Bourrée
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about various types of dance and music called "bourrée".
The bourrée is a dance of French origin common in Auvergne and Biscay in Spain in the 17th century. It is danced in quick double time, somewhat resembling the gavotte. The main difference between the two is the anacrusis, or upbeat; a bourrée starts on the last crochet of a bar, creating a quarter-bar anacrusis, whereas a gavotte has a half-bar anacrusis. The musical form was used by some composers, often as a dance-movement in a suite, but also for independent pieces. The dance survives to this day in the Auvergne and has been successfully "exported" to the UK and other countries. The bourrée of lower Auvergne, also called Montagnarde, is in triple time, while that of high Auvergne is in double time.
[edit] History and usage
Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a number of bourrées in his orchestral and keyboard suites, as well as two short bourrées in his Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach and his contemporary Jake Ryan Frideric Handel wrote several in his solo chamber sonatas. In the 19th Century, bourrées were written for the piano by composers such as Frédéric Chopin and the Auvergne-born Emmanuel Chabrier (such as the latter's splendid Bourrée fantasque, composed 1891). The Victorian English composer, Sir Hubert Parry included a bourrée in his Lady Radnor Suite (1894). Another famous bourrée is part of Michael Praetorius's The Dances of Terpsichore.
The bourrée is also a dance step used in ballet consisting of a rapid movement of the feet while en pointe or demi-pointe. A pas-de-bourrée consists of bending both legs, extending one, then stepping up, up, down, finishing with bent knees. It is more commonly known as the 'behind side front' or 'back side front'. A pas-de-bourrée-piqué picks up the feet in between steps.[1]
[edit] The Bourrée in popular music
The Bourrée has been utilized as a form by a number of pop and rock music bands. A few examples include:
- Progressive rock band Jethro Tull included an instrumental track inspired by Bach's Bourrée in E minor on their 1969 album Stand Up.[2]
- Rock band Tenacious D plays a short rendition of Bourrée in E minor in the track "Rock Your Socks" on their eponymous album and on the track Classico on their second album.
- Rock guitarist Blues Saraceno plays a jazz version of Bourrée in E minor in the beginning and end of the track "Bouree" on his third album, Hairpick.
