A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Dance Music

DANCE MUSIC. Music designed as an accompaniment to dancing, national, social or on the stage—the ballet; also music written in dance rhythms though not for dancing purposes, such as the Polonaises of Beethoven, Weber, and Chopin; Schulhoff's 'Valses de Concert,' Liszt's 'Galop Chromatique.'

The music of the individual dance tunes has been examined under the separate heads of Allemande, Bolero, Courante, Gigue, Minuet, Waltz, etc. The influence of the dance on music in general, and the manner in which it gradually communicated the rhythm and accent which are its very essence to the unrhythmical and unaccented strains of church music, and thus built up the fabric of modern composition, will be examined under the head of Rhythm. The more direct and material connexion between the Suite—a mere string of dances in one key—and the modern Sonata and Symphony, which grew out of the Suite, will be most conveniently discussed under the last-named headings.