A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Passamezzo

by William Barclay Squire

PASSAMEZZO or PASSEMEZZO, an old Italian dance which was probably a variety of the Pavan. In England, where it was popular in Queen Elizabeth's time, it was sometimes known as the 'Passing Measures Pavan.'^[1] Tabourot in his 'Orchésographie' says that when the Pavan was played less solemnly and more quickly, it was called a 'Passemezzo.' Hawkins says that the name is derived from 'passer, to walk, and mezzo, middle or half,' and that the dance was a diminutive of the Galliard; but both these statements are probably incorrect. Praetorius (Syntagma, iii. 24) says that as a Galliard has five steps, and is therefore called a Cinquepas, so a Passamezzo has scarcely half as many steps as the latter, and is therefore called 'mezzo passo.' These derivations seem somewhat far-fetched, and it is probable that the name 'Passemezzo' (in which form it is found in the earliest authorities), is simply an abbreviation of 'Passo e mezzo,' i.e. a step and a half, which may have formed a distinctive feature of the old dance. Reismann (Geschichte der Musik, ii. 22) quotes a 'Pass e mezzo antico,' from Jacob Paix's 'Ein Schön Nutz Lautentabulaturbuch,' in which periods of eight bars can be distinguished. It is written with five variations and a 'ripresa.'

Full directions for dancing the Passamezzo may be found in Caroso da Sermoneta's curious works 'Il Ballarino' (Venice, 1581) and 'Nobiltà di Dame' (Ib. 1600), from which the following example is taken.

At page 102 of Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book [see vol. i. p. 530b ] there is a 'Passamezzo Pavana' by William Byrd, and at page 142 another (dated 1592) by Peter Philips; both are written in an elaborate style, and followed by a 'Galiarda Passamezzo.'

[ W. B. S. ]

1. In a MS. volume of airs and dances by Strogers, Dowland, and Reade, preserved in the Cambridge University Library, it is called 'Passmezures Pavan.' See 'Twelfth Night.' Act v, Sc. 1.