Sarabande
The sarabande is a dance in slow triple time. In the Baroque suite it belongs to the fixed core together with the allemande, courante and gigue, and usually comes between the courante and the gigue. Rhythms that stress not only beat one but also the second beat of the bar are typical.
- Time signature
- triple time, e.g. 3/4
- Tempo
- slow (as a movement of the Baroque suite)
- Typical rhythms
- stress on beat two; quarter – eighth – eighth – quarter
- In the suite
- usually the third movement, between courante and gigue
- Origin
- documented as a dance in Latin America in the 16th century, Spanish zarabanda
A slow dance in triple time
The sarabande is a dance in triple time. As a sung dance it is documented in Latin America in the 16th century, under the Spanish name “zarabanda”. In Europe it became a movement for instruments; the French sarabande no longer had a text, and its tempo became much slower. It consists of two or more sections of different lengths, each of which is repeated.
Weight on beat two
What sets the sarabande apart from other dances in triple time is the distribution of stress. The literature describes several rhythmic types: in one the stress lies throughout on the first beat of the bar, in another on the second, and in a third the first and second beats alternate. A further type has the rhythm quarter – eighth – eighth – quarter.
Weight on beat two
Our own example in D minor: in the first two bars a quarter note falls on beat one and a half note on beat two, sounding to the end of the bar. The long note gives the second beat weight. In the third bar a dotted quarter note falls on beat two, and the eighth note after it falls on “3 and”.
Quarter – eighth – eighth – quarter
Our own example with another rhythm that the literature names for the sarabande: quarter note, two eighth notes, quarter note. Here too the values in each bar add up to three quarter notes.
In the first line beat two gets its weight from a longer note: a half note on the second beat lasts twice as long as the quarter note before it. The second line shows the type with a quarter note, two eighth notes and a quarter note.
Place in the suite
Together with the allemande, courante and gigue, the sarabande forms the core of the Baroque instrumental suite. Usually it is the third of four movements: it follows the courante and comes before the gigue, which closes the suite. The overview shows the four movements with their usual time signatures:
| Movement of the suite | Time signature | Tempo and feature |
|---|---|---|
| Allemande | duple time | moderate, with a short upbeat |
| Courante | 3/2 or 6/4 (French), 3/4 (Italian: corrente) | hemiolas; the corrente is clearly faster |
| Sarabande | triple time | slow, with weight on beat two as well |
| Gigue | 3/8, 6/8, 12/8, also 6/4 | lively, often imitative; usually the final movement |
Common mistakes
- Stressing only beat one: What is typical of many sarabandes is precisely that the second beat gets weight too.
- Shortening the dotted quarter note: In the third bar of the first line the dotted quarter note lasts from beat two to “3”; the eighth note only comes on “3 and”.
- Taking the sarabande too fast: As a movement of the Baroque suite it is slow; between the courante before it and the lively gigue after it, it is the calm movement.
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Related terms
SuiteAllemandeCouranteGigueMinuetThree-four timeChaconnePassacagliaDotted noteDanceBaroque
Editor: Maik Krohm · reviewed on 4 October 2026
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