Vash Y. French dance music of the Baroque for Clavier: specific performance

The dissertation explores features of the French Baroque dance style based on indepth study of treatises. It demonstrates the dancing nature of clavier pieces. The necessity of mastering the choreographic basic knowledge by a Baroque musician for the correct definition of the Baroque epoch dance genres and the most accurate their interpretation is substantiated by the author's arguments. Main component of Baroque movement rhythmical system is explained within the dissertation. Rhythmical characteristic of each movement is shown as a rhythmic formula. With its help a performer can identify a dance character. Moreover, if a composer has not prescribed the ornaments within the text, knowing the rhythmic formula one can utilize the ornament in an appropriate way by emphasizing the distinctive rhythmic pattern. Knowledge of the movements and their rhythmical characteristics greatly helps harpsichord performers to emphasize in their performance features and details which have not been prescribed within the scores. With the help of musical and choreographic analysis the author studies the core dances of the clavier suits: Bourre, Gavotte, Menuet, Passpied, Gigue, Canaries, Sarabande, Courante, Chaconne, Passacaille, Les Folies. The author proves that fluency in rhythmic formulas of Baroque dance music is a must to perform French Baroque music correctly: to be able to express the main means of the clavier music - rhythmic dramaturgy.