Classical-era Form—Minuet and Trio: Baroque Antecedents

Overview

The Baroque-era minuet and trio form is the antecedent of Classical-era minuet and trio form. Baroque French dance suites inspired the composition of an important type of instrumental music, which was almost invariably homophonic in texture and in binary form. Of all the various dances cultivated in this era, the minuet, thanks largely to Louis XIV, enjoyed the most widespread popularity. In pairing a first minuet with a second minuet, called a trio, the form took on a ternary, or three-part, A–B–A structure. Music by Bach, Corelli, and Lully illustrates the nature of Baroque dance form and the minuet and trio in particular.