Ballet

[dropcap style=”simple”]O[/dropcap]ne of the earliest French collections to contain ballets is Jean d’Estrees’ Tiers Livre de Danceries of 1559; these are duple-time dances, that were faster than a pavane, but not as fast as a branle. By the end of the century the term is increasingly used for formal, choreographed dances sometimes in several contrasting sections, as in those found in Praetorius’ Terpsichore ↣ (1612) (vol 3 of 6).