GOTHIC & RENAISSANCE DANCES - Les Menestrals

GOTHIC AND RENAISSANCE DANCES liner notes

Between 1300 and 1600, secular instrumental music came into being by way of the many dances that flourished among the folk despite the Church's opposition. This music, often sung at the same time as it was danced, was so attractive that it was appropriated by royalty in the 14th century. In the process, dances sometimes changed their character and became formalized; they were also freely exchanged for others of neighboring countries. Abandoning the freely flowing rhythms of plainsong, they took on what we consider to be elements basic to music -- steady rhythms, contrast, repetition, variation, balance of phrases. Eventually in the early 17th century, sets of these dances, arranged in a kind of international potpourri of contrasting rhythms, became the instrumental suites which in turn laid the basis for movements of the sonata and symphony. No such suites appear on this record, however, for the Gothic and Renaissance musicians played these dances singly or at most in certain pairs of which mention will be made later. Therefore, any succession of dances on this record is to be thought of as unconnected compositions having no formal relation to each other.