Tempo in Baroque music and dance

Abstract

Recently, there is a growing interest in studies on the relationship between music and movement. Insight in the relation between dance and music is particularly important for the Baroque period, as music and dance were directly related, even if music was not used to dance to. In Baroque dance, particular dance steps and the character of different dance types demand a specific tempo. However, in musical performance practice, the tempo variation can be very large and the link with the original dance movement is often lost. The aim of this study is to compare the interpretations of dancers and musicians in an experimental setting. The study consists of two parts. First, we investigate the influence of dance movement on the interpretation of a series of dances by musicians. The pieces were recorded with and without dance and we compare tempo and timing in the different versions. In the second part, dancers performed a particular choreography on music that varied in tempo. Video analysis and questionnaires were used to evaluate the different performances. These results were compared with the tempo of musical recordings of similar dance types. Results show a clear difference between music and dance performance. Musicians adapt their interpretation when performing together with the dancers and the optimal tempo zone found for certain Baroque dances coincides only partly with the tempi commonly found in music recordings. The direct link between music and movement and its mutual influence illustrates the importance of an embodied approach in music performance, where in this case dance movement gives concrete information for a ‘historically informed’ performance.