Sarabande facts for kids
A sarabande (sometimes called sarabanda in Italian) is a type of dance. It was very popular during the Baroque period of music. This was from the 1600s to the early 1700s.
What is a Sarabande?
Composers in the Baroque period often wrote groups of dances. These groups were called a suite. A typical suite usually had four main dances. These were an allemande, a courante, a sarabande, and a gigue. Sometimes, other dances were added too.
The sarabande was a slow and graceful dance. It had three beats in each bar of music. This is often called 3/4 time. A special thing about the sarabande was a small accent or stress. This stress was always on the second beat of the bar. The first beat was often played quite short. This made the second beat feel heavier and more important. Like other dances in a suite, the sarabande was in binary form. This means it had two main parts that were often repeated.
Where Sarabandes Came From
The sarabande dance seems to have started in Central America. There, it was known as "zarabanda." Even though it was mostly used in the Baroque period, some composers in the 1900s also wrote sarabandes. These composers include Debussy, Satie, Howells, and Britten.
Perhaps the most famous sarabande was written by a composer whose name we do not know. This piece is called La folie espagnole. Many Baroque composers, like Monteverdi and Corelli, used this well-known tune. Even some modern composers have used it.
Sarabandes in Movies
The sarabande has been used in many movies. One famous example is a film by Ingmar Bergman called Saraband, made in 2003. This movie uses the sarabande from the 5th suite for solo cello by Bach.
See also
In Spanish: Zarabanda para niños
