Influence of Social Minuet On Bach French Suites

Influences of the Early Eighteenth-Century Social Minuet on the Minuets from J. S.
Bach's
French Suites, BWV 812-17
Author(s): Eric McKee
Source: Music Analysis, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Jul., 1999), pp. 235-260
Published by: Wiley
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ERIC McKEE
L\4FLUENCES
OFTHEEARLY
EIGHrEENTH-cEmvrySOCIAL
MrNuET
ONTHEMrNuETsFROM
J. S. BACHS FRENCH
SUrTES,
BWV 8 12-1 7
It is difficult in today's world of endless entertainment opportunities to appreciate fully the central role dance had in eighteenth-century European life.* At
that time dance was without question the most popular form of social entertainment. It pervaded all levels of society and served a wide range of social
functions. 1 For the lower classes dancing served as a diversion from the toils of
the day; the upper classes used it as a way of defining themselves individually
within their class, and collectively apart from the lower classes; and for all levels the activity of dancing was a vehicle for courtship, ceremonies and celebrations. It seems that whenever and wherever people got together, there was
bound to be dancing. Because of its ubiquity it would seem likely that aspects
of the dance as danced, and dance music, carried over into other musical genres and in some way influenced the formation of the Classical style, especially
with regard to Classical phrase structure.
But beyond citing apparent similarities between dance music and Classical
music, it becomes very difficult to pinpoint the exact nature and level of the
dance's influence. Certainly dance was not the only player in the formation of
the Classical style. As Charles Rosen and others have pointed out, vocal music
- both folk and art - also had a tremendous impact and may have influenced
the formation of the Classical style as much or even more so than the dance.2
Furthermore, there is a growing body of evidence which shows that many
functional dances in the first half of the eighteenth century exhibited irregular
phrase structures and that in many cases dancers did not even pay attention to
the music's phrase structure.3If this is true, then one cannot argue as convincingly for the practical necessity in dance music of one particulartype of phrase
structure over another. This, in turn, weakens the position that dance music
provided the principal model for the development of phrase structure in Clas.
slcai , muslc.
Questions emerge: Just what was required of the music to make it danceable?- How did the practical necessities of the dance affect the structure of the
music? - and, perhaps most importantly:What might composers have learned
* An earlier version of this article was given at the 1996 annual meeting of the Society
for MusicTheory (Baton Rouge) .The author thanksWilliam Rothstein, Robert Hatten, Michael Broyles and Laura Macy for their helpful comments on earlier drafts.
MusicA nalysis,18/ii ( 1999)
23 5
c Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999. Published by Blackwell Publishers, 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK

ERIC McKEE
236
from composing dance music? In addressing the first of these questions, the
first part of this article focuses on the practicalaspects of the most important social dance of the eighteenth century, the minuet - and specifically the ballroom
version of the menuet, the menuetordinaire.
An examination of eighteenthcentury dance treatises reveals that the practical necessity of the minuet is not
a particular type of phrase structure, as is commonly believed, but rather the
presence of consistently maintained metrical levels above the notated metre in
which bars are organised in terms of strong and weak beats - what is commonly referred to today as hypermetre.4
The second part of the article explores the influence of the danced minuet as
seen in the minuets of Bach's French Suites. Out of the seven minuets, I examine four in some detail (BWV 812, 814, 815 and 817). Bach's solution in providing the minuet's practical necessity was to rely on a particulartype of phrase
structure in which new groups are initiated every other bar and organised in
what is today referred to as 'sentence' structure. I believe Bach's progressive
approach to phrase structure in his minuets is directly related to a conscious
effort on his part to establish and maintain a prominent two-bar hypermetre.
The minuet's true influence, at least in the first half of the eighteenth century,
may well lie in directing composers' attention to the establishment, manipulation and control of metrical levels above the notated metre.
Minuet as danced
The most common form of the social minuet (as opposed to theatrical minuets) was the menuetordinaire,
which was the standard form from the Court of
Louis XIV to the French Revolution. The organising component of the minuet
and of all French court dances is the step-unit.A step-unit is a collection of
individual steps, hops or springs, and involves at least two changes of weight
from one foot to another. In the minuet, the principal step-unit is the pas de
menuetwhich contains four changes of weight, always beginning with the right
foot (RLRL). The pas de menuettakes six beats in 3/4 time to complete and
begins on the upbeat with a bending of the knees. The bending of the knees,
often referred to as a 'sink' (or plie),prepares the dancer for a rise or spring on
the downbeat.
Step-units were combined to form symmetrical floor patterns calledfigures.
Figures typically comprised four to eight step-units, thus requiring eight to
sixteen bars of music to complete. Fig. 1 is from Kellom Tomlinson's 1735
treatise TheArtof Dancing.5It illustrates the standard succession of figures for
the menuetordinaire:
the introduction, the S reversed, the presenting of the
right arm, the presenting of the left arm, the S reversed, the presenting of both
arms, and the conclusion.6 Each of the figures shown comprises eight dance
steps, which Tomlinson has numbered (in very small print) within the figures.
Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999
MusicAnalysis, 18/ii (1999)

THEMINUETSFROM J. S. BACHs FRENCH

SUITES
237
Fig. 1 KellomTomlinson'sdiagramof the standardfiguresfor the minuet (The

ArtofDancing,London [1753], Plate U)
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238
ERIC McKEE
Since each figure comprises eight step-units, and the step-unit involves two
bars, the eight-bar musical strains would need to be repeated to conform to the
sixteen-bar figures. The entire dance was preceded and concluded with reverences to the highest ranking personages (seated at the top of the hall) as well as
to one's partner.
What makes the music danceable?

Most scholars today are of the opinion that for minuet music to be danceable
there needs to be some congruence between the musical structure and the
choreography of the dance. Just where that congruence lies varies from scholar
to scholar. On the one hand,Julia Sutton (1985, p.125) believes that there was
complete congruence between the music and the dance at all levels of structure. Other scholars, such as Wendy Hilton (1981, p. 293), Sarah Reichart
(1984, p.167), and Meridith Little and Natalie Jenne (1991, pp.69-70), allow
for large-level conflicts between dance figures and musical strains, while maintaining the need for congruence at lower levels. Tilden Russell (1983, p. 64),
however, believes that 'there was no one-to-one relation between the dance and
the [phrase structure of the] music'. Echoing an earlier study by Karl Heinz
Taubaut (1968, p.169), Russell maintains that 'The music provided a metrical
rather than formal basis for the dance' (1983, pp. 61-2). In a later article,
Russell retreats slightly from this position, noting that in performance dancers
'concentrated on the tactus and the two-measure groups in the music' (1992,
p.134).
In considering the dance/music relationship, however, one must first determine the function and context of the dance: theatrical, pedagogical, ceremonial court ball, or more informal balls held outside of the court.7
As a general rule, when the dance and music were composed for a specific
occasion or when a dancer was given prior notice as to what music would be
played, there often was, as Sutton suggests, complete agreement between the
music and the dance. This situation would arise in the case of theatrical dances
as well as many dances performed at formal court balls where almost nothing
was left to chance.8
Dances included in pedagogical treatises were also generally choreographed
to fit the music exactly, as Tomlinson's diagram given in Fig. 1 illustrates. No
doubt the dancing master did not want to introduce any unneeded complexity.
But dancing masters also probably approached the dances in their manuals
as they did theatrical dances where, given the opportunity to choreograph a
dance to a specific tune, the natural inclination was to mould the dance around
the tune.9
However, at less formal court balls and balls held outside the court, which
accounted for the vast majority of the occasions for dance, there was no opporc
MusicAnalysis,18/ii (1999)

