Bergamask, bergomask, bergamesca, or bergamasca (from the town of

Bergamo Bergamo ( , ; ) is a city in the Alps, alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from the alpine lakes Lake Como, Como and Lake Iseo, Iseo and 70 km (43 mi) from Lake Garda, Garda and Lake ...

in Northern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

), is a

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

and associated

melody A melody (), also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of Pitch (music), pitch and rhythm, while more figurativel ...

and

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from ...

Reputation

It was considered a clumsy rustic dance copied from the natives of Bergamo, reputed, according to the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is a 29-volume reference work, an edition of the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. It was developed during the encyclopaedia's transition from a British to an American publication. So ...

'', to be very awkward in their manners. The dance is associated with

clown A clown is a person who performs physical comedy and arts in an Improvisational theatre#Comedy, open-ended fashion, typically while wearing distinct cosmetics, makeup or costume, costuming and reversing social norm, folkway-norms. The art of ...

s or buffoonery, as is the area of Bergamo, it having lent its dialect to the Italian buffoons.

Chord progression

The basic chord progression is I–IV–V–I:Apel, Willi (1969). ''Harvard Dictionary of Music'', p.91. . : │⎸ I IV V I I IV V I :⎹⎸ I IV V I I IV V I ⎹│

Works

Peter Paul Rubens - Dance of Italian Villagers - WGA20409

Seventeenth-century Italian composer

Marco Uccellini Marco Uccellini ( Forlimpopoli, Forlì 1603 or 1610 - 10 December 1680) was an Italian Baroque violinist and composer. His output of mainly secular music for solo violin is considered to have been important in the rise of independent instrumental c ...

adapted the Bergamasca as a lively instrumental piece titled "Aria sopra 'la bergamasca.'" Twentieth-century Italian composer

Ottorino Respighi Ottorino Respighi ( , , ; 9 July 187918 April 1936) was an Italian composer, violinist, teacher, and musicologist and one of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century. List of compositions by Ottorino Respighi, His compositions ra ...

adapted the melody as the final movement of his Suite #2 of

Ancient Airs and Dances ''Ancient Airs and Dances'' () is a set of three orchestral suites by Italian composer Ottorino Respighi, freely transcribed from original pieces for lute. In addition to being a renowned composer and conductor, Respighi was also a notable musico ...

. ''Bergomask'' is the title of the second of the '' Two Pieces for Piano'' (1925) by John Ireland (18791972). The title of

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

Suite bergamasque ''Suite bergamasque'' (List of compositions by Claude Debussy by Lesure number, L. 75) () is a piano suite (music), suite by Claude Debussy. He began composing it around 1890, at the age of 28, but significantly revised it just before its 1905 ...

is a poetic reference and the piece is not related musically to the Bergamask described here. Likewise, the " Masques et bergamasques" of twentieth-century French composer

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. ...

is musically unrelated. The characteristic I-IV-V-I progression features in popular music of the late 20th century, for example the song " Twist and Shout." Also of note, the 60's yéyé 'tube hit by then 20-year old France Gall's 'Sacré Charlemagne' and written by Roger Gall, her father, is straight from the Adriaan Smout's ( (1578-1646) ) Thysius Lute Book: it's a traditional Bergamasca dance for lute ensemble, which can be heard here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GstMRyt_nnc at 47:46.

Sources

{{reflist Chord progressions Italian dances Renaissance dance Clowning European folk dances

Reputation

Chord progression

Works

See also

Sources