Is the Dance Still in the Music? Chaconne Compositions from the Seventeenth to the Twentieth Century
Authors:   , McEwing Lyndon Keith 
Published: November 2021

<p>This thesis looks at the relationship of dance to the music with which it is performed, and how consideration of the dance component in the music, whether literal or implied, can influence and even inspire a musical performance today. As a contemporary point of reference, the introduction briefly describes Douglas Lilburn's Chaconne (1946) for piano, and the composer's inspiration of walking the west coast of New Zealand's South Island. After describing the history of the chaconne - its Spanish introduction to Europe as a peasant dance, to Italy and the commedia dell'arte, to France where it was adopted by the court, and then the rest of Europe - chapter one discusses the general inter-relationship of dance and music. The arts of dance and music were considered equal in Europe prior to the eighteenth century. Continuing with defining the term "dance music," the chapter then considers other Baroque dance-types, illustrating how the chaconne is representative of the genre. It further defines the chaconne as describing a journey, thus providing a basis for a comparison of chaconnes written through the centuries and around the world. The chaconne's role, and dance generally, in the theatre of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries is discussed in chapter two. The fifteen extant Baroque dances for which notations are available are discussed in chapter three, with four of them being analysed in detail using seventeenth-century rhetorical theories of Bary and Lamy, as defined and applied in twentieth-century analyses of Baroque dance by Ranum, Maher, and Schwartz. Three chaconne dances for the commedia dell'arte character, Harlequin are also discussed. Chapter four looks at the music of the chaconne, analyses the corresponding music for the four dances studied in chapter three, and then considers the interaction between these dance and music examples. Chapter five concludes with a discussion of modern performance practices for dance and music, and the current contrasting trends of careful consideration being given to performance of Baroque music, but the general lack of equivalent sensitivity to any dance that is deemed "old." A study of two contrasting recordings of Lilburn's Chaconne follows: one dance-spirited, the other with an intellectual approach. A similarly detailed examination of Jose Limon's choreography Chaconne (1942) demonstrates a careful consideration of the music on a par with the Baroque dances discussed. Several appendices are included. After a brief introduction, Beauchamp-Feuillet Notation and How to Read It, fifteen notated Baroque-chaconnes in this notation schema are included, with a brief description preceding each one. This is followed by a selective list of twentieth-century choreographies either titled chaconne or to chaconne music, and selective lists of chaconne music, separated into before and after 1800. In addition to the written thesis, live performance of the noble dance Chacone of Amadis and the grotesque Chacoon for a Harlequin was undertaken as an integral part of the study. A DVD recording of this event is included with this volume.</p>