Saltarello
by Bartolomeo Pinelli

The saltarello is an Italian dance form. The first mention of it is in a late fourteenth or early fifteenth century manuscript from Tuscany. It was usually played in a fast triple meter and is named for its peculiar leaping step, after the Italian verb saltare (“to jump”). This characteristic is also the basis of the German name Hoppertanz or Hupfertanz (“hopping dance”); other names include the French pas de Brabant and the Spanish alta or alta danza.