Terpsichore (Praetorius)

Terpsichore, or Terpsichore, Musarum Aoniarum, is a compendium of more than 300 instrumental dances published in 1612 by the German composer Michael Praetorius. The collection takes its name from the muse of dance.

In his introduction Praetorius takes credit for arranging the music rather than composing the tunes. The collection is based on French dance repertoire of the time with dances such as the bourrée. However, some of the tunes have been identified as coming from elsewhere in Europe, for example England and Spain.^[1]

The publication was rediscovered in the twentieth century during the early music revival.