Chapter 8

NOTE ON ARBEAU'S 'ORCHÉSOGRAPHIE,' 1588.

This interesting book on the Art of Dancing was published at Mâcon [Transcriber's Note: corrected from Maçon] in 1588. [The date on the title page is 1589.] The author was Jehan Tabourot, but his real name does not appear in the work, being anagrammatised into Thoinot Arbeau; and under the guise of Arbeau he is best known.

The treatise is written (like Morley's Introduction to Practical Music) in the form of Dialogue between Master (Arbeau) and Pupil (Capriol); and gives a most clear description of all the fashionable dances of the time, as far as words can do it; dance tunes in music type; and incidentally, many instructions as to the manners of good society.

As much light is thrown upon the dances which are mentioned in Shakespeare by this book, some of the principal descriptions will be given here, with the proper music.

On p. 25, Capriol (the Pupil) asks his Master (Arbeau) to describe the steps of the 'basse' dance. This was the 'danse par bas, ou sans sauter,' which was of the 15th century, was in triple time, and contained three parts, A, basse dance; B, Retour de la basse dance; C, Tordion. This 3rd part, or tordion, 'n'est aultre chose qu'une gaillarde _par terre_'; _i.e._, the Tordion of a Basse dance was simply a Galliard _par terre_, without the leaping or 'Sault majeur.'

Before Arbeau answers his pupil, he gives him some preliminary instruction as to the etiquette of the ball room. He says--'In the first place ... you should choose some virtuous damsel whose appearance pleases you (telle que bon vous semblera), take off your hat or cap in your left hand, and tender her your right hand to lead her out to dance. She, being modest and well brought up, will give you her left hand, and rise to follow you. Then conduct her to the end of the room, face each the other, and tell the band to play a basse dance. For if you do not, they may inadvertently play some other kind of dance. And when they begin to play, you begin to dance.'

_Capriol._ If the lady should refuse, I should feel dreadfully ashamed.

_Arbeau._ A properly educated young lady NEVER refuses one who does her the honour to lead her out to the dance. If she does, she is accounted foolish (sotte), for if she doesn't want to dance, what is she sitting there for amongst the rest?

The Master then gives his pupil an account of the basse dance, the 1st and 2nd parts of which are composed of various arrangements of the following movements--

1. La révérence, marked with a big R.

2. Le branle (_not_ the dance of that name), marked with b.

3. Deux simples, marked ss.

4. Le double, marked d.

5. La reprise, marked with a little r.

The 'chanson'--_i.e._, the dance tune, was played on the flute, and accompanied by the 'tabourin' or drum, which beats all the time. Every 'bar' of the music is called either a 'battement' of the drum, or a 'mesure' of the chanson.

Now Arbeau explains the steps and time of each of the above five movements.

1. R. This takes four bars. Begin with left foot forward, and in doing the révérence, half turn your body and face towards the Damoiselle, and cast on her 'un gracieux regard.'

2. b.[21] Also takes four bars. Keep the feet joined together, then for the 1st bar, swing the body gently to the left side; 2nd bar, swing to the right, while gazing modestly upon 'les assistants;' 3rd bar, swing again to the left; and for the 4th bar, swing to the right side, looking on the Damoiselle with an 'oeillade defrobée, doulcement et discretement.'

[Footnote 21: The branle (not the dance, but as used here) is called _Congedium_ by Anthoine Arena. Arbeau thinks because the dancer appears about to take leave of his partner--_i.e._, _prendre congé_. See Hen. VIII., IV. ii. l. 82, stage direction, 'congee.']

3. ss. 1st bar, left foot forward; 2nd bar, bring right foot up to the said left foot; 3rd bar, advance the right foot; 4th bar, join the left foot to the said right foot; et ainsi sera parfaict le mouvement des deux simples.

N.B.--Always suit the length of your steps to the size of the room, and the convenience of the Damoiselle, who cannot with modesty take such big steps as you can.

4. d. 1st bar, advance left foot; and, advance right foot; 3rd, advance left foot; 4th, join right to left. For _two_ doubles (dd) do it over again, but contrariwise, beginning with the Right foot. For _three_ doubles (ddd), the form of the third will be, 1st bar, advance left foot; 2nd, advance right foot; 3rd, advance left foot; 4th, 'puis tumberà pieds joincts comme a estè faict au premier double.' And thus (he carefully adds) the three doubles are achieved in 12 'battements et mesures du tabourin.'

