Suite
Encyclopedia
In music
, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental
or orchestra
l pieces normally performed in a concert
setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera
, ballet
(Nutcracker Suite), or incidental music
to a play (L'Arlésienne Suites
) or film
(Lieutenant Kije Suite
), or they may be entirely original movements (Holberg Suite
, The Planets
).
In the Baroque
era the suite was more precisely defined, with the pieces unified by key
,
and consisting of dances usually preceded by a prelude
or overture
. The suite was also known as Suite de danses, Ordre (the term favored by François Couperin
) or Partita
. In the eighteenth century, the term ouverture or overture may refer to the entire suite, as it does with the orchestral suites of Bach
.
published suyttes de bransles
in 1557, giving the first general use of the term "suite" 'suyttes' in music, although the usual form of the time was as pairs of dances. The first recognizable suite is Peuerl
's Newe Padouan, Intrada, Dantz, and Galliard
a of 1611, in which the four dances of the title appear repeatedly in ten suites. The Banchetto musicale by Johann Schein(1617) contains 20 sequences of five different dances.
The "classical" suite consisted of allemande
, courante
, sarabande
, and gigue
, in that order, and developed during the 17th century in France, the gigue appearing later than the others. Johann Jakob Froberger
is usually credited with establishing the classical suite through his compositions in this form, which were widely published and copied, although this was largely due to his publishers standardizing the order; Froberger's original manuscripts have many different orderings of the movements, e.g. the gigue preceding the sarabande. The publisher's standardized order was, however, highly influential especially on the works of Bach.
Many later suites included other movements placed between sarabande and gigue. These optional movements were known as galanteries: common examples are the minuet
, gavotte
, passepied
, and bourree
. Often there would be two contrasting galanteries with the same name, e.g. Minuet I and II, to be played alternativement, meaning that the first dance is played again after the second, thus I, II, I.
The later addition of an overture to make up an "overture-suite" was extremely popular with German composers; Telemann
claimed to have written over 200 overture-suites, J.S. Bach
had his four orchestral suites along with other suites, and George Frideric Handel
put his Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks in this form.
Handel wrote 22 keyboard suites; Bach produced multiple suites for lute, cello, violin, flute, and other instruments, as well as English suites, French suites and Partitas for keyboard. For Bach especially, the suite form was a base on which to spin more elaborate sequences. François Couperin's later suites often dispensed entirely with the standard dances and consisted entirely of character pieces with fanciful names.
By the 1750s, the suite had come to be seen as old-fashioned, superseded by the symphony and concerto, and few composers were still writing suites during that time. But since the 19th century composers have frequently arranged ballets, operas and other works into suites for concert performance. Arrangement into a suite can make the music more accessible and available to a wider audience, and has greatly helped popularize the music itself, such as in Tchaikovsky's suite from The Nutcracker
, or Aaron Copland
's suite from Appalachian Spring
. Orchestral suites usually consist of one or more movements
. An example of this could be Edvard Grieg
's Peer Gynt
Orchestral Suites I and II, both consisting of four movements. Such suites may consist of
Brought on by Impressionism, the piano suite was reintroduced by early 20th century French composers such as Maurice Ravel
and Claude Debussy
. Debussy's Suite bergamasque
is most likely one of the most famous suites, especially the third movement, Clair de Lune. Ravel is particularly well known for his Miroirs
suite for piano and lesser known for Le Tombeau de Couperin
, both requiring tremendous skill and dexterity from the pianist.
Other famous examples of early 20th century suites are The Planets by Gustav Holst, a 'Suite for Orchestra' in which each piece represents the astrological
significance of one of the seven uninhabited planets then known, as well as his First Suite in E-flat and Second Suite in F for Military Band
.
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
or orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l pieces normally performed in a concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, ballet
Ballet
Ballet is a type of performance dance, that originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, and which was further developed in France and Russia as a concert dance form. The early portions preceded the invention of the proscenium stage and were presented in large chambers with...
(Nutcracker Suite), or incidental music
Incidental music
Incidental music is music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to film music, with such music being referred to instead as the "film score" or "soundtrack"....
to a play (L'Arlésienne Suites
L'Arlésienne Suites
The incidental music to Alphonse Daudet's play L'Arlésienne was composed by Georges Bizet for the first performance of the play on 1 October 1872 at the Vaudeville Theatre...
) or film
Film score
A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
(Lieutenant Kije Suite
Lieutenant Kijé (Prokofiev)
Lieutenant Kijé is the score composed by Sergei Prokofiev for the 1934 Soviet film Lieutenant Kijé directed by Aleksandr Faintsimmer based on the novel of the same title by Yury Tynyanov.-Suite from Lieutenant Kijé:...
), or they may be entirely original movements (Holberg Suite
Holberg Suite
Holberg Suite, Op. 40 more properly "From Holberg's Time", , subtitled "Suite in olden style" , is a suite of five movements based on eighteenth century dance forms, written by Edvard Grieg in 1884 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Danish-Norwegian humanist playwright Ludvig...
, The Planets
The Planets
The Planets, Op. 32, is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character as defined by Holst...
