Editorial Procedures

Summary

Issues concerning titles and languages are plentiful among the sources used in studying the dances of Arbeau. Many of the works in this book represent the sixteenth-century practice of extended titles that can be unwieldy in repetition. In order to mitigate this, once a work has been cited in complete form, subsequent citations are abbreviated. For a published source, the shortened form usually consists of the author's surname, a shortened title and the page number. Music and choreography titles are placed in quotation marks, while dance genres (gaillarde, pavan) are in standard Roman font. Linguistic constructions based on foreign language models are italicized (branles couppé). The same applies to foreign terms not in common use in English (e.g. farce, but ballet de cour).

A number of sources from a variety of languages have been used. Whenever necessary, the original text and the translation are both supplied. This is especially the case when the topic uses specific choreographic, theatrical, or musical terms, and where the exact meaning may be open to dispute. Unless otherwise specified, all translations are my own; therefore the choices in meaning for technical terms are mine as well, although linguistic aid from specific experts is acknowledged in footnotes. In order to retain the meaning of the original texts as closely as possible, while maintaining readability and clarity in English, I have adjusted syntax and punctuation as needed. Shorter translations will generally appear in the main text; longer translations are placed in footnotes.

Occasionally, changes between the historical version of the language and its modern counterpart require clarification. In those cases, either a prose explanation or the modern term in brackets will be included. Spellings in historical quotations have been left as originally written.

The Critical Notes present Arbeau's basic tunes with comments on the history, concordances, and editing for the music that appears in Part III. These notes also contain the side-by-side translations of the poetic texts used for vocal dance music. I have attempted to maintain some level of poetic rhythm and format, so the translations here may be more flexible than elsewhere in this book.