5. The Reprise (r) is commonly found before the branle (b), and sometimes before the double (d) [see the Memoires]. In it you have to cultivate a certain movement of the knees, or feet, or 'les artoils seullement,' as if your feet were shaking under you. 1st bar, 'les artoils' of the right foot; 2nd bar, do.; 3rd bar, of the left foot; 4th, of the right foot again.

The _Memoire_ of the movements of the basse dance--_i.e._, its first Part, is--

R b ss d r | d r b ss ddd r d r b | ss d r b C.

The C means the 'congé,' or 'leave' which you must take of the Damoiselle, salute her, and keep hold of her hand, and lead her back to where you began, in order to dance the Second Part--namely, the Retour de la basse dance, the _Memoire_ for which is--

b | d r b ss ddd r d r b | C.

[The nine movements enclosed between the upright lines, are the same in both parts].

Capriol now remarks that he has been counting up, and finds that the music of the _basse dance_ proper (part 1) has 20 'fours' (vingt quaternions), and the _retour_ (part 2) has 12 'fours.'

Arbeau then describes the Tordion, which is Part 3 of the basse dance. He says it is still in triple time, but 'plus legiere et concitée,' and does not consist of 'simples, doubles, reprises,' etc., like the first and second parts, but is danced almost exactly as a Galliard, except that it is _par terre_--_i.e._, without any capers, and low on the ground, with a quick and light step; whereas the Galliard is danced _high_, with a slower and weightier 'mesure.'

He gives the following tune, which will fit to _any_ of the innumerable diversities of Galliard. If played fast, it is a Tordion, if slower, a Galliard. [There are, of course, no bars in the original.]

TORDION OR GALLIARD (CINQUEPACE).

[Music]

Here are the Steps of the Galliard, consisting of five movements of the feet, and the caper, or 'sault majeur.' The five steps give the Galliard the name of Cinque pas.

1. Greve gaulche. ['Greve' is explained as a 'coup de pied.']

2. Greve droicte.

3. " gaulche.

4. " droicte.

5. Sault majeur.

6. Posture gaulche.

1, 2, 3, 4, 6 are the 'Cinq' pas, and 5 is the characteristic leap or caper.

The next six minims are danced to the Revers, which is just the same, except that the words 'right' and 'left' (_droicte_ and _gaulche_) change places all the way down. Then repeat till the tune is finished.

Arbeau gives several other varieties of Galliard, and another very good tune for it, called

'ANTHOINETTE.' GALLIARD.

[Music]

The 'sault majeur' in this tune would come in the middle of the semibreves in the first strain; at the 'dot' of the dotted minims in the 2nd and 3rd strains; or, again, in the middle of the semibreves in the same strains.

Of the Pavan [commonly danced before the Basse-dance], Arbeau says it is very easy, consisting only of 'two simples and a double' advancing, and again 'two simples and a double' retiring. It is (as we already know) in Binary measure, and the careful Capriol once more joins in with his calculations of time, saying that he makes the Pavan 8 measures [semibreves] 'en marchant,' and 8 measures 'desmarchant.'

The master now gives particular instructions about the form and manner of dancing the Pavan. Noblemen dance these pavans and basse-dances 'belles et graves,' with cap and sword; others in long robes, 'marchants honnestement, avec une gravité posée.' And the damoiselles with an humble countenance, 'les yeulx baissez, regardans quelquefois les assistans avec une pudeur virginale.' Kings, princes, and 'Seigneurs graves,' in dancing the pavan on great occasions, wear their 'grands manteaux, et robes de parade.' Also, Queens, Princesses, and Ladies accompanying them, have their robes 'abaissées et trainans,' 'quelquefois portées par demoiselles.' The Pavan on these occasions is called LE GRAND BAL, and the music is provided, not by simple flute and drum, but by 'haulbois et saquebouttes,' and they continue the tune until the dancers have made the circuit of the 'salle' twice or thrice.

Besides this state dancing of pavans, this dance was used in Mascarade, when triumphal chariots of gods and goddesses enter, or of emperors and kings 'plains de maiesté.'

On p. 29 ff, Arbeau gives the vocal Pavan for four voices, 'Belle qui tiens ma vie,' which is quoted in Grove. The proper drum accompaniment, continued throughout the 32 bars (2/2) is--[Music] etc. He also gives seven more verses of words to it, and says if you do not wish to dance, you can play or sing it. Moreover, he adds, that the drum is not a necessity, but is good to keep the time equal; and that for dancing you may use violins, spinets, flutes, both traverse and 'à neuf trous' (nine-holed flute--_i.e._, a flageolet), hautboys, and, in fact, 'all sorts of instruments'; or you may sing instead.