).
In the Baroque
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
era the suite was more precisely defined, with the pieces unified by key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
,
and consisting of dances usually preceded by a prelude
Prelude (music)
A prelude is a short piece of music, the form of which may vary from piece to piece. The prelude can be thought of as a preface. It may stand on its own or introduce another work...
or overture
Overture
Overture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...
. The suite was also known as Suite de danses, Ordre (the term favored by François Couperin
François Couperin
François Couperin was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as Couperin le Grand to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented Couperin family.-Life:Couperin was born in Paris...
) or Partita
Partita
Partita was originally the name for a single instrumental piece of music , but Johann Kuhnau and later German composers used it for collections of musical pieces, as a synonym for suite.Johann Sebastian Bach wrote two sets of Partitas for different instruments...
. In the eighteenth century, the term ouverture or overture may refer to the entire suite, as it does with the orchestral suites of Bach
Bạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
.
History
Estienne du TertreEstienne du Tertre
Estienne du Tertre was a French composer. He spent most of his life in Paris and worked as an editor for the publisher Attaingnant. Many of his chansons were published....
published suyttes de bransles
Branle
A branle l)—also bransle, brangle, brawl, brawle, brall, braul, or brantle —or brainle—is a 16th-century French dance style which moves mainly from side to side, and is performed by couples in either a line or a circle.The word is derived from the French verb branler , possibly related to brander...
in 1557, giving the first general use of the term "suite" 'suyttes' in music, although the usual form of the time was as pairs of dances. The first recognizable suite is Peuerl
Paul Peuerl
Paul Peuerl was a German organist, organ builder, renovator and repairer, and composer of instrumental music....
's Newe Padouan, Intrada, Dantz, and Galliard
Galliard
The galliard was a form of Renaissance dance and music popular all over Europe in the 16th century. It is mentioned in dance manuals from England, France, Spain, Germany and Italy, among others....
a of 1611, in which the four dances of the title appear repeatedly in ten suites. The Banchetto musicale by Johann Schein(1617) contains 20 sequences of five different dances.
The "classical" suite consisted of allemande
Allemande
An allemande is one of the most popular instrumental dance forms in Baroque music, and a standard element of a suite...
, courante
Courante
The courante, corrente, coranto and corant are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era....
, sarabande
Sarabande
In music, the sarabande is a dance in triple metre. The second and third beats of each measure are often tied, giving the dance a distinctive rhythm of quarter notes and eighth notes in alternation...
, and gigue
Gigue
The gigue or giga is a lively baroque dance originating from the British jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th century and usually appears at the end of a suite...
, in that order, and developed during the 17th century in France, the gigue appearing later than the others. Johann Jakob Froberger
Johann Jakob Froberger
Johann Jakob Froberger was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. He was among the most famous composers of the era and influenced practically every major composer in Europe by developing the genre of keyboard suite and contributing greatly to the exchange of musical...
is usually credited with establishing the classical suite through his compositions in this form, which were widely published and copied, although this was largely due to his publishers standardizing the order; Froberger's original manuscripts have many different orderings of the movements, e.g. the gigue preceding the sarabande. The publisher's standardized order was, however, highly influential especially on the works of Bach.
Many later suites included other movements placed between sarabande and gigue. These optional movements were known as galanteries: common examples are the minuet
Minuet
A minuet, also spelled menuet, is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian minuetto and French menuet, and may have been from French menu meaning slender, small, referring to the very small steps, or from the early 17th-century popular...
, gavotte
Gavotte
The gavotte originated as a French folk dance, taking its name from the Gavot people of the Pays de Gap region of Dauphiné, where the dance originated. It is notated in 4/4 or 2/2 time and is of moderate tempo...
, passepied
Passepied
The passepied is a 17th- and 18th-century dance that originated in Brittany. The term can also be used to describe the music to which a passepied is set...
, and bourree
Bourrée
The bourrée is a dance of French origin common in Auvergne and Biscay in Spain in the 17th century. It is danced in quick double time, somewhat resembling the gavotte. The main difference between the two is the anacrusis, or upbeat; a bourrée starts on the last beat of a bar, creating a...
. Often there would be two contrasting galanteries with the same name, e.g. Minuet I and II, to be played alternativement, meaning that the first dance is played again after the second, thus I, II, I.
The later addition of an overture to make up an "overture-suite" was extremely popular with German composers; Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually...
claimed to have written over 200 overture-suites, J.S. Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
had his four orchestral suites along with other suites, and George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
put his Water Music and Music for the Royal Fireworks in this form.
Handel wrote 22 keyboard suites; Bach produced multiple suites for lute, cello, violin, flute, and other instruments, as well as English suites, French suites and Partitas for keyboard. For Bach especially, the suite form was a base on which to spin more elaborate sequences. François Couperin's later suites often dispensed entirely with the standard dances and consisted entirely of character pieces with fanciful names.
By the 1750s, the suite had come to be seen as old-fashioned, superseded by the symphony and concerto, and few composers were still writing suites during that time. But since the 19th century composers have frequently arranged ballets, operas and other works into suites for concert performance. Arrangement into a suite can make the music more accessible and available to a wider audience, and has greatly helped popularize the music itself, such as in Tchaikovsky's suite from The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...
