Il Ruggiero: storia di una forma di danza

Abstract

Ruggiero, documented in written sources in the 16th and 17th centuries, is a form of dance. The discanto melody in this genre is often accompanied by a bass over top of which variations were built beginning in the last decades of the 16th century. The origin of Ruggiero appears to be linked to Naples (or Spain, through the mediation of the Neapolitan milieu); from there it quickly spread to large parts of Italy, where it can be found mentioned in both written and oral traditions. The places where 16th-17th century written sources document the existence of this dance form are those in which it has also survived in oral traditions.

In historical musicology, Ruggiero is considered a bass formula over top of which an octave of Orlando furioso was sung (XLIV, 61). However, it will be shown that the assumptions underlying this view are inconsistent. Numerous accounts contribute to shedding light on the relationships between oral and written traditions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and offer an opportunity to reflect methodologically on the intersections between historiography and ethnography