Arbeau's account of the Passemeze, or Passy-measures-pavin of Shakespeare, is very simple. He says that the instrumentalists increase the speed of the _pavan_ every time they play it through, and by the time it has reached the moderate speed of a _basse-dance_, it is no longer called Pavan, but Passemeze.

Besides the State Pavan, and the Passamezzo Pavan, there is the 'Pavane d'Espagne,' which has some similarity to the Canaries.

Arbeau says that some consider the name Canaries to be that of a dance in use in those islands. But he thinks it more likely to have originated in a Ballet in a Mascarade, where the dancers were clad as kings and queens 'de Mauritanie,' as savages, with various coloured feathers. He says it is danced by a gentleman and a lady, from opposite ends of the room, each advancing and then retiring in turn.

The steps and tune are as follows--

CANARIES.

[Music]

1. Tappement du pied gauche, causant pied en l'air droit.

2. Marque talon droit (right heel).

3. Marque pied droit.

4. Tappement du pied droit, causant pied en l'air gauche.

5. Marque talon gauche (left heel).

6. Marque pied gauche.

7-12 are the same again.

Then for the 2nd half, instead of the 'tappements' at the minims, you should make 'une greve fort haulte, rabaissée en tappement de pied trainé en derrier, comme si on marchoit dessus un crachat, ou qu'on voulust tuer une araignée.' (Make a very high step, but instead of tapping the foot, scrape it backwards, as if you were treading on spittle, or wanted to kill a spider.)

Arbeau gives 17 different kinds of Branle (Brawl of Shakespeare) before coming to the Branle des Sabots, which is danced, 2 beats in a bar, four steps to the right, then four to the left, like the branle doubles; then two simples (see above), and three taps of the foot, and Repeat.

BRANLE DES SABOTS, p. 88.

[Music]

{ 1. Pied gaulche largy (left foot forward). _Double_ { 2. " droit approché (right foot up to the left). _gaulche._ { 3. Pied gaulche largy. { 4. Pieds joincts (join feet).

{ 5-8 are the same, 'right' and 'left' changing { places, forming a 'double _droit_.'

_Simple_ { { 9. P.g. largy. _gauche._ { { 10. Pieds joincts. { _Simple_ { { 11. P.d. largy. _droit._ { { 12. Pieds joincts.

_a._ Tappement du pied droit. _b._ Do. _c._ Do.

There is only one step to each Semibreve, so the tune must have been played fast.

On p. 64 Arbeau treats of the Lavolta ('high lavolt' of Shakespeare), which he says is a kind of galliard well known in Provence. One feature was that you had to keep turning round.

_Capriol_ does not agree with these whirlings, for he immediately says--'Ces vertigues et tornoiements de cerveau me fascheroient.'

AIR D'UNE VOLTE. [LA VOLTA.]

[Music]

1. Petit pas, en saultant sur le gaulche, pour faire pied en l'air droit.

2. Plus grand pas du droit.

3. Sault majeur.

4. Posture en pieds joincts; etc., all over again every two bars.

The sault majeur of the 'high lavolt' comes at the _semibreves_ in this tune.

On p. 67 he gives the Courante--

COURANTE.

[Music]

The movements are--

1, 2, simple gauche; 3, 4, simple droit; and 5-8, a 'double à gauche.' These terms have already been explained.

One of the many Bransles is the 'Branle de la Haye,' the Hay of Shakespeare. Arbeau says--first the dancers dance alone, each separately; then together _so as to interlace_, 'et font _la haye_ les uns parmy les aultres.' That is, during each batch of 4 steps, the dancers _change places_ one with another, so that if there are three dancers, A, B, C, in the first 4 steps, B and A change places, and make B, A, C; in the next 4 steps, C and A change places, and make B, C, A, etc.

Here is the tune and the formula of steps--

THE HAYE.

[Music]

Beginning at the 1st complete bar, and reckoning one step to each semibreve--1. Deux simples (ss). 2. Double (d). 3. ss. 4. d. 5. ss. 6. d. 7. ss. 8. d.

The Morisque, which may at all events be compared with the little we know of the Shakespearian Morris dance, seems to have been very violent exercise for the heels (talon). Arbeau mentions that it is bad for the gout. The reader will notice that there is a separate movement for each crotchet in the following tune.

