he suite came into fashion about the middle of the
seventeenth century and was also called _Sonata da Camera_ and
_Balletto_ in Italy, and, later, _Partita_ in France. In its
fundamental form it embraced four movements: I. Allemande. II.
Courante. III. Sarabande. IV. Gigue. To these four were sometimes
added other dances--the Gavotte, Passepied, Branle, Minuet, Bourree,
etc.--but the rule was that they should be introduced between the
Sarabande and the Gigue. Sometimes also the set was introduced by a
Prelude or an Overture. Identity of key was the only external tie
between the various members of the suite, but the composers sought to
establish an artistic unity by elaborating the sentiments for which
the dance-forms seemed to offer a vehicle, and presenting them in
agreeable contrast, besides enriching the primitive structure with new
material. The suites of Bach and Handel are the high-water mark in
this style of composition, but it would be difficult to find the
original characteristics of the dances in their settings. It must
suffice us briefly to indicate the characteristics of the principal
forms.

[Sidenote: _The Allemande._]

The Allemande, as its name indicates, was a dance of supposedly German
origin. For that reason the German composers, when it came to them
from France, where the suite had its origin, treated it with great
partiality. It is in moderate tempo, common time, and made up of two
periods of eight measures, both of which are repeated. It begins with
an upbeat, and its metre, to use the terms of prosody, is iambic. The
following specimen from Mersenne's "Harmonie Universelle," 1636, well
displays its characteristics:

[Music illustration]

[Sidenote: _Iambics in music and poetry._]

Robert Burns's familiar iambics,

"Ye flowery banks o' bonnie Doon,
How can ye bloom sae fair?
How can ye chant, ye little birds,
And I sae fu' o' care!"

might serve to keep the rhythmical characteristics of the Allemande in
mind were it not for the arbitrary changes made by the composers
already hinted at. As it is, we frequently find the stately movement
of the old dance broken up into elaborate, but always quietly
flowing, ornamentation, as indicated in the following excerpt from the
third of Bach's English suites:

[Music illustration]

[Sidenote: _The Courante._]

The Courante, or Corrente ("Teach lavoltas high and swift corantos,"
says Shakespeare), is a French dance which was e