Monteverdi, Moresca from L’Orfeo

We have discussed the opera L’Orfeo many times on this site, in particular as the starting point for Discovering Music: 300 Years of Interaction in Western Music, Arts, History, and Culture. It’s also the starting point for opera as a genre. And you can find various recordings of the famous opening Toccata, including one featured here.

L’Orfeo concludes with this Moresca, a popular Renaissance dance based on Europe’s fascination with Moorish culture. The dance would be known in England as the Morris dance, but it shows up in other European cultures such as the Spanish morisca and the French moresque. 

All of Europe it seems was fascinated by the Moors, partly for its color and exoticism and partly out of fear of its periodic forays into Europe. Recall that the Ottoman Empire came knocking on the door of Vienna in 1529 and again in 1683.

The Moresca is a pantomine dance that generally depicts a sword fight between Christians and Muslims. You won’t find any swords in this video, but having it choreographed makes sense. The music itself relies on a simple repeated pattern, a four-measure theme that appears in G major, C major, A minor, and finally D minor. With the final chord of the D minor section moving to major, it sets up the return to the key of G major as the whole pattern is repeated. This constant cycle of repetition lends itself to numerous variations along the way and some opportunities for improvisation.