MORISQUE.

[Music]

1. Frappe talon droit (strike right heel). 2. " gaulche (left). 3. " " d. 4. " " g. 5. Frappe talons (perhaps 'strike heels together'). 6. Soupir (slight pause).

Repeat, then the second half--1-4, 5-8, 9-12, are same as 1-4, ending with 5, 6, as in the 1st half.

No wonder it was bad for the gout!

VI

MISCELLANEOUS, INCLUDING PYTHAGOREANISM AND SHAKESPEARE'S ACCOUNT OF THE MORE SPIRITUAL SIDE OF MUSIC

A well-known passage in _Twelfth Night_ gives us the Opinion of Pythagoras 'concerning wild-fowl.'

The Opinion of Pythagoras 'concerning Music' is at least equally interesting, and is appropriated and assimilated by Shakespeare. The particular branch of the Pythagorean system with which we are concerned, is that which treats of the Music of the Spheres. Besides the two passages here quoted, there are others dealing with this subject--_e.g._,

_Ant._ V, ii, 84, 'the tunèd spheres'; _Twelf._ III, i, 115, 'music from the spheres'; _Per._ V, i, 226, 'The music of the spheres.'

'This, Pythagoras, first of all the Greeks [560 B.C.] conceived in his mind; and understood that the spheres sounded something concordant, because of the necessity of proportion, which never forsakes celestial beings.'[22]

[Footnote 22: Hist. of Philos., by Thomas Stanley, edit. 1701.]

'Pythagoras, by musical proportion, calleth that a tone, by how much the moon is distant from the earth: from the moon to Mercury the half of that space, and from Mercury to Venus almost as much; from Venus to the Sun, sesquiple [_i.e._, half as much more as a tone]; from the Sun to Mars, a tone, that is as far as the moon is from the earth: from Mars to Jupiter, half, and from Jupiter to Saturn, half, and thence to the zodiac, sesquiple.'

'Thus there are made _seven tones_, which they call a _diapason_ harmony, that is, an _universal concent_, in which Saturn moves in the Doric mood, Jupiter in the Phrygian, and in the rest the like.'

'Those sounds which the seven planets, and the sphere of fixed stars, and that which is above us, termed by them Antichton [opposite the earth], make, Pythagoras affirmed to be the Nine Muses; but the composition and symphony ... he named Mnemosyne [Memory, the Mother of the Muses].'

Censorinus, a Roman Grammarian, B.C. 238, in his book De Die Natali, says--

'To these things we may add what Pythagoras taught, namely, that the whole world was constructed according to musical ratio, and that the seven planets ... have a rhythmical motion and distances adapted to musical intervals, and emit sounds, every one different in proportion to its height [Saturn was said to be the highest, as it is the farthest away, and was supposed to give the gravest note of the heavenly Diapason, which note was therefore called Hypate, or 'highest'], which sounds are so concordant as to produce a most sweet melody, though _inaudible to us by reason of the greatness of the sounds_, which the narrow passages of our ears are not capable of admitting.'

These extracts fairly represent the ancient opinion about the Music of the spheres. There was a strong tendency last century to revive the notion, and even to our modern ideas, with our Copernican astronomy, there remains at least the possibility of drawing fantastical analogies between the proportionate distances of the planets and the proportionate vibration numbers of the partial tones in a musically vibrating string or pipe.

The idea of the musical Chorus or dance of the heavenly bodies was perfectly familiar to all writers in the 16th and 17th centuries. An excellent example is in Paradise Lost, Book V., in the twelve lines beginning 'So spake the Omnipotent.' Even finer is the 13th verse of the Nativity Hymn.

'Ring out, ye crystal spheres, Once bless our human ears, If ye have power to touch our senses so; And let your silver chime Move in melodious time, And let the bass of heaven's deep organ blow; And, with your nine-fold harmony, Make up full concert to the angelic symphony.'

No one could help thinking of the text in Job xxxviii. 7, 'When the morning stars sang together,' in this connection, and Milton naturally refers to it in the previous verse.

Here follow the two Shakespeare extracts. The second one is full of beauty of every kind, but the Pythagoreanism is in the last six lines, with Shakespeare's own view about _why_ we cannot hear the heavenly music.

_As You Like It_ II, vii, 5.

_Duke Senior_ [of Jaques]. If he, _compact of jars_, grow musical, We shall have shortly _discord in the spheres_.

_Merchant_ V, i, 51.

