Anglaise
A stylised English dance in the suite.
What it means
Anglaise is the French word for “English” and denotes a dance in the English manner. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the term was not fixed to a single dance but was used for various dances that counted as English — in particular for forms of the contredanse, the line dance stemming from England.
In the suite the Anglaise appears as a stylised dance no longer intended for dancing but as an instrumental movement. It stands there among the so-called galanteries, those additional movements that could be inserted between the fixed core dances.
Characteristic are a rapid character, a plain melody and a strong accent on the first beat. The metre is often duple, but triple and compound metres also occur. The Anglaise is to be distinguished from the Écossaise, the “Scottish” dance, which was in fashion around 1800 and, despite its name, is French in origin.
In the notation
The Anglaise frequently stands in duple metre, divided into two repeated sections. The melody is plain and rhythmically pithy, frequently with an upbeat. The designation stands as a movement heading.
Musical use
As a suite movement the Anglaise is met with in keyboard and orchestral suites of the late Baroque. In the eighteenth century it was at the same time a popular social dance, published in collections for practical use. The designation shows how strongly dance fashions then travelled across national borders and altered their character in the process.
English country dances reached the court of Louis XIV in 1684; there the name anglaise became attached to them, and the mixture of English and French elements gave rise to the contredanse. By 1717 anglaises were also very popular in Vienna. Well-known suite movements are the fourth movement of Bach’s French Suite No. 3 in B minor, BWV 814, and the third movement of Telemann’s Overture in F♯ minor.
Performance practice
Play lightly and tautly; the Anglaise is a rapid, bright dance. Work out the emphases clearly and keep upbeats light. Show the phrase articulation without heaviness. And observe the repeats — in Baroque practice the second repeat is often ornamented.