THE MINUETSFROMJ. S. BACHS FRENCHSUITES
239
tunity for the dancer to know beforehand what music would be played. And
because there was no standard phrase length for the minuet or for any of its
dance figures, it would only be by sheer coincidence that the dancer's choreographywould fit the music (Russell 1992, pp. 125-6).
Conflict between dance and music is further suggested in that in the ballroom it was considered in good taste to add embellishments at will to the
menuetordinaire.
Not only were flourishes added to the steps, but steps were
also added to increase the length of the figures. Thus the length of the dance
and of its components could be altered 'according to the dancer's pleasure'
with apparently little concern for the relation of the dance to the musical accompaniment (Tomlinson, [1735], p. 140). Tomlinson summarises:
... in Effect [the minuet] is no more than a voluntary or extemporary Piece
of Performance, as has already been hinted, in Regard there is no limited
Rule, as to its Length or Shortness, or in Relation to the Time of the Tune,
since it may begin upon any that offers, as well within a Strain as upon the
first Note or commencing thereof. It is the very same with Respect to its
ending, for it matters not whether it breaks off upon the End of the first
Strain of the Tune, the second, or in the Middle of either of them, provided it
be inTime to the Music. (p. 137)
Tomlinson is clear on another matter that would result in noncongruence between the music and the dance: the opening reverences. After making the
opening reverences to the highest ranking personages and to one's partner,
Tomlinson instructs the dancers not to wait for the opening of the next strain
to begin the dance. Instead, they should
. . . begin upon the first Time that offers, in that it is much more genteel and
Capacity and Ear in distinguishing of theTime, and from
shews the Dancer's
thence begets himself a good Opinion from the Beholders, who are apt to
judge favourably of the following Part of his Performance; whereas the attending the concluding ... of a Strain has the contrary Effect. (p. 124)
'Time'
From the evidence cited above, it is obvious that dancers - at least good dancers - were little concerned with a minuet's phrase structure.According toTomlinson and other dancing masters of the eighteenth century, the key to dancing
a minuet in good taste was the dancer's ability to coordinate his or her dancesteps with the minuet's time. 'Time' was a term commonly used in the eighteenth century to refer to a piece's metrical structure (Hilton 1981, pp. 82-3).
In general, Tomlinson instructs the dancer to 'mark the time' of any dance by
rising from a sink to the first note of a bar. In doing so, the dancer gesturally
marks the downbeats of each bar, thereby visually and physically supporting
the notated metre. For the menuet, however,Tomlinson observes that the danMusicAnalysis,18/ii (1999)
C)Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999

ERIC McKEE
240
cers are not to mark the downbeats of each bar but of every other bar (pp. 14849). By rising from a sink to the first note of every two bars dancers not only
mark downbeats, but potential hypermetrical downbeats as well.
Thus, to dance the menuetordinaire
effectively, dancers would need only to
attend to the minuet's metrical structure. By gesturally markingthe downbeats
of every other bar, dancers provided a potential basis of congruence between
the dancer's step-unit and a two-bar hypermetre. Composers of functional
minuets generally responded to the dancers' cueing requirements and provided in their music a clear and consistent two-bar hypermetre.
Although Tomlinson is perhaps the most explicit of all eighteenth-century
writers on the metrical relationship between the minuet as danced and minuet
music, he is not alone. For example, in order to feel two bars of the minuet as
one metrical unit, dancing masters often instructed their students to count in
6/4 rather than in 3/4, despite the moderate tempo.l Reflecting this practice,
many early minuets - especially those used in dance treatises - were either
notated in 6/4 or used a dotted line to indicate the metrically weak bars.ll In
conducting their students, dancing masters and music teachers reinforced the
hypermetre by beating down on the first (good) bar and up on the second
(false) bar.l2 Later in the century the Italian dancing master, Gennaro Magri,
reiterated the importance of time in the minuet. He not only described the
two-bar metrical unit as the minuet's 'real substance' and 'indispensable regulator', but also as 'a rock against which many are dashed' ([1779], pp. 88-90).
In eighteenth-century dance sources, discussions of two-bar metrical units
only occur in connection with the minuet. Why were two-bar metrical units so
important to the minuet as compared with other dances? For the simple reason
that the minuet was the only court dance, aside from the passepied (which is
very closely related to the minuet), that employed a two-bar step-unit.l3 All
other dances contained step-units that were no longer than one bar.With onebar step-units, the downbeat of every bar is equally marked by the dancer's
movements by a rise from a sink. So long as dancers know where the downbeats are, they will be 'in time' with the music. Because of this, there was no
practicalreason to cue dancers' metrical levels above the notated metre.With a
step-unit duration of two bars, however, it is critical for dancers to hear a consistent two-bar hypermetre, especially when they first begin to dance. For if, as
Tomlinson says, '[the dancers] should happen to begin out of Time, it is a
thousand to one if they ever recover it throughout the dance.... and not being
ableto recoverit afterwards,they dance the whole Minuet out ofTime' ([1735],
p. 124). Certainly the incentive to keep track of the two-bar hypermetre was
enhanced by the fact that the menuetordinaire
was danced by only one couple
ata time while everyone else watched. Any mistake certainly would have been
noticed and would have resulted in some loss of reputation.
The insistence of Sutton, Hilton, Reichart and others on the presence of
c
BlackwellPublishersLtd. 1999
MusicAnalysis, 18/ii ( 1999)

241
two-bar groups stems from a common confusion between phrase structure and
metrical structure.While they rightly identify the presence of two-bar units as a
defining feature of minuets, they mistakenly attribute those units to the phrase
structure rather than to the metrical structure. The phrase structure may indeed support the metrical structure, thus resulting in a succession of two-bar
groups. This congruence, however, is not essential to the minuet. Indeed,
minuets consisting entirely of two-bar segments are exceedingly rare. One
scholar, tightly holding onto the notion of symmetrical, duple-length phrases
as the norm in the minuet, has suggested the fantastic notion that through
some quirk in historical preservation, only the exceptional irregular minuets
have survived (Helmut Goldmann 1956, p. 17).
I agree with Taubaut's and Russell's more extreme position that in order to
dance the menuetordinaireit was not necessary for the music's phrase structure
and the dancer's choreography to be congruent at any level. While I also agree
with their position that the minuet's music provided a metrical rather than
formal basis for the dance, that basis can be refined as a two-bar hypermetre.
The minuets fFom Bach's French Suites

