The Basse Dance Handbook - Text and Context

The study of French Basse Dance was initiated by musicologists.

This was because little progress could be made until they had solved the riddle of the fifteenth-century Basse Dance tunes in equal notes.

From a musicological point of view, Basse Dance in the fifteenth century and Basse Dance in the sixteenth century, as so far known, are worlds apart, and it is hardly surprising that they came to be treated for the most part as separate topics. . . . Evidence for the steps of these dances is a great deal more abundant than that for the music, and it tells a different story.

The development of French Basse Dance can be traced through five main phases from c. 1445 to the end of the sixteenth century. There are indeed gaps in this chronicle, but no major hiatus at the beginning of the sixteenth century to match that seen in the musical evidence.

We believe it is more than time to bring all the relevant documents together and so to look at Basse Dance as a whole.