The ''ballo'' was an Italian dance form during the fifteenth century, most noted for its frequent changes of tempo and meter. The name ''ballo'' has its origin in
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
''ballō'', ''ballāre'', meaning "to dance", which in turn comes from the
Greek "βαλλίζω" (''ballizō''), "to dance, to jump about". In
Greece
Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...
there is the
Greek dance
Greek dance (''choros''; ) is an old tradition, being referred to by authors such as Plato, Aristotle, Plutarch and Lucian. There are different styles and interpretations from all of the islands and surrounding mainland areas. Each region formed ...
named
Ballos.
Renaissance
During the
Quattrocento
The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1400 to 1499 are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento (, , ) from the Italian word for the number 400, in turn from , which is Italian for the year 1400. The Quattrocento encom ...
''balli'' were written by various composers, primarily the dance masters
Domenico da Piacenza and
Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro, who also wrote treatises including choreographies to their works.
Domenico wrote of the balli as dealing with four ''misure'':
* The bassadanza, from the
basse danse, consisting of what would now be labeled as a slow or
* The
quadernaria, one-sixth faster than the Bassadanza
* The
saltarello, two-sixths faster than the Bassadanza
* The
piva, twice as fast as the Bassadanza
Baroque
The
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
dance should be distinguished from the early
Baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
ballo, which was enlarged to include vocal numbers by such composers as
Monteverdi (''
Il ballo delle ingrate''), and
Francesco Lambardi (''Una festa a ballo'').
Handel included a ballo for two recorders and violin in the 1734 version of
Il pastor fido (Handel)
''Il pastor fido'' ("The Faithful Shepherd") (HWV 8) is an opera seria in a prologue and three acts by George Frideric Handel. It was set to a libretto by Giacomo Rossi based on the famed and widely familiar pastoral poem of the 'Il pastor fido' ...
See also
*
Ballata
References
Further reading
* Guglielmo Ebreo. ''De Pratica Seu Arte Tripudii: "On the Practice or Art of Dancing" '' ()
* Domenico da Piacenza. ''De Arte Saltandi et Choreas Ducendi ''
External links
The 15th Century "balli" Tunes: A Look
Italian dances
Renaissance dance
{{medieval-music-stub