A contredanse by Dittersdorf

Music for dancing was the foremost source for the rising cadence gestures that became important expressive figures in nineteenth-century European music. Here is a contredanse from 1795 composed by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf. It is the fourth trio to an anglaise (the term sometimes used in the later 1700s and early 1800s for a contredanse in 2/4 time). Here is the complete score on IMSLP. For this trio, I have removed the brass parts from the first strain, and both brass and woodwind parts from the second strain. As you can see, the dance consists of three statements of a ^5-^6-^7-^8 line (mm. 1-4, 5-8, 13-16) with the simplest of contrasting middles, figures over a drone V, in mm. 9-12. I am especially fond of the flutes' and oboes' reduction of the melodic line in mm. 5-8, but note also the second bassoon's invocation of the clausula vera as it goes down ^2-^1 while the first flute has ^7-^8.