For centuries, composers have borrowed dance forms. Dances provide rhythmic vitality, and they offer ready-made, concrete associations, associations with specific moods, feelings, functions or types of physical movement, or with peoples, nations, or cultures. Foreign dances, in particular, have always intrigued composers for the excitement and “exotic flavor” the dances can add to otherwise standard compositions, but composers have often used dances from their own countries, as well, as a means of expressing or preserving national identity and pride. It’s good to remember, though, that when dances find their way into musical compositions—compositions meant for listening, that is, as opposed to music written specifically for dancing—it’s almost always in altered or stylized form. The general character and underlying rhythms may remain, but sometimes not much more than that. You could hardly dance the allemande to a Bach Allemande, for example, even if you wanted to, or the mazurka to a Chopin Mazurka. And while audiences may find themselves tapping their feet to a Brahms Hungarian Dance, they usually won’t find themselves dancing in the aisles
A Minute with Miles - a production of ETV Radio made possible by the JM Smith Corporation.
