“Some of which are played slow, and others quick, brisk and lively, but are always full measure, and in triple time; or some kind or another, usually 6/8 or 12/8.”

Brossard (1701) [1]

 

​

The gigue is commonly recognised as the concluding dance featured in a French baroque suite, alongside the allemande, courante and sarabande. It was first danced in 15th century Britain, where it would have been known as the jig, before spreading across the continent and adopted by the Italians as the giga. The gigue in early 17th century France was most frequently found in lute and harpsichord works, where it was not intended to accompany dancers, as it was rarely danced in the court ballroom, but was instead appreciated by whomever was listening. The dance was, however, performed on the theatrical stage.

​

Often described as gay, lively, cheerful, happy, and spritely, the gigue is a fast dance in compound time. The choice of tempo should reflect these moods, with pendulum markings from the early 18th century suggesting speeds of 100 to 120 per dotted crotchet or dotted minim, depending on the time signature. Whilst the tempo should be kept brisk, musicians must always remain in control and never become too excited, otherwise this manner is replicated by the dancers when performing theatrical gigues, who are often dancing sequences of fast virtuosic steps.

​

Gigues written during the court of Louis XIV are often in binary or rondeau form, and have a time signature of 6/4 or 6/8, with a 2-beat pulse per bar, although it is not uncommon to find gigues marked 3. The sautillant rhythm characteristic of a gigue, which follows a long-short-short pattern as demonstrated in Ex. 1 in 6/8 and Ex. 2 in 6/4, allows for a lilting affect to be produced when grouped in 2 or 4 bar sequences. To execute this well, musicians should emphasise the longest or dotted note, and shorten the shortest, to keep the line light and bouncy.[2] Quantz states that string players should use a ‘short and light bow stroke,’[3] whilst Muffat recommends a downbow for the 1st beat of the measure, and an upbow for the 2nd beat, which gives the desired skipping character of the gigue.[4] Syncopation and hemiolas are also common, which should be stressed by using separate bow strokes.

​