_Lor._ My friend Stephano, signify, I pray you, Within the house, your mistress [Portia] is at hand; And _bring your music forth into the air_.

[_Exit_ STEPHANO.

(Lorenzo and Jessica alone.)

_Lor._ How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! Here we will sit, and _let the sounds of music Creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night, Become the touches of sweet harmony_.

* * * * *

L. 60.

There's not the _smallest orb_, which thou behold'st, _But in his motion like an angel sings_, Still _quiring_ to the young-ey'd cherubims; Such harmony is in immortal souls; But, _whilst this muddy vesture of decay Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it_.

This is finer than Pythagoras.

The next three passages are concerned with the 'fantasie' of Music. Jaques gives an opinion in a general form--viz., that the musician's 'melancholy' is 'fantastical'; Mariana and the Duke speak of a certain _doubleness_ that may be noticed in the action of music on the mind. Jessica is 'never merry' when she hears sweet music: Lorenzo descants on the evident effects of music on even hardened natures; while Portia and Nerissa preach a neat little sermon on the text 'Nothing is good without respect,' with musical illustrations of the powerful influence of time and place--_e.g._, the silence of night, makes the music sound sweeter than by day; the crow sings as well as the lark, if the circumstances favour the crow, or if the lark is not present to give immediate comparison; and even the nightingale's song is no better than the wren's, 'by day, when every goose is cackling.'

_As You_ IV, i, 13.

_Jaques._ I have neither the scholar's melancholy, which is emulation; nor the _musician's_, which is _fantastical_, etc.

_Measure for Measure_ IV, i, 12. Enter Duke, disguised as a friar (after Song).

_Mariana._ I cry you mercy, sir; and well could wish You had not found me here _so musical_: Let me excuse me, and believe me so, My _mirth it much displeased_, but _pleas'd my woe_.

_Duke._ 'Tis good: though _music oft hath such a charm, To make bad good, and good provoke to harm_.

_Merchant_ V, i, 66. Enter musicians.

_Lor._ Come ho! and wake Diana with a _hymn_: With sweetest _touches_ pierce your mistress' ear, And draw her home _with music_.

[Music.

_Jessica._ I am _never merry when I hear sweet music_.

_Lor._ The reason is, _your spirits are attentive_. For ... _colts_,

* * * * *

_If they but hear_ perchance _a trumpet_ sound, Or any _air of music touch their ears_, You shall perceive them make a _mutual stand_, Their savage eyes turn'd to a modest gaze. _By the sweet power of music_: therefore, the poet Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods: Since nought so stockish, hard, and full of rage, But _music for the time doth change his nature. The man that hath no music in himself_, Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; The motions of his spirit are dull as night, And his affections dark as Erebus. _Let no such man be trusted._--Mark the music.

L. 97. Portia and Nerissa.

_Por._ ... _Music! hark!_

_Ner._ It is your music, madam, _of the house._

_Por._ Nothing is good, I see, without respect. Methinks, _it sounds much sweeter than by day_.

_Ner._ _Silence_ bestows that virtue on it, madam.

_Por._ The _crow_ doth sing as sweetly as the _lark, When neither is attended_; and I think, The _nightingale_, if she should sing _by day_, When every goose is cackling, _would be thought No better a musician than the wren_. How many things _by season_ season'd are To their right praise, and true perfection.

Here is an example of a superstitious meaning attaching to supposed mysterious music.

There are very few cases of this kind in Shakespeare--_i.e._, where the music of the stage is an integral part of the drama.

_Antony and Cleop._ IV, iii, 12. Music of hautboys under the stage.

_4 Soldier._ ... Peace, what noise?

_1 Sold._ List, list!

_2 Sold._ Hark!

_1 Sold._ Music in the air.

_3 Sold._ Under the earth.

_4 Sold._ It signs well, does it not?

_3 Sold._ No.

_1 Sold._ Peace, I say! What should this mean?

_2 Sold._ 'Tis the god Hercules, whom Antony lov'd, Now leaves him.

A very usual popular amusement was the Masque, which would consist of a public procession with decorated cars containing the characters, accompanied by hobby horses, tumblers, and open air music. This is referred to in the next passage, where Theseus speaks of the masque as an 'abridgement' for the evening, that is, an entertainment to shorten the hours. The lamentable play of Pyramus and Thisbe follows, which, it will be noticed, has some of the main features of a masque.

_Mid's Night's Dream_ V, i, 39.

_Theseus._ Say, what abridgment have you for this evening? _What masque, what music?_...