the.com/gavotte
a peasant stomp that conned its way into Versailles and stayed for dessert.
means A lively French folk dance in moderate duple time, later refined into a courtly dance and a movement within Baroque suites.
from From French gavotte, borrowed from Occitan (Provençal) gavoto, said to mean a dance of the Gavots — the highland folk of the Alpine Dauphiné region, whose name was a slightly mocking label for mountain-dwellers. So the dance literally carries the name of the country people who first stamped it out, before it climbed down from the hills and into the ballrooms.
- origin
- Named for the Gavot folk of southeast France.
- the kiss
- Originally ended with dancers kissing partners.
- upbeat start
- Always begins mid-measure, never on beat one.
- royal fan
- Marie Antoinette danced it at court.
- bach approved
- Survives in suites by Bach and Lully.
for instance
gavotte en rondeau — bach's gavotte, bwv 1012, from cello suite no. 6 in d major
gavotte from mignon — ambroise thomas's opera mignon (1866), a famous salon piece