Sarabande
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In music, the sarabande (It., sarabanda) is a slow dance in triple metre with the distinctive feature that beats 2 and 3 of the measure are often tied, giving a distinctive rhythm of quarter note and half note in alternation. The half notes are said to have corresponded with dragging steps in the dance.
The sarabande is first mentioned in Central America: in 1539, a dance called a zarabanda is mentioned in a poem written in Panama by Fernando Guzmán Mexía. Apparently the dance became popular in the Spanish colonies before moving back across the Atlantic to Spain. While it was banned in Spain in 1583 for its obscenity, it was frequently cited in literature of the period (for instance in works by Cervantes and Lope de Vega).
Later, it became a traditional movement of the Baroque suite.
Perhaps the most famous sarabande is the anonymous La folie espagnole (http://www.folias.nl) whose melody appears in pieces by dozens of composers from the time of Monteverdi and Corelli through the present day.
External links
- The Sarabande (http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3sarbn1.htm)
- MIDI of a Corelli adaptation of La Folie (http://www.folias.nl/corelli-flute.mid)