the.com/minuet
the most polite dance ever invented, where flirting required a royal permission slip and impeccable footwork
means A slow, graceful dance for couples in triple time, popular in European courts and ballrooms, set to music of the same elegant character.
from From French 'menuet,' which comes from 'menu' meaning 'small' or 'fine' (the same 'menu' that gives us the dinner list of small items) — the name nods to the dance's tiny, dainty steps. 'Menu' itself traces back to Latin 'minutus,' 'made small,' a cousin of 'minute' and 'diminish.' The dance rose to fashion in the French court before spreading across Europe, carrying its small steps and large pretensions everywhere it went.
- origin
- French court dance, popular under Louis XIV
- tiny steps
- name comes from menu, meaning small or dainty
- triple time
- always danced in 3/4, slow and stately
- symphony resident
- became the standard third movement of classical symphonies
- strict order
- couples danced one pair at a time, by rank
minuet in g major — bach's famous solo keyboard piece, bwv 115, one of the most taught classical pieces
minuet from don giovanni — mozart's opera finale, 1787, the most performed minuet in concert halls