Saltarello


The saltarello is a musical dance originally from Italy. The first mention of it is in Add MS 29987, a late-fourteenth- or early fifteenth-century manuscript of Tuscan origin, now in the British Library. It was usually played in a fast triple meter and is named for its peculiar leaping step, after the Italian verb saltare. This characteristic is also the basis of the German name Hoppertanz or Hupfertanz ; other names include the French pas de Brabant and the Spanish alta or alta danza.

History

The saltarello enjoyed great popularity in the courts of medieval Europe. During the 14th century, the word saltarello became the name of a particular dance step, and the name of a meter of music, both of which appear in many choreographed dances. Entire dances consisting of only the saltarello step and meter are described as being improvised dances in 15th-century Italian dance manuals. A clearer, detailed description of this step and meter appears in a 16th-century manuscript in Madrid's Academia de la Historia. During this era, the saltarello was danced by bands of courtesans dressed as men at masquerades.
The saltarello is one of four dance misure ''or rhythms at the time, the others being bassadanza, quadernaria, and piva. Each of the four misure corresponded to a time signature and its own characteristic step. Quadernaria was also known as saltarello tedesco , but experts believe it was rarely danced, unlike the other three misure.
In 1540, Hans Neusidler published an Italian dance under the name Hupff auff'', and identified it with a parenthetical subtitle: "saltarella".

As a folk dance

Although a Tuscan court dance in origin, the saltarello laziale became the typical Italian folk dance of Lazio and a favorite tradition of Rome in the Carnival and vintage festivities of Monte Testaccio. After witnessing the Roman Carnival of 1831, the German composer Felix Mendelssohn incorporated the dance into the finale of one of his masterpieces, the Italian Symphony. The only example of a saltarello in the North is saltarello romagnolo of Romagna.
The saltarello is still a popular folk dance played in the regions of southern-central Italy, such as Abruzzo, Molise, Lazio and Marche. The dance is usually performed on the zampogna bagpipe or the organetto, a type of diatonic button accordion, and is accompanied by a tamburello or hand-drum.

Medieval saltarelli

The principal source for the medieval Italian saltarello is the Tuscan manuscript Add MS 29987, dating from the late 14th or early 15th century and now in the British Library. The musical form of these four early saltarelli is similar to that of the estampie. However, they are in different metres: two are in senaria imperfecta, and two in quaternaria. No choreographies survive from before the 1430s, and it is not clear that these four dances have any relationship to later saltarelli.

In classical music