Although there is debate over the provenance of the posthumously-applied
modifier 'French' in the title 'French Suites', both the use of French dance
titles and the simpler, more elegant, galant melodies and less discursive and
contrapuntaltreatmentof the dance music, especiallyin comparisonwith Bach's
earlierEnglish Suites and later Partitas,do suggest a connection with the dances
of the French court. This connection is circumstantiallysupported in that Bach,
as Little and Jenne (1 991, pp. 3-1 5) have shown in their book on Bach's dance
music, was well-acquainted with the social dances of his time, and especially
those of the French court. Indeed, as reported by Little and Jenne, three of
Bach's personal acquaintances taught French court dancing Uohannes Pasch,
Pantaleon Hebenstreit and Jean-BaptisteVolumier).
Although the various dance types appearing in Bach's French Suites were
not specifically intended for dancing, it would be a mistake to assume that they
are unsuitable for dancing. Depending on the degree of stylisation, some are
clearly more suited than others. As a general rule, older dance types that were
out of fashion as social dances were subject to greater stylisation. Allemandes
and gigues, for example, are among the oldest dances contained in the suites
and were dances that were rarely, if at all, used as social dances at the time
Bach wrote them. And in Bach's suites they are among the most stylised. They
serve a functional purpose within each suite as a whole, in that the allemandes,
metrically very free and improvisatory, are used as opening preludes whereas
the gigues, with their weighty and extended contrapuntal passages, serve effectively as closing movements.

242
ERIC McKEE
Of all the dances contained in the French Suites, the minuets are among the
least stylised, showing little substantive differences from functional minuets of
the time.I4This is not surprising, given the fact that the minuet was among the
newest and by far the most popular of the social court dances used in the
suites. Here there were fewer opportunities for either idealised reminiscence or
stylistic corruption from external influences.
Bach's practical knowledge of the minuet as it was danced is evidenced by
the presence of a strong, unambiguous and consistently-held two-bar hypermetre in every minuet of the set. This is a musical characteristic that defines
the minuet apart from the other dance types of the suites, both new and old.
While other dances may at times project a strong sense of hypermetre, very few
do it as clearly or as consistently as the minuets.
Bach employs a variety of techniques to project a two-bar hypermetre. In
general terms, it is achieved by consistently placing some sort of phenomenal
accenton the downbeats of every other bar. A phenomenal accent is any musical event that 'gives emphasis or stress to a moment in the musical flow' (Lerdahl andJackendoff 1983, pp. 17-18).15 Sudden changes in dynamics, register,
contour, texture and timbre are some examples. Most typically, though, Bach
uses phenomenal accents brought about by locating the inception of an 'event'
of relatively long duration at the beginnings of every other bar.The event may
be a pitch, harmony, texture, pattern of articulation, or some combination
thereof. The beginnings of such durations receive an accent; when they are
consistently placed two bars apart, a two-bar hypermetre emerges.
BWV 812
Ex. 1 presents the opening section of the minuet from Bach's French Suite in
D minor, BWV 812. Between the staves is a hypermetricalanalysis (represented
by Arabic numbers) and beneath the music is a grouping analysis (represented
by brackets). At the bottom I have listed the phenomenal accents or 'cues' used
by listeners to extrapolate the beginnings of each two-bar hypermeasure.
In this example Bach employs a consistent pattern of phenomenal accents
brought about by changes in texture, contour, register and harmony to establish a clear two-bar hypermetre.The first beat is clearly marked as a downbeat
by all voices entering simultaneously with i in the outer voices.l6 It is also
strongly articulated by the relativelylong durations that begin on the first beat:
the opening harmony, bass note and texture are sustained until the downbeat
of bar 3. The downbeat of bar 2 receives some emphasis through a sudden
change in the soprano's register, a change in contour in the inner voice, and
through the sequential repetition in the top voice. But this downbeat is less
strongly articulated than the downbeat of the first bar, and thus it serves as the
second hypermetrical beat.
c

tCbX
Ex. 1 Minuet fromJ. S. Bach'sFrench Suite BWV 812, bars 1-8
Hypermetre:
<
> >
iV
Dm:
Grouping
Structure:
6
Dhrveian
i
L
2tU
1 X
i 6
Am:
cadence
rBZo^>-
Phenomenal
Accents:
long durationof a pitch
long durationof a hannony
change of harmonyand initiationof

cadential progression
long durationof texture
change of texture
stable bass and soprano
change in registerin the soprano
new motivic material

retumof the tonic
change of texture
long durationof a pitch
244
ERIC McKEE
A two-bar hypermetre is unequivocally established by the strong emphasis

given to the downbeat of bar 3. Particularly important is the change of harmony - harmonic rhythm is one of the most important perceptual inputs in the
establishment of metre. As part of a plagal cadence, the iv6 not only effects a
harmonic change but also initiates the beginning of a two-bar cadential progression, which provides durational emphasis as well. In the remainder of the
excerpt similar events verify and reinforce the two-bar hypermetre established
in the first four bars.
Another more effective way Bach projects a two-bar hypermetre, in this example and in his minuets in general, is through the use of a particular type of
phrase structure in which new groups are consistently initiated every other bar.
This technique establishes a strong durational accent at the beginnings of oddnumbered bars, thereby clearly supporting a two-bar hypermetre.The remainder of this article will focus on the use of such phrase structures as a means of
establishing the minuets' practical necessity.
By saying that in Bach's minuets new groups are consistently initiated every
other bar, I do not mean that Bach's minuets consist entirelyof two-bar groups,
as some have suggested.Through the technique of overlap,the end of one group
may also serve as the beginning of another, thus resulting in a three-, five- or
seven-bar group. In this example, the first half of the minuet consists of one
eight-bar phrase divided into two smaller four-bar phrases. At the next level of
phrase structure, level c, the four-bar phrases are further subdivided into two
subphrases. Notice that the second four-bar phrase, which leads to a perfect
cadence in the dominant minor, is segmented into two subphrases, proportioned 3+2. The first subgroup of the second phrase is extended into bar 7,
overlapping with the beginning of the second subphrase. This overlap is accomplished by the prolongation of the modulating dominant (bar 6) and its
resolution at the downbeat of bar 7. The resolution of the dissonance in conjunction with stepwise motion in the outer voices carries the subphrase into the
next bar.Thus it can be seen that groups of asymmetrical length do not interfere with the establishment of a two-bar hypermetre so long as the inception of
groups occurs on odd-numbered bars.
Sentence
structure
Within the phrase structure certain patterns of thematic repetition figure very
highly.In contrast to the predominantuse of parallelbinary in the other dances,
rounded binary is used in three out of seven minuets; parallel periods are common, as are phrases built out of contrasting subphrases.But by far the thematic
pattern used most often in Bach's minuets is 'sentence' structure.l7 In its normative form, the sentence is an eight-bar phrase composed of two subphrases:
(1) the first subphrase, itselfdivided into two groups, contains the presentation
o Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999

