Scan 148
The American history and encyclopedia of music .., 1908
10 lines. Read by computer on 11 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1nature and is usually performed at weddings after the feast, when the invitation to the dance does not devolve wholly upon the males of the party. When the peasants dance it, the time is usually marked by the flute, or by the tambourine with bells. When the siciliana appears in high society, violins and occasionally bagpipes are found in the orchestra. This dance has been a favorite with the composers and is frequently used in the slow movements of suites and sonatas. It appears in Bach's violin "Sonata in G Minor," in Gluck's "Orfeo," and in Mozart's "Nozze de Figaro."
3The similar pastorale or shepherd's song and dance has had a remarkable influence both upon the music of Sicily and of foreign composers. It is heard in Beethoven's "Pastoral Symphony;" it forms the basis of the "Pastoral Symphony" in Handel's "Messiah;" while Rossini uses it in "Tancredi." The bergmasca is a rustic dance of great antiquity, so called from Bergamo, the town in Lombardy which is chiefly famous as the dwelling-place of Tasso and Donizetti. A bergamask is a part of Mendelssohn's music to the "Midsummer Night's Dream."
5The forlana is the characteristic dance of the Venetians and is of ancient origin. Two persons, often gondoliers, are required for its performance, and it is not uncommon to vary the movements by imitations of rowing or pulling an oar. The dance terminates in a giddy whirl and its music is in 6-8 or 6-4 time. An example of the forlana is found in J. S. Bach's suite for orchestra in C major.
7The ruggera, a pantomime dance encountered in Messina; the galliard, a merry dance, pronounced by Praetorius to be an invention of the devil; also called romanesca or cinque-pas because of its five steps; the giga and the passamezzo have also had a share in influencing composition.
9A chapter on the Italian dance and its music would in no wise be complete without mention of the empress of dancers, the divine Taglioni, of Italian parentage. She was the toast of her day, the despair of all successors, the friend of kings, copied by ladies of fashion, and encored twenty-
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