musical accompaniment, not found in the Burgundian dance form (see » Kap. Urban Courtly Dance). Both the original and German adaptation of the basse danse were typically followed by an after-dance (called the ‘pas de brebant’ in the Netherlands) that was twice as fast as the original dance and allowed for quicker movements and small leaps.[10]

The Italian bassa danza similarly promoted grace and elegance in the dancers’ movements but allowed for greater choreographic freedom in its application of nine different dance steps. The Italian dancers were not restricted to performing in pairs (as in the basse danse) but in various combinations and they also executed dance figures that entailed, for example, brief moments of separation and reunion, or the exchange of dancers’ places.[11] Furthermore, while the bassa danza, like the basse danse, employed a single, steady metre throughout, it might include sections that drew on the faster metres and movements (including jumps and leaps) of the three other primary dance forms associated with the Italian courts: the ‘quarternaria’ (a sixth faster than the bassa danza, and also referred to as the ‘saltarello tedesco’ due to its alleged popularity with the Germans), the ‘saltarello’ (the customary after-dance of the bassa danza at two-sixths faster) and the ‘piva’ (the fastest of the four dance types at twice the speed of the bassa danza; by that time, the ‘piva’ (like the ‘quarternaria’) was not favoured as an independent dance in the Italian courts).[12] The variety of metres and steps that might be found in a bassa danza was employed to a greater extent in the other primary Italian court dance, the ballo, which incorporated additional, more decorative movements. Created by specially appointed dance masters (some of whom authored the treatises mentioned above), balli comprised a number of short, distinct sections, each of which presented the metre and steps of one of the aforementioned four Italian dance forms. The frequent contrasts in dance metres and steps and the various ways in which the dancers interacted in balli were key to the dances’ unique choreographies, which ranged from ornamental dances to pieces that conveyed particular dramatic narratives.[13]

Several of the treatises that describe French/Burgundian and Italian dance practices also present melodies that might be performed alongside particular dances. These melodies were not included for the instrumentalists who would accompany the dances but instead served as aide-mémoires for the dancers, each musical note being equivalent to one dance step. For example, in the basse danse manuscript associated with the Burgundian court of Maximilian’s daughter Margaret, the slow pace of the dances was conveyed by the presentation of the dance tunes in breves, which are annotated with initials that represented the particular dance steps that would be enacted during the duration of each note (» Abb. Maistresse and Le hault et le bas). It is assumed that the instrumentalists who accompanied the dances did so through improvisation around these melodies, which were adapted to fit the length of each dance and were often extracted from the soprano or tenor line of a well-known polyphonic chanson (» Kap. Musicians for civic dancing); some balli were, however, also sung by participants.[14] Whereas the cantus firmi of the basse danses or basse danze were presented in slow notes of equal value (to be adapted by musicians as appropriate), balli melodies usually indicated the frequent changes in rhythm in a dance and reflect the close relationship between the melody and dance steps, both of which were carefully devised by a dance master. As a result, in the aforementioned early dance treatises, descriptions of balli are often accompanied by their particular melodies whereas only three bassa danza tunes are included, perhaps indicating that a melody might be more easily adapted to this less complex dance form.[15] Many of the melodies presented in the dance treatises achieved widespread popularity across Europe, including in settings for keyboard and string instruments for private use: one such tune, ‘La Spagna’ – the only melody to appear in both bassa danza and basse danse sources - was distributed in over 300 different versions.[16]

Abb. Maistresse et le hault et le bas

A page from the basse danse manuscript associated with the court of Margaret of Austria (© Bibliothèque Royale de Belgique, Ms. 9085, fol. 11v; facsimile available here) showing the melody and dance steps of two basse danses: ‘Maistresse’ (described here as having ‘xlij notes a v mesures’) and ‘Le hault et le bas’ (which has ‘xxxij notes a iiij mesures’). Letters representing the different dance steps to be performed for the duration of each musical note are given beneath each melody.