245
of a basic idea (two to three bars long depending on whether or not overlap is
present) followed by a literal or varied repetition of the basic idea beginning in
the third bar; (2) the second subphrase, beginning in the fifth bar, contains a
continuation to a cadence. The continuation is typically marked by thematic
fragmentation, an increase in harmonic rhythm, and a registralclimax followed
by a linear descent into an perfect or imperfect cadence. As a result of fragmentation, the continuation itself may exhibit the sentence's characteristic grouping structure in miniature (1+1+2).
Bach's minuets are exceptionalin their imaginativeand varied sentence structures; they represent a musical compendium of sorts in which every time sentence structure occurs, Bach utilises a different constructive principle. Especially noteworthy, as we shall see, is Bach's treatment of the repetition of the
basic idea. Furthermore, by initiating a new group at the beginnings of the
first, third and fifth bars of each phrase, the sentence is an ideal means for
supporting a two-bar hypermetre. Thus, it is not surprising to see it used so
often, not only in Bach's minuets (after 1720), but in the minuets of other
eighteenth-century composers as well.
BWV 815
In the EDmajor minuet, BWV 815 (Ex. 2), the entire first half of the minuet
consists of one eight-bar phrase organised as a sentence structure in which the
basic idea is imitated by the bass an octave below.The underlying tonal motion
supporting the basic idea is a descending linear span in the soprano, EAD>CBWAFG, which, beginning with the C in bar 2, is doubled a tenth below. The
arrivalof the G in bar 3 not only concludes the linear descent but also effects a
voice exchange between the second beat of the first bar and the downbeat of
bar 3, as shown by the crossed lines in Ex. 2 (the second beat of bar 1 also
effects a voice exchange with the first beat of bar 1). The end of the basic idea,
as defined by these tonal motions, also serves as the beginning of the varied
repetition of the basic idea. The same linear descent, E; to G, now in the left
hand, extends the repetition of the basic idea to the downbeat of bar 5, which
also serves as the beginning of the continuation.Thus, the technique of overlap
in conjunction with non-duple groups (3+3+4) not only supports a two-bar
hypermetre but gives it more prominence through the conjunction of a beginning and ending boundary.
The continuation itself exhibits sentence structure, albeit on a smaller scale:
1+1+2. Although in this regard the continuation group itself is a self-contained
motivic structure with a well-defined beginning, middle and end, on a higher
level it also effectively serves the function of 'continuation to a cadence'. The
contraction in the size of the groups and the increase in chord changes per bar
provide a rhythmic acceleration to the perfect cadence in bars 7-8.
c Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999

/v>sI
Ex. 2 Minuet fromJ. S. Bach'sFrench Suite BWN 815
frfrIrr j
(1441lj9t*t
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IV
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gf
IV
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6
Presentation
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1
Et>M:
Repetitionof BasicIdea
V3
ii5
ll
Continuation to the Cad
Et>M: ii
Fm:
BasicIdea
tr
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BasicIdea
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Presentation

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Continuationto
247
The second half of this minuet also exhibits sentence structure with overlapping groups (3+3+4). Here the repetition of the basic idea is achieved through
varied transposition of the right hand's melody. Structural uniformity in this
minuet is thus achieved not only motivically but in terms of the phrase structure as well.
BWV 814
Thirty-six bars long without repeats, the minuet from the Suite in B minor,
BWV 814, is one of the longest minuets of the French Suites. Its length, however, is not indicative of a digressive treatment of its motivic material. Quite to
the contrary, it is a model of elegance, restraint and hidden control. The first
half, shown in Ex. 3, consists of a sixteen-bar parallel period in which the consequent modulates to the relative major. Both the antecedent and the consequent exhibit 'sentence within sentence' structures. And, as in the prearious
minuet, the use of overlapping groups in conjunction with regularised patterns
of thematic repetition help establish and accentuate a consistently-held twobar hypermetre.
In the opening phrase, the basic idea - a very plain arpeggiated melody with
very little linear or harmonic motion - is repeated (almost) literally in bars 3-5.
The glue for this rather mundane and static opening four bars is an overarching bass arpeggiation that extends from the downbeat of bar 1 to the downbeat
of bar 5 (refer to the voice-leading graph in Ex. 3).
A tremendous drive to the cadence is provided by the continuation part of
the phrase. It is achieved by three means: (1) an increase in harmonic rhythm
through a descending fifths progression; (2) the inception of the first substantial linear motions of the piece, both in the bass and in the soprano; and (3) the
use of sentence structure in smaller proportion. As a result the dominant in bar
8 is achieved with great force, both linearly and harmonically.In order to avoid
a jolting pause, Bach dissipates the built up tension by increasing the rhythmic
motion in the bass and by providing an upward arpeggiation in the left hand,
which lifts us back to the opening of the consequent phrase.
The simplicity of the opening arpeggiated melody enables Bach to use it as
an accompanimental figure in the opening of the second half of the minuet
(Ex. 4).18 Above it he presents an entirely new eight-bar melody, one with no
strong internal divisions. In fact, this type of melody would be stylistically antithetical to the minuet were it not for the very regularised and predictable
accompaniment below. Bach thereby avoids what could have been a banal
repetition of the opening melody (including repeats, this is the fifth time we
have heard it) both by providing it with a different textual function and by
crafting a new melody above it.
In the final phrase Bach gives IlSyet another variation of sentence structure.

0$;
jf
'_.
i.
-'
1 . . .
.5.
W-
.J.
. - .1.
Ex. 3 Minuet fromJ. S. Bach'sFrench Suite BWV 814, bars 1-16
10
10
2""
:
10
10
C14
rf
---
V
iV 6
Vll
(tV)
Vll
(111)
iV 6
phmse link
I
basic idea I
presentation
basic idea o
presentation
'
continuation
continuation

