The gigue (/ʒiːɡ/ ZHEEG, French: [ʒiɡ]) or giga (Italian: [ˈdʒiːɡa]) is a lively baroque dance originating from the English jig. It was imported into France in the mid-17th century[2] and usually appears at the end of a suite. The gigue was probably never a court dance, but it was danced by nobility on social occasions and several court composers wrote gigues.[3]
A gigue is usually in 3
8 or in one of its compound metre derivatives, such as 6
8, 6
4, 9
8 or 12
8, although there are some gigues written in other metres, as for example the gigue from Johann Sebastian Bach's first French Suite (BWV 812), which is written in 2
2 and has a distinctive strutting "dotted" rhythm.
Gigues often have a contrapuntal texture as well as often having accents on the third beats in the bar, making the gigue a lively folk dance.
In early French theatre, it was customary to end a play's performance with a gigue, complete with music and dancing.[3]
A gigue, like other Baroque dances, consists of two sections.
- ^ a b Blatter, Alfred (2007). Revisiting Music Theory: A Guide to the Practice, p. 28. ISBN 0-415-97440-2.
- ^ Bellingham, Jane, "gigue." The Oxford Companion to Music. Ed. Alison Latham. Oxford Music Online. 6 July 2008 (subscription required)
- ^ a b Louis Horst, Pre-Classic Dance Forms, (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Book Company, 1987), 54–60.