, or Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
's suite from Appalachian Spring
Appalachian Spring
Appalachian Spring is a modern score composed by Aaron Copland that premiered in 1944 and has achieved widespread and enduring popularity as an orchestral suite...
. Orchestral suites usually consist of one or more movements
Movement (music)
A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...
. An example of this could be Edvard Grieg
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
's Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt
Peer Gynt is a five-act play in verse by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen, loosely based on the fairy tale Per Gynt. It is the most widely performed Norwegian play. According to Klaus Van Den Berg, the "cinematic script blends poetry with social satire and realistic scenes with surreal ones"...
Orchestral Suites I and II, both consisting of four movements. Such suites may consist of
- an instrumental selection from a larger work such as an opera, ballet, film score, or musical;
- a sequence of smaller pieces tied together by a common theme, such as the nationalistically inflected suites of Grieg, SibeliusJean SibeliusJean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...
, or TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
and The Planets by HolstGustav HolstGustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
; - a work deliberately referential of Baroque themes, as in the mischievous Suite for Piano by Arnold SchoenbergArnold SchoenbergArnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
.
Brought on by Impressionism, the piano suite was reintroduced by early 20th century French composers such as Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
and Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
. Debussy's Suite bergamasque
Suite bergamasque
The Suite bergamasque is one of the most famous piano suites by Claude Debussy. Debussy commenced the suite in 1890 at age 28, but he did not finish or publish it until 1905.-History:...
is most likely one of the most famous suites, especially the third movement, Clair de Lune. Ravel is particularly well known for his Miroirs
Miroirs
Miroirs, or "Reflections" is a suite for solo piano written by French impressionist composer Maurice Ravel between 1904 and 1905. First performed by Ricardo Viñes in 1906, Miroirs contains five movements, each dedicated to a fellow member of the French impressionist group, Les...
suite for piano and lesser known for Le Tombeau de Couperin
Le Tombeau de Couperin
Le tombeau de Couperin is a suite for solo piano by Maurice Ravel, composed between 1914 and 1917, in six movements. Each movement is dedicated to the memory of friends of the composer who had died fighting in World War I...
, both requiring tremendous skill and dexterity from the pianist.
Other famous examples of early 20th century suites are The Planets by Gustav Holst, a 'Suite for Orchestra' in which each piece represents the astrological
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
significance of one of the seven uninhabited planets then known, as well as his First Suite in E-flat and Second Suite in F for Military Band
Second Suite in F for Military Band
The Second Suite in F for Military Band is Gustav Holst's second and last suite for concert band. Although performed less frequently than the First Suite in E-flat, it is still a staple of the band literature...
.
Form of suite de danses
The term suite de danses was the early 17th century name given to a set of dances, which was popularised in the Baroque era.Sections
The Suite de danses would contain the following sections:- PreludePrelude (music)A prelude is a short piece of music, the form of which may vary from piece to piece. The prelude can be thought of as a preface. It may stand on its own or introduce another work...
- AllemandeAllemandeAn allemande is one of the most popular instrumental dance forms in Baroque music, and a standard element of a suite...
- Literally translates from French as the word 'German'. It is a stately German dance with a meter of 4/4. - CouranteCouranteThe courante, corrente, coranto and corant are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era....
or Corrente - A Courante is a lively French dance in 3/4 time, while the Corrente is an Italian dance in quick 3/4. - SarabandeSarabandeIn music, the sarabande is a dance in triple metre. The second and third beats of each measure are often tied, giving the dance a distinctive rhythm of quarter notes and eighth notes in alternation...
- A Sarabande is a slow, stately Spanish dance in 3/4 time. - Intermezzi - This section consists of two to four dances at the discretion of the composer that may include a MinuetMinuetA minuet, also spelled menuet, is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian minuetto and French menuet, and may have been from French menu meaning slender, small, referring to the very small steps, or from the early 17th-century popular...
, Bourée, PolonaisePolonaiseThe polonaise is a slow dance of Polish origin, in 3/4 time. Its name is French for "Polish."The polonaise had a rhythm quite close to that of the Swedish semiquaver or sixteenth-note polska, and the two dances have a common origin....
, and/or a GavotteGavotteThe gavotte originated as a French folk dance, taking its name from the Gavot people of the Pays de Gap region of Dauphiné, where the dance originated. It is notated in 4/4 or 2/2 time and is of moderate tempo...
. - GigueGigueThe gigue or giga is a lively baroque dance originating from the British jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th century and usually appears at the end of a suite...
or gigaGigaGiga is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of billion . It has the symbol G.Giga is derived from the Greek γίγας, meaning 'giant'...
- The Gigue or 'JigJigThe Jig is a form of lively folk dance, as well as the accompanying dance tune, originating in England in the 16th century and today most associated with Irish dance music and Scottish country dance music...
' originates in EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and is a fast dance, normally with a meter of 6/8. The Italian giga is rarer than the gigue, and is faster with running passages over a harmonic basis.