bviic idazzI
basic idasi2
plesentatiorg
- -
.c
o
-
l
*
ca
ce
o
'
* -
o
X-
<
*-

250
ERIC McKEE
There are two noteworthy features. First, the repetition of the basic idea is
achieved through a rising 5-3 voice-leading sequence. Second, the continuation group (bars 29-36) of this large sentence is itself an organised sentence
structure - not a four-bar sentence, which would balance the four-bar long
presentation, but rather a full eight-bar sentence. In order to ensure that the
start of the proportionally largercontinuation does not function too strongly as
a new beginning, Bach exaggerates the presentational function of the basic
idea and its repetition (bars 25-8) and downplays the presentational aspect of
the continuation's basic idea and repetition (bars 29-32).
I shall first discuss the presentation aspect of bars 25-8. An opening agogic
accent in the melody and a closing agogic accent in the bass clearly segment
the basic idea and its repetition, thus setting it apart from what comes before
and after. Except for cadential notes, these are the longest held notes in the
piece. Segmentation, and hence presentation, is further emphasised by the
crotchet rest in bar 28, the only rest in the entire minuet. Finally, a new rhythmic diminution in the melody coupled with the rising sequence of the repetition draws attention to itself. Bach often reserves the rising sequence to signal
sectional or global closure; the ascent allows the music to build to a climax that
will 'fall down' into the final cadence. Its use here highlights its role as part of
the final phrase of the minuet.
Although the continuation (bars 29-36) is itself organised as a sentence,
Bach maintains its overall function as a continuation to a cadence (1) by continuing the registral ascent initiated by the basic idea and its repetition, (2) by
shifting into a constant stream of quavers in the right hand and crotchets in the
left hand, and (3) by beginning the continuation with an enlargedV-I progression that not only replicates the descending fifth progression of the basic idea
(bars 25-6) but also re-establishes the tonic, thereby allowing time to prepare
for the final cadence.
In sum, every phrase of this minuet, like the minuet in E; major previously
discussed, displays sentence structure. Each sentence, however, employs a different constructive principle. The opening parallel period, perhaps the most
Classically oriented, uses (almost) literal repetition. The phrase beginning the
second half recontextualises the opening melody as an accompanimental sentence over which a melody with very little interrlaldivision is played. The final
sentence of the work utilises the typically Baroque procedure of sequerlce in
the repetition of the basic idea. Its continuation is then expanded through the
use of a 'sentence within a sentence'.
BWV 817
In the final suite of the set, Bach presents another minuet consisting entirely of
sentences (Ex. 5).19 Structural uniformity is further obtained through motivic
c

iiS}
,,
from
FROM
J.S. Bach's
basic idea
>
MINUETS
THE
5 Minuet
Ex.
"
251
SUITES
IV)
tIf::,:r f r
z:::;
repetition of basic idea

"
presentation
basic idea
<
l I
eSJ
basic idea
bS
817
BWV
(vi
rJ
####
S FRENCH
7X
2
Suite
>
J. S. BACH
French
t;
presentation
,,
continuation
presentation

252
ERIC McKEE
consistency: the entire piece is derived from the opening two-bar idea. That a
piece is generated from a single musical idea is certainly not extraordinaryfor
Bach. The motivic fabric of most of his works is also drawn from material presented in the opening bars.What is striking about this minuet is that in the face
of all the repetitions, none are derived from techniques of imitative counterpoint. All of the repetitions are in the service of a particular type of phrase
construction: sentence structure.
The high degree of structural uniformity within the phrase structure together with an almost complete agreement between the phrase structure and
the metrical structure result in a highly-segmented musical surface. Segmentation is further emphasised by the use of solo texture to begin groups and the
abandonment of quaver motion at the ends of groups, which is quite unusual
for Bach. I shall use this minuet - the last minuet I will discuss - to show how
Bach, in the face of such severe compositional restraints,overcomes the danger
of creating an overly rigid and predictable piece of music. Three factors provide the dynamic impetus to hold this piece together and drive it forwards, and
along the way make it an interesting piece of music: the binding unity of Stufen,
rhythmic displacements, and constructive conflicts between the dance as kinaesthetically felt and the music as heard.
Stufen
Two unusual but related features of this minuet, especially noticeable in the
first and last eight-bar phrases, are the scarcity of bass notes and the slow harmonic rhythm. The first phrase is supported by the progression I-V, the last
phraseV-I. As the voice-leading sketch shows, in the first phrase, the opening
tonic triad is gradually unfolded by an ascending arpeggiation, SSi-3. This
arpeggiation together with the bass's pedal E tonally fuse bars 1-5 together as
the expression of a single harmony- the tonic Stufe.Only after the bass E
becomes transformed into a dissonance in bar 6 is it finally persuaded to move
from its pedal point into a cadential progression tonicising the dominant.
Although the harmonic rhythm of the second phrase increases somewhat at
the musical surface, at the middleground it is essentially static, comprising one
harmony,the dominant. Establishedat the end of the previousphrase,the dominant is composed-out by means of a double neighbour motion, B-C,$A-B,
that both unifies bars 9-16 as one voice-leading unit and establishes a largelevel manifestation of the neighbouring motion first presented in bar 2 in the
upper voice. And, at a deeper level, bars 1-16 are heard as the progression of
just two Stufen,I-V.
Bar 17 marks the return of this minuet's opening material, thereby establishing it as a rounded binary form. Bach avoids a literal return of the opening
material and provides global closure by reversing the progression of the opening phrase, I-V, toV-I. Thus, what initially sounds like a tonic return in bar 17
(DBlackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999

t-x#lXr r r =z
j r j 8rz
r r r r
C :
253
Ex.6
:'";J02'J
J-: <"rJ_:
rC;xj
jJ;;
turns out to be the inception of an elaborated dominant. This dominant is

prolonged until it resolves into the final tonic of the last bar. The use of the
dominant to begin the phrase, as opposed to the tonic, undercuts the stability
of the thematic return and helps propel the music onwards to its final resolution.
Rhythmic Dxsplacements
The delayed entrances of the bass within the phrase structure create staggered
beginnings in which the bass and soprano are out of phase with each other.
While the use of solo texture helps signal the beginnings of each group, the
absence of a bass voice weakens the stability of the opening bars of each group,
giving them the character of an upbeat. Nonetheless, I interpret the opening
bar of each group as a hypermetrical downbeat for two reasons. First, danced
minuets typically begin on the first beat of the bar without the use of upbeat
figures. Eighteenth-century listeners would therefore hear the downbeat of the
first bar as hypermetricallystrong. Second, while the bass does enter in bar 2, it
enters on the weak part of the first beat and concludes with a descending octave leap that strongly emphasises the third beat. As such, the bass's role, at
least in the first two subphrases of each phrase, is to support intermediate closure.
As Ex. 6 so clumsily illustrates, Bach could easily have composed a bass line
to the opening bar of each group. Not only does the added bass line take away
much of the ambiguity and tension that resulted from its absence, but it also
provides too much stability at the beginning of each group. Also notice that the
added bass support for the dominant in bar 3 over-emphasises closure in bar 4:
the soprano's i feels too much like the goal of a complete phrase ratherthan an
intermediate step along the way. The net result is a loss of continuity across
overly-predictablephrase boundaries.
Perhaps the most complicated phrase of this minuet is the middle eight-bar
phrase. Although harmonically it prolongs a single chord, the dominant, its
upper voice is composed-out by means of a linear descent (F,tFE-DC,tFB) in
which all pitches of the descent are rhythmically delayed or anticipated. The
diagonal lines in the voice-leading sketch indicates some of these displacements.
Of all the displacements, the delay of the E in bar 13 causes the greatest disturbance, resultingin an overlapbetween the second and thirdgroups of the phrase.
Music Analysis, 18/ii (1999)

