Tielman Susato's Danserye (1551): a collection of popular Renaissance dance music

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Tielman Susato (c.1510-c.1570) was a publisher, composer and instrumentalist of German origin who established his musical career in Flemish Antwerp. He printed musical masterpieces by some of the most popular French and Flemish composers of his generation.

Many of the 57 pieces in the "Danserye" collection are homophonic arrangements of Flemish folk songs or French chansons from around 1530 and earlier. They range in mood from the plaintive melancholy of the "Pass et medio" to the rough-and-ready grandiosity of the "Pavane La Bataille." They also include frequently parodied hit songs such as Josquin des Prez's "Mille regretz."

The MIDI files that were used to create this video can be found on the website abcnotation.com. The original files were uploaded by Frank Nordberg to the website musicaviva.com (which no longer exists). I replaced the piano setting of the original MIDI files with the sounds of 16th Century instruments: cornetts, sackbuts, rauschpfeife, recorders, lutes, viols. Some of the lines are doubled with two or more instruments. I also added tympani parts to some of pieces. For each piece, I adjusted the tempo, cadence, reverb, ornamentation and other variables.

The artworks in the video are mostly northern European (French, German or Flemish) from the late 15th and early 16th centuries. A few of the paintings are Italian. Abbreviations: H.A.=Heinrich Aldegrever, H.H.Y. = Hans Holbein the Younger, H.B. = Hans Burgkmair, B.V. = Bonifazio Veronese, P.V.= Paolo Veronese.

To skip to a different piece, click on the time stamp next the song title.

0:09 Basse danse Mon desir:
a. Dance of the patrician families (German, Nuremberg, c.1550)
b. Basse danse (Unk. Burgundian, c.1480)
c. Tenor sackbut (Unk. German, Nuremberg, 1557)
d. Angels playing shawms (J.C. Van Oostsanen, 1512)
d. Musical Angels (Hans Memling, c.1485)
2:00 Pavane Mille regretz:
a. Dance in the garden (Unk. French, Toulouse, early 16th cent)
b. Woman with lute (Unk. Dutch, c.1533)
c. Musical angels (Master of the St.Lucy Legend, Flemish, c1480)
d. Mille Regretz printed vocal score (Susato, 1549)
e. Josquin des Prez (woodcut, 1611, based on earlier painting)
4:02 Basse danse Dont vient cela:
a. Het grote bal (Unk. Flemish, c.1500)
b. Trio playing viols (Unk. German, c.1580)
c. Young flutist (G.G. Savoldo, c.1540)
d. Elblag recorder (Unk. German, c.1450)
e. Wedding Feast in Cana, detail (P.V., 1562)
f. Recorder ensemble (Silvestro Ganassi, 1542)
g. Wedding Feast in Cana, full (P.V.)
6:40 Ronde:
a. Round dance (Unk. Flemish)
b. Dancers (B.V., 1520)
c. Peasant dance (Pieter Bruegel, 1566)
8:00 Ronde Mon amy:
a. Dance at Herod’s court (I.v.Meckenam, c.1500)
b. Drummers (German, c.1580)
c. Dance at Herod’s court, detail (I.v.Meckenam, c.1500)
d. Standard bearer and drummer (B. Beham, 1543)
e. Sackbut (Virdung, 1511)
f. Brass players (H.A., 1538)
10:13 Ronde Pour quoy:
a. Apollo and Muses dance (Giulio Romano, c.1540)
b. Circle dance (Unk. German, c.1515)
11:00 Pass et medio:
a. Three female musicians (Flemish, c.1540)
b. Madonna and Child, detail (Bernardino Luini, 1523)
c. Angel playing vihuela (G. dai Libri, c.1550)
d. Quartet of musicians (B.V.)
12:50 Pavane La bataille:
a. Triumph of Maximilian, sackbut band (H.B., 1526)
b. Shawms (Virdung, 1511)
c. Pierson La Hues portrait (Gillis Coignet, 1581)
d. Stadtpfeifer of Nuremberg (Georg Eberlein, c.1500)
e. Battle of Pavia (Flemish, c.1530)
e. Triumph of Maximilian, wind band (H.B., 1526)
f. St. George (Rafaello, c.1506)