gavotte

/geuh vot"/, n.

1. an old French dance in moderately quick quadruple meter.

2. a piece of music for, or in the rhythm of, this dance, often forming one of the movements in the classical suite, usually following the saraband.

Also, gavot.

[1690-1700; < F < Pr gavoto a mountaineer of Provence, a dance of such mountaineers, appar. deriv. of gava bird's crop (prob. < pre-L *gaba throat, crop, goiter), alluding to the prevalence of goiter among the mountaineers]

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Folk dance of French peasant origin, supposedly danced by the people of Gap (Gavots).

The dance became popular as a court dance in the 17th–18th century, developing more complicated steps under the direction of ballet masters. Its slow, walking steps were danced to music in 44 time. Musically it included three parts and was an optional movement of the suite.

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▪ dance

 lively peasants' kissing dance that became fashionable at the 17th- and 18th-century courts of France and England. Supposedly originated by the natives of Gap (Gavots) in the southeastern French province of Dauphiné, the gavotte was danced in royal ballrooms as a round with skipping steps adapted from the branle. Couples concluded improvised duet performances by kissing their partners. Later the dance developed more formal figures, and flowers were exchanged instead of kisses. At the French court in the 18th century, the gavotte was at first stately and later more ornate; its slow walking steps were in ⁴/₄ time, with upbeats on beats 3 and 4.

      In a suite the gavotte appears among the optional subordinate movements called galanteries. Its three-part composition is written in its early lusty ²/₂ rhythm but retains the later two upbeats; its second section is a musette, a pastoral air in which a drone bass runs throughout.

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