254
ERIC McKEE
Ex. 7
tX;#i [ r r f r r
'"##*
1> fJ t >
tyr;
8t;
(92[<L h;_; #i JA
s:2z.:
r r :
e:::J
Since the middlephrasebeginsas a transposedversionof the firstphrase,it

is naturalto hearthe openingphraseas a modeluponwhichto base our expectations.In bar 12 it is the righthandthat deviatesfromthe expectedcourseof
actionand is thus heardas thematicallyunstable.The righthand'sdescending
run lands on the wrongnote (B,")forcinganotherattemptin which it gets it
right.In terms of the voice leading,the wrongnote resultsfrom a chromaticised ascent in an innervoice (B-B>C,").The delayof the C,:throughthe B,:
helps alleviatethe effects of the middlegroundparalleloctavesbetween the
innervoice and the bass.Ex. 7 reconstructsone possiblemodelfromwhichthe
surfacecan be heardto deviate.Although,as an abstraction,Ex. 7 mayrepresent a more normalversionof the second eight-barphrase,in realitythe second phrase'sposition within the form demandssome sort of destabilisation
and greatercontinuity.By delayingboth the E and the innervoice C",Bach
achievesboth.
Conflicts between the dance and the music

Finally,one must bear in mind that eighteenth-centurylistenerswould most
likelybe imaginingand kinaestheticallyfeelingthe dance as dancedwhile the
piece was being played.In terms of the functionaldance, the six-beat-long
minuetstep alwaysbeginson the upbeatwith a 'risefroma sink'.Thus, the last
beat of everyotherbarwouldbe felt, physically,as a pick-upinto the downbeat
of the next bar.This conflictbetweenthe danceandthe musicprovidesa sense
of continuingmotion acrossthe phraseboundaries,whichalwaysbegin at the
downbeat.
Conclusions
The consistentemphasisof a two-barhypermetrein the dance,in the music,
and in performance,is a definingfeatureof the functionalminuet,one which
helps distinguishit from other court dances.The compositionalchallengeof
providinga consistenttwo-barhypermetregave composersexperiencein the
manipulationand controlof metricallevelsabovethe notatedmetre.To meet
the requirementof a two-barhypermetre,Bach,in the minuetsof the French
Suites, relied on a type of phraseconstructionthat is more characteristicof
ClassicalworksthanBaroque:sentencestructurewithina predominantly
homoc

THEMINUETSFROM
J. S. BACHS FRENCH
SUITES
255
phonic texture. Sentence structure is found in all but one of the seven minuets, and of the six minuets that employ it, five make use of it in every phrase
throughout the piece. The one minuet where it is absent serves as a 'second
minuet', where some sort of contrast was perhaps desired.
The forward-looking approach to phrase construction exhibited in Bach's
minuets is very different from the more contrapuntal phrase techniques commonly found in his other works, even within the French Suites. For example,
the Allemande from the French Suite in D minor, BWV 812, is characterised
by a continuous outpouring of material based upon an opening motive set
within a polyphonic texture.The absence of any regularised motivic contrast or
repetition, the lack of congruity between the voices, the almost obsessive rhythmic continuity, the polyphonic texture, and the fact that the motivic contents
are not bounded within the bars, result in a hierarchically shallow, irregular,
and thus unpredictable phrase structure. In sharp contrast, the minuets, by
enlarging the basic motivic unit from two or three beats to two or three bars,
and by employing standard patterns of melodic repetition (here sentence
structure) within a predominantly homophonic texture, have a hierarchically
deeper, more regular, and thus more predictable phrase structure.To borrow a
term from Erwin Ratz (1973), the phrases contained in Bach's minuets are
much more 'tightly knit' than those contained in other dances. The principal
motivation for such highly articulated and regulated phrase structures, which
are, of course, more typical of Classical music than Baroque, was the desire to
project the characteristic two-bar hypermetre of the minuet as danced.
That hypermetre is a defining feature of the minuet is in line with what the
eighteenth-century minuet embodied: good taste, noble character and, above
all, restrained elegance. As Magri observed: 'the minuet needs hidden control
which corresponds to the gracefulness which is sought in it' (1779, p. 187).20 It
is my contention that hypermetre musically provided much of that 'hidden
control'.
As a final point, Fig. 2 illustrates that Bach's early minuets seldom employ
sentence structure at the beginning, where it would be most useful in establishing a two-bar hypermetre.2l The turning point seems to come in a set of three
minuets, BWV 841-3, composed around 1720. Karl Geiringer has suggested
that these minuets served as compositional exercises for Bach's son Wilhelm
Friedemann, in which the first was written byWilhelm Friedemann alone, the
second jointly by father and son, and the third by J. S. Bach alone (1966, p.
270). The first two are of a simpler nature and do not employ sentence structure. The third, the longest and most elaborate of the three, employs sentence
structure from beginning to end. It is as if Bach, in wanting to communicate to
his son the essence of the minuet, seized upon the one particular phrase structure that best suited this purpose. And from that point on, the use of sentence
structure became a standard feature of Bach's minuets.

256
ERIC McKEE
Fig. 2
opening
BWV workand instrument
date
place
number
sentence
1033 Sonata in C (flute)

822
no
no
2
3
no
no
no
no
no
no
yes
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
no
Suite in G minor (Klavier)
1708-14
or earlier
Weimar
1071 Sinfonia in F (orch.)

(early version of BWV 1046)
17 13
Weimar
809
byl715-25 Weimar/Leipzig
820
Overture in F (Klavier)
English Suite No. 4 in F

(Klavier)
no
1006 Partita No. 3 in E

(violin)
1720
1007 Suite No. 1 in G

(cello)
c. 1720
1008 Suite No. 2 in D minor

(cello)
c. 1720
841
Minuet No. 1 (Klavier)

W. F. Bach Clavier-Buchlein
c. 1720
Cothen
no
842

c. 1720
Cothen
no
843

c. 1720
Cothen
yes
yes
929
Trio in G minor (Klavier)

W.F. Bach Clavier-Buchlein
1720
Cothen
yes
no
1066 Suite in C (orchestra)
Cothen
(complete use
of sentences)
Cothen
Cothen
by 1724-5 Cothen/Leipzig
no
812
French Suite No. 1 in D minor 1722-5
Cothen/Leipzig
1
2
yes
yes
813
French Suite No.2 in C minor 1722-5
Cothen/Leipzig
yes
no
814
French Suite No.3 in B minor 1722-5
Cothen/Leipzig
1
2
yes
no
yes
yes
yes
815a French Suite No.4 in ES

