- courante
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/koo rahnt"/; Fr. /kooh rddahonnt"/, n., pl. courantes /-rahnts"/; Fr. /-rddahonnt"/.1. a dance dating back to the 17th century and characterized by a running or gliding step.2. a piece of music for or suited to this dance.3. Music. a movement following the allemande in the classical suite.Also, courant.[1580-90; < MF; lit., running, fem. prp. of courir to run; cf. CURRENT]
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(from Latin currere, "to run") Court dance of the 16th century, fashionable in European ballrooms into the 18th century.It was originally performed with small back-and-forth springing steps, which later became stately glides. Danced to music in quick triple time, the courante followed the allemande and later became part of the musical suite.* * *
▪ dancecourt dance for couples, prominent in the late 16th century and fashionable in aristocratic European ballrooms, especially in France and England, for the next 200 years. It reputedly originated as an Italian folk dance with running steps. As a court dance it was performed with small, back-and-forth, springing steps, later subdued to stately glides. Each couple held hands to move forward and backward or dropped hands to face each other or turn. In its early courtly form the dance was preceded by a wooing pantomime for three couples.As a musical form the dance appears as the French courante in modern 3/2 () time with some contrasting measures in 6/4 (♩♩♩♩♩♩) and as the Italian corrente in rapid 3/4 or 3/8 time with running passages of eighth notes. Georg Philipp Telemann, George Frideric Handel, J.S. Bach, and other Baroque composers used both types in their orchestral and keyboard suites (suite). In these suites the courante follows the allemande, as it did in the ballroom. The Italian masters Arcangelo Corelli and Antonio Vivaldi, among others, included corrente movements in their sonate da camera (chamber sonatas).* * *
Universalium. 2010.
