“A kind of dance, the air whereof has two strains, brisk and lively by nature, and in common time; each of its strains are played twice over, the first has usually four or eight bars, and the second contains eight, twelve or more.”

Brossard (1701) [1]

​

​

Despite the many musical changes that took place, the gavotte remained a popular dance form over a period of three centuries, beginning as a court dance in the 1580s through to the 1790s where it featured in orchestral overtures and suites. During this time, the dance also appeared within solo instrumental compositions, works for trios, choruses, and cantatas. It is probable that the gavotte owes its long-standing popularity to its predictable and balanced structure, both in terms of its overall formation and smaller phrase lengths, making it such a viable and versatile dance to survive within many different musical formats.

​

Gavottes are associated with a variety of characteristics, ranging from gay, light, and joyous, to tender and graceful, resulting in contrasting moods and affects. This was a clear issue noted by writers from the time, with Brossard defining a gavotte as being ‘brisk and lively in nature,’[2] whereas Freulon-Poncein writes that they are ‘very slow and serious airs, whose expressiveness is very touching.’[3] The same issue is therefore found with tempo, where pendulum markings range from 97 to 152 per minim in a time signature of 2. Quantz writes that a gavotte is ‘almost like a rigaudon, but is a little more moderate in tempo,’[4] and Mattheson suggests that it ‘should sound skipping or hopping, not running,’[5] however Muffat argues that the gavotte should adopt a slower tempo as it is ‘not as fast as the bourree.’[6] Rousseau sums up these differences in tempo nicely, stating that the gavotte can be played ‘fast or slow, but never extremely fast or excessively slow.’[7]

​

Perhaps the issue regarding conflicting suggestions is down to the fact that there are two styles of gavotte – the French and the Italian. Monteclair distinguishes the difference between the two, stating that one is marked leger, has a time signature of 2, and quavers should be performed inégale, whereas the other is marked presto, is in 2/4, and quavers should remain equal.[8] Written indications towards tempo and character, such as tendrement and lentement, were sometimes given by composers writing in the French style, and are all suggestive of a more moderate tempo. This is further reinforced by the complex steps dancers perform during gavottes, therefore it is recommended that musicians adopt a medium pace when choosing a tempo to accommodate this.  

​

The gavotte has many metrical similarities to the bourrée. Both are in duple metre, contain a minim pulse, and are written in cut time or 2. However the more moderate tempo and balanced phrases featured in the gavotte allow for more subtleties in articulation to be explored. Many early gavottes are written in cut time and begin on the downbeat rather than the half bar, which became one of the most characteristic features of the gavotte during the late 17th century. During the 1670s, cut time was replaced by a time signature of 2, as featured in many of Lully’s works from this period, although by the 18th century, gavottes written in 2/4 became more common. It’s simple and balanced structure is typically built upon two shorter phrases, which may be 2 or 4 bars long and start and end on the half bar, followed by one longer one. This pattern was particularly versatile and allowed for the gavotte to be used in conjunction with other forms. For example, some pieces may be written as a gavotte en rondeau, whereby the gavotte is based around a central reoccurring theme. Phrases should be clearly defined and separated from phrases that may precede or follow. Wind players should be especially careful with phrases that end with a minim to ensure they do not make a slurping connection to the next phrase.[9]

​

Gavottes are clearly identifiable by their half bar upbeat, which differentiates them from a bourrée, rigaudon and allemande. A stronger articulation should consequently be applied on the downbeat to demonstrate exactly where the pulse is, and to avoid any confusion which may result in the pulse being shifted onto the half bar. Phrases therefore end on the downbeat, rather than at the end of the bar which may ordinarily be expected in other dances. It should be noted, however, that some early gavottes written before the time of Lully may begin on the downbeat instead, as the shift to phrases beginning on the half bar upbeat was not yet commonplace.

​

The half bar upbeat is of particular importance as it contrasts the phrasing of the choreography. Dancers begin on the downbeat of the first full bar, therefore producing a canonic effect in parallel to the music, which is all the more reason for musicians to provide clear articulation on the first beat of the bar, rather than on beat 2 which may suit their own phrasing better. Points of unison between music and dance often appear at an imperfect cadence, in conjunction with an assemblé performed by the dancer.

​