817
French SuiteNo.6 inE
1722-5
Cothen/Leipzig
yes
yes
c. 1724
PLeipzig
yes
yes
818a Suite inAminor (Klavier)
c. 1722
Cothen
yes
yes
819
Suite in ES (Klavier)
c. 1722
Cothen
1
2
yes
yes
yes
no
825
Partita I in BS (Klavier)
1731
Leipzig
1
2
yes
no
yes
827
Partita in A minor (Klavier)
1731
Leipzig
yes
yes
828
Partita No.4 in D (Klavier)
1731
Leipzig
no
1069 Suite in D (orchestra)
c.1729
Cothen/Leipzig
1067 Suite in B minor (orchestra)
c. 1738-9
Leipzig
1
2
no
yes
no
yes
yes
* The chronological and geographical listing of Bach's minuets given here is based on a listing given in
Little and Jenne, Dance and the Music of g.s. Bach (1991, pp.207-8) .
Blachrell Publishers Ltd. 1999
Music Analysis, 18/ii ( 1999)

257
RE;FE;RENCES
Allanbrook,WyeJamison, 1983: RhythmicGesturein Mozart (Chicago:University
of Chicago Press).
Brainard,Ingrid, 1986: 'New Dances for the Ball:The AnnualCollectionsof France
and Englandin the 18th Century',EarlyMusic, 14, pp. l 6s73.
Caplin,WilliamE.,1998: ClassicalForm:ATheoryofFormalFunctionsfor theInstrumentalMusic of Haydn,Mozart,and Beethoven(NewYork:Oxford University
Press).
repr.(NewYork:BroudeBrothers).
Feuillet,Raoul-Auger,[1700] 1968:Choregraphie,
1700: La Pavannedessaisons(Paris:l'auteur).
of an Era (NewYork:
Geiringer,Karl, 1966:gohannSebastianBach:TheCulmination
OxfordUniversityPress).
Gerbes,AngelikaRenate,1972: 'GottfriedEauberton Social andTheatricalDance
of the EarlyEighteenth-Century'(PhD diss., Ohio State University).
Goldmann, Helmut, 1956: 'Das Menuett in der deutschen Musikgeschichtedes
17. und 18. Jahrhunderts'(PhD diss., Universityof Erlangen).
Harris-Warrick,Rebecca, 1986: 'Ballroom Dancing at the Court of Louis XIV',
EarlyMusic, 14, pp.41-9.
TheFrenchNobleStyle 1690-1725
Hilton,Wendy,1981: Danceof CourtandTheatre:
(London: Dance Books).
Lacepede, BernardGermain, 1785: La poetiquede la musique,2 vols. (Paris).
Laskowski,Larry,1990: 'J.S. Bach's"Binary"Dance Movements:Form andVoice
Leading', in SchenkerStudies,ed. Hedi Siegel (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress), pp. 8F93.
Leppert,Richard,1988: MusicandImage(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress).
TheoryofTonalMusic(CamLerdahl,Fred andJackendoff,Ray, 1983: A Generative
bridge, MA: MIT Press).
Lester,Joel, 1986: TheRhythmsof TonalMusic (Carbondale:SouthernIllinois UniversityPress).
Little,Meredithand Jenne,Natalie, 1991:Danceand theMusicofj. S. Bach (Bloomington:IndianaUniversityPress).
Little, Meredith, 1967: 'The Dances of J.-B.Lully (1632-1687)' (PhD diss., Stanford University).
1980: 'Minuet', in TheNew GroveDictionaryof MusicandMusicians,ed. Stanley
Sadie (London: Macmillan).
Loulie, Etienne, [1696] 1965: Elementsor Principlesof Music,trans.Albert Cohen
(NewYork:Institute of MediaevalMusic).
Magri, Gennaro, [1779] 1988: Theoreticaland PracticalTreatiseon Dancing,repr.
(London: Dance Books).
of Dancing,repr.
Pemberton,E., [1711] 1970: An Essayfor theFurtherImprovement
(Westmead:Gregg International).

ERIC McKEE
258
Ratz, Erwin, 1973: Einfuhrungin die musikalischeFormenlehre,

3rd edn (Vienna:
UniversalEdition).
Reichart,Sarah, 1984: 'The Influence of Eighteenth-CenturySocial Dance on the
Viennese Classical Style' (PhD diss., City Universityof NewYork).
Rosen, Charles, 1980: SonataForms(NewYork:Norton).
Rothstein,William,1989:PhraseRhythmin TonalMusic(NewYork:SchirmerBooks).
Russell, Tilden A., 1983: 'Minuet, Scherzando,and Scherzo:The Dance Movement in Transition, 1781-1825' (PhD diss., The University of North Carolina).
1992:'The UnconveniionalDance Minuet:Choreographies
ofthe Menuetd'Exaudet', Acta Musicologica,64, pp. l l 8-38.
Saint Lambert,Monsieur de, [1702] 1984: Principlesof theHarpsichord,
trans.and
ed. Rebecca Harris-Warrick(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress).
Schoenberg,Arnold, 1967: Fundamentals
of MusicalComposition,
ed. Gerald Strang
and Leonard Stein (NewYork:St. Martin'sPress).
Schulenberg,David, 1992: TheKeyboardMusicofj. S. Bach (NewYork:Schirmer
Books).
Smith, Peter H., 1995: 'StructuralTonicor ApparentTonic?:ParametricConflict,
TemporalPerspective,and a Continuum of ArticulativePossibilities',3'ournal
ofMusicTheory,39, pp.245-84.
Sutton, Julia, 1985: 'The Minuet: An Elegant Phoenix', Dance Chronicle,8, pp.
119-52.
Taubaut,KarlHeinz,1968: HofischeTanze:IhreGeschichte
undChoreographie
(Mainz:
B. Schott's Sohne).
Taubert,Gottfried, [1717] 1976: Rechtschaffener
Tanzmeister,
odergrundlicheErklarung derfrantzosischenTantz-Kunst,facsimile repr. [Documenta Choreologica,
22] (Leipzig:Zentralantiquariatder DDR).
Tomlinson, Kellom, [1735] 1970: TheArt of DancingExplainedby Readingand
Figures,repr. (Westmead:GreggInternational).
Witherell,Anne L., 1983: LouisPecour's1700 Recueilde dances(Ann Arbor:UMI
ResearchPress).
NOTES
1. See Reichart(1984) and Leppert(1988) for discussionsof the social role of the
functionaldancein the eighteenthcentury.
2. 'The absorptionof operaticstyleinto pureinstrumentalgenreslies at the heartof
the developmentof music in the 18th century'(Rosen 1980, p. 43). For most if
not all of the eighteenthcentury,vocalmusicheld a privilegedstatusoverinstrumentalmusic. Becauseof its specificityin depictingmeaningand emotion,vocal
music was consideredaestheticallysuperiorto instrumentalmusic.Accordingly,
compositionpedagoguescommonlyinstructedtheirstudentsto imitatethe voice
fromwhichtheir art is derived.To takebut one of manyexamples,BernardGer Blachvell Publishers Ltd. 1999
MusicAnalysis, 18/ii ( 1999)

