courante

1. : a dance of Italian origin marked by quick running steps. 2. : music in quick triple time or in a mixture of ³/₂ and ⁶/₄ time.

courante, (French: “running”) also spelled courant, Italian corrente, court dance for couples, prominent in the late 16th century and fashionable in aristocratic European ballrooms, especially in France and England, for the next 200 years. It reputedly originated as an Italian folk dance with running steps.

The French courante is by far the most misunderstood and misinterpreted dance style used by Bach in his suites, mainly with regards to tempo, touch, and character. With few exceptions, Bach's French courantes were meant to be played moderately slow and majestically with a predominantly legato and cantabile touch.

The principal sources about the Courante are from the Renaissance period or from the eighteenth century when the dance notation was developed.

A triple meter dance in binary form, it existed in two versions: the French courante, which was generally solemn and stately and written in an occasionally ambiguous triple meter; and the Italian corrente, which was in a rapid triple meter.

Bach J.S. Bach J.S. - Courante (A Major Suite) BWV 824.

Definition of 'courante' 1. an old, lively French dance with running steps, or the music for this. 2. a stylized dance of this type used as a movement in a classical suite.

But the courante commonly used in the baroque period was described by Johann Mattheson in Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg, 1739) as "chiefly characterized by the passion or mood of sweet expectation.

The Courante is an archaic type of slow dance → which is ordinarily notated in three half notes with two reprises. The courante is composed of one beat, one step, one swaying gesture and one coupé. It is danced in pairs.