Do you know what a suite is?

Is it possible to dance a suite

Probably not everyone knows what a suite is. And this is an old form of dance music. For the first time such works appeared in the seventeenth century, and French composers are considered to be the founders of this musical form . The word itself is translated from French as "sequence", "row", very accurately showing what a suite is. It is a musical work consisting of several parts, different in character and rhythm, sometimes even contrasting with each other, but united by a common idea. At first the suite consisted of only two parts, two dances - a slow and solemn pavana, and a cheerful and fast galliard. After a while, a four-part suite was formed, with a clearly defined sequence of sections. It was four dances, very different in rhythm - the aleman, the chime, the saraband and the gig. The joining of parts took place by contrast slowly-fast. Over time, the suites began to include other dances - gavot, minuet, burre, rigodon. Developing this musical form, composers began to add the non-dance part of the suite - preludes, arias. The most famous suites were written for harpsichord by Bach and Handel. The suite becomes a part of the ballet, now the so-called divertissement, which completes the second act. What is a divertissement suite? Divertissement in ballet is a series of separate dance numbers connected by one theme. Also, the suites are well-known, they are composed of the most striking fragments of ballets and operas. Over time, in the nineteenth century, suites take on a slightly different form. Very often they are, as it were, an illustration to the literary work - "Pictures from an Exhibition" by Mussorgsky, "Carnival" by Schumann. Suites become part of theatrical productions, for example, the suite "Per Gynt" by Edward Grieg. Later such works become music for movies.

Rodion Sch Cinnamon "Carmen Suite"

Very interesting work - "Carmen Suite" by J. Bizet - R. Shchedrin. Shchedrin decided to use the method of musical transcription, reworking in modern form the music of Bizet to the opera "Carmen". Transcription was used before, even very famous composers. Thus, Bach's transcriptions of violin concerts by Vivaldi and Paganini's music by Liszt are known. But, of course, to take up the great opera Bizet - it was a very bold experiment, and not all his contemporaries took it. What is Shchedrin's suite? The music of Bizet is compressed in time, up to the size of a one-act ballet. Shchedrin gave the executable fragments a modern sound, creatively reworking the brilliant work of Biz E. The premiere of "Carmen Suite" took place on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater on April 20, 1967. The ballet was written for Maya Plisetskaya. The ballet was directed by Cuban choreographer Alberto Alonso. It is curious that Shchedrin did not use in his suite wind instruments, only strings and percussion instruments. Such a choice of instruments by the composer is emphasized by the expressiveness of the characters, enhances the sense of anxiety and tragedy of the plot. A happy fate has developed in the suite-transcription, which so bravelly wrote Shchedrin. "Carmen Suite" is all the favorite product, staging this ballet in different theaters around the world is accompanied by continued success.