259
main Lacepede, in his treatise La poetiquede la musique,instructs the composition

student to compose a symphony as though 'he were writing a grand aria in which
one or more voices were trying to express emotions that were more or less vivid'
(1785,Vol.2, p.331).
3.
For example, about one third of Lully's minuets exhibit irregular phrase structures (Little 1967, pp.75-7) . In a valuable article on unconventional dance minuets, Russell (1983) observes that unpublished tunebooks used for dancing contain
a higher proportion of minuets exhibiting irregularphrase structures than do published sources.
4.
The concept of hypermetreused herein is drawnfrom the work of Rothstein (1989)

and Lerdahl and Jackendoff (1983) .
5.
The English dancing master Kellom Tomlinson is widely regarded as one of the
most important dance pedagogues of the eighteenth century. His work, which is
representative of French Court dancing in the first half of the eighteenth century
in England and on the continent, is particularlyvaluable for my study because it is
the most detailed primary source I am aware of concerning the relationship between the minuet as danced and minuet music. The most important German
source for court dancing from the first half of the eighteenth century is Gottfried
Taubert's Rechtschaffener
Tanzmeister(1717). Like Tomlinson,Taubert's work represents a transmission of the French style and not of an independent German
style. In a valuable study of Taubert's work, Angelika Gerbes maintains that it is
unlikely that a distinct German style existed (1972, p.251).
6.
The type of dance notation used here byTomlinson was most likely an invention of
the principal choreographerof the Paris Opera, Pierre Beauchamp (Witherell 1983,
p. 5). It was first used in publication by the French dancing master Raoul-Auger
Feuillet [1700] and quickly thereafter became the accepted form of dance notation throughout the eighteenth century.
7.
See Reichart (1984, pp.54-106) for a detailed discussion on the different types of
eighteenth-century balls.
8.
Typically only a select few of the invited guests were actually permitted to dance at
formal balls. As part of the preparations, a dancing master would compose new
dances for the ball and distribute them to the designated dancers for them to
practice (Brainard 1986, p. l 64) . Clothing and, on occasion, even hair styles were
often prearrangedfor the dancers (Harris-Warrick1986, p.44).
9.
The dancing master Raoul-Auger Feuillet advertised in the preface to his La pavane dessaisonsthat for a fee he would provide an appropriatechoreographyto any
tune sent to him (1700).
10. SeeTomlinson ([1735], pp.148-9) and Magri ([17?9], p.189).

11. For examples of minuets notated in 6/4 ratherthan 3/4 see the minuets contained
in E. Pemberton's treatise An Essayfor the FurtherImprovementof Dancing (1711) .
Loulie ([1696], pp. 61-2) observes that 'the only reason for using 6/4 instead of
twice 3/4 [in the minuet] is because in 3/4 the good beat is not distinguished from
c Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999

260
ERIC McKEE
the false beat; and it is for this reason that dancers beat the Minuet in 6/4 although
it is notated in 3/4'.
12. See St. Lambert ([1702], p. 38),Taubert ([1717], pp. 523-9, 879-89), andEomlinson ([1735], p. 149) .
13. Again,Tomlinson makes the connection between the minuet step and a two-bar
hypermetre very clear:
The Timeof these Movements,in Dancing,ought neverto be beat afterevery Bar
but every other Measure, by Reason, as has been said, one MenuerStep takes
two Measures of these Movements;and it is to be noted that ... the Timeis to
be mark'dthe first Measure down, and the second up, instead of twice down.
([1735], p.149)
14. In her New Grove article on the minuet, Meredith Little observes 'that Bach's
minuets are extremely well suited to dance accompaniment' (Little 1980, p.356).
15. See Joel Lester (1986, pp. 13-44) for a comprehensive discussion of accents in
tonal music.
16. Minuets typically begin directly on the downbeat without any upbeat preparation.
17. The term 'sentence' in connection with a particular type of phrase structure was
first coined by Arnold Schoenberg (1967, pp. 20-24, 58-81) and his student Erwin Ratz (1973, pp. 23-4). In a ground-breakingstudy of Classical form,William
Caplin (1998) examines the use ofthis phrase type in great detail in the music of
the Classic period. My concept of the sentence is based on Caplin's work.
18. Bach employs a similar strategy in the second half of the first minuet of the Suite
BWV 812.
19. See Peter Smith (1995) andLarryLaskowski (1990) forotherinterpretations of
this work's tonal structure.
20. This relative lack of specific musical characteristicsin comparison with other court
dances may in part help explain why the minuet was able to adopt so many different affects and topics without losing its sense of'minuet'. Allanbrook states that
the 'minuet can admit of almost any figuration which does not disguise its essential movement' and that it 'can also tolerate the overlay of another style or topical
reference' (1983, p.35). Other dances, such as the sarabande,were not as flexible.
As hypermetre became more of a standard feature in the second half of the eighteenth century, the minuet lost much of its ability to define itself and as a result
became a generic name standing for many different types of dances in 3/4 time.
21. The chronological and geographical listing of Bach's minuets shown in Fig. 2 is
based on a listing of Bach's minuets given in Little and Jenne (1991, pp.207-8) .
O Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999


Influence of Social Minuet On Bach French Suites

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Influence of Social Minuet On Bach French Suites

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Influences of the Early Eighteenth-Century Social Minuet on the Minuets from J. S.

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MusicA nalysis,18/ii ( 1999)

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Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999

MusicAnalysis, 18/ii (1999)

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THEMINUETSFROM J. S. BACHs FRENCH

Fig. 1 KellomTomlinson'sdiagramof the standardfiguresfor the minuet (The

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What makes the music danceable?

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THE MINUETSFROMJ. S. BACHS FRENCHSUITES

C)Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999

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MusicAnalysis, 18/ii ( 1999)

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THE MINUETSFROMJ. S. BACHS FRENCHSUITES

The minuets fFom Bach's French Suites

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Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999

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Ex. 1 Minuet fromJ. S. Bach'sFrench Suite BWV 812, bars 1-8

long durationof a pitch

long durationof a hannony

change of harmonyand initiationof

long durationof texture

stable bass and soprano

change in registerin the soprano

new motivic material

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retumof the tonic

long durationof a pitch

A two-bar hypermetre is unequivocally established by the strong emphasis

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THE MINUETSFROMJ. S. BACHS FRENCHSUITES

c Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999

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Ex. 2 Minuet fromJ. S. Bach'sFrench Suite BWN 815

Continuation to the Cad

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THE MINUETSFROMJ. S. BACHS FRENCHSUITES

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Ex. 3 Minuet fromJ. S. Bach'sFrench Suite BWV 814, bars 1-16

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repetition of basic idea

repetition of basic idea

repetition of basic idea

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THE MINUETSFROMJ. S. BACHS FRENCHSUITES

turns out to be the inception of an elaborated dominant. This dominant is

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Since the middlephrasebeginsas a transposedversionof the firstphrase,it

Conflicts between the dance and the music

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C)Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 1999