83: Gavottes

 Next, let’s look at a “gavotte,” another type of dance. Full disclosure, I was 9 when I learned Gossec’s Gavotte (which will be one of our samples), and it took until when this article was written, now that I’m 25, to find out that “gaivotte” and words from Romance languages like “gaivota/gaviota” meaning “seagull” in Portuguese and Spanish are false cognates, and that the following 2 things are true: (1) the name of the dance comes from the name of the Provencal groups of France (where it originated) for themselves and (2) “seagull” in French is “mouette,” so the name of the bird and dance have absolutely nothing to do with one another. 


There are a few key characteristics of the gavotte: It’s written in 2 or 4 but felt in 2. If there’s a pickup of some sort, it’s half a bar. It’s a dance—and this character can never be forgotten. It moves well but never rushes.  


Let’s now look at a few Gavottes:


First, a few recordings of the aforementioned Gavotte by FJ Gossec, the very first one I learned: 

1. A Suzuki recording, of course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-eyvN3XEls&list=RD2-eyvN3XEls&start_radio=1 

2. One for orchestra, as a reminder that this piece was not (like the vast majority of the Suzuki repertoire) originally written for solo violin or violin + piano, and, in this case, in fact, came from an otherwise-unremarkable French opera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9POyfD3sXI&list=RDD9POyfD3sXI&start_radio=1  

3. One in which you can actually see the Gavotte: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gON-DLL0jNQ&list=RDgON-DLL0jNQ&start_radio=1 


Next, a Bach gavotte that makes use of an incredibly common formal mashup—gavottes written in rondo form—in the E major Partita BWV 1006: 

1. For solo violin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-s5nqZBCrw&list=RDV-s5nqZBCrw&start_radio=1 

2. For guitar (as a substitute for a lute, in BWV 1006a, the lute transcription of the violin original of BWV 1006, by Bach himself): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyfisLGSf0o&list=RDWyfisLGSf0o&start_radio=1

3. For cello: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TWu0KlxjuU&list=RD1TWu0KlxjuU&start_radio=1

Now, another written in Rondo form, by Giovanni Battista Martini, OFM Conv (credited in Suzuki materials as “P. Martini,” I think, because they may not have realized that “Padre” is the Italian form of the term “Father”—Father Martini was a Franciscan Catholic priest, after all!):

1. A Suzuki recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtVJje83Z4Y&list=RDvtVJje83Z4Y&start_radio=1 

2. One of the very few good non-Suzuki recordings out there, apparently—for wind ensemble: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYPfP9KTJTk&list=RDrYPfP9KTJTk&start_radio=1  

Finally, let’s go to an example in minor, from a piece you’ve just heard from a few days ago: BWV 822, the source of one of the samples of the Minuet (from another movement). The Gavotte from BWV 822 is notable because it was the first time I suggested (and it was accepted) an ornamentation not written in the Suzuki source material—adding a mordent over the B-flat in the 123455… passage in the second phrase:

1. A Suzuki recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liXEwxd6muI&list=RDliXEwxd6muI&start_radio=1 

2. A piano recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtVJje83Z4Y&list=RDvtVJje83Z4Y&start_radio=1

3. A harpsichord recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8MnAJlRN10&list=RDQ8MnAJlRN10&start_radio=1


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