Minuet facts for kids

A minuet dance from the Classical Period.

A minuet is a type of dance that was very popular in France during the 1700s and 1800s. It was mostly danced by the aristocracy, who were rich and powerful people like nobles and royalty. King Louis XIV of France especially loved this dance at his court.

Sometimes you might see the French spelling, menuet, or the Italian spelling, minuetto. The minuet was a dance that wasn't too fast or too slow. It always had three beats in each measure of music, which musicians call "3/4 time." This means you could count "one, two, three" for each part of the music.

Minuets in Music

Composers really liked the music of the minuet. They often wrote minuets just as pieces of music, even if they weren't meant for dancing. These pieces could be played on a keyboard or other instruments.

• Famous composers like Bach and Handel included minuets in their suites. A suite is a collection of different dance tunes put together.
• Lully started putting minuets into his operas. An opera is like a play where people sing instead of speak.
• Lully often used minuets in pairs: Minuet I, then Minuet II, and then Minuet I would be played again.
• The second minuet in these pairs was often played by only three instruments. Because of this, it became known as a trio.

Minuets in Classical Music

During the Classical music period, the minuet and trio became a regular part of larger musical works.

• They were often found in symphonies and sonatas. A symphony is a long piece for an orchestra, and a sonata is usually for one or two instruments.
• The minuet and trio usually formed the third part, or "movement," of a four-movement work.
• Great composers like Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven all wrote many minuets and trios.

Over time, minuets started to be played faster and faster. Eventually, these faster versions were given a new name: scherzos. By the 1800s, a new dance called the waltz became very popular with the growing middle class. The elegant minuet slowly went out of style.

Images for kids

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  A diagram showing the rhythm and steps of a minuet dance.

See also

In Spanish: Minueto para niños