A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Saltarello

by William Barclay Squire

SALTARELLO or SALTARELLA (Latin saltare, to jump).

I. In 16th-century collections of dance tunes the melodies usually consist of two distinct divisions, the first of which is written in common time, the second in 3 time. The former was probably danced like our English country-dances (i.e. the dancers standing in two lines facing each other) and bore the distinguishing name of the dance, while the latter was like the modern round dance and was variously entitled Nachtanz, Proportio, Hoppeltanz, or Saltarello, the first three being the German and the last the Italian names for the same movement. Thus in Bernhard Schmidt's Tabulaturbuch (Strasburg, 1577) are found the following dances: 'Possomezzo Comun' with 'Il suo Saltarello'; 'Bin guter Hofdantz' with 'Nachdantz'; 'Alemando novello. Ein guter neuer Dantz' with 'Proportz darauf'; and 'Ein guter neuer Dantz ' with ' Hoppeldantz darauf.' Similarly in Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book (preserved at Cambridge in the Fitzwilliam Museum) there is an elaborate 'Galiarda Passamezzo' by Peter Philips (dated 1592) which consists of ten 8-bar 'divisions,' the 9th of which is entitled 'Saltarella.' The Saltarello, or Proportio, was always founded on the air of the first part of the dance, played in 3 time with a strong accent on the first beat of the bar. The manner in which this was done will be seen by examining the following example, from the 2nd book of Caroso da Sermoneta's 'Nobilta di Dame' (Venice, 1600). It is part of a Balletto 'Laura Soave,' the second part of which (a Gagliarda) and the last 40 bars of the Saltarello are not printed here for want of space.

II. A popular Roman dance, in 3–4 or 6–8 time, danced by one or two persons, generally a man and a woman, the latter of whom holds up her apron throughout the dance. The step is quick and hopping, and the dance gradually increases in rapidity as the dancers move round in a semicircle, incessantly changing their position, and moving their arms as violently as their legs. The music is generally in the minor, and is played on a guitar or mandoline, with tambourine accompaniment. The finale to Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony contains two Saltarellos—

in each of which the jumping or hopping step is very apparent. In contrast to these is a Tarantella, used as a third subject, a continuous flow of even triplets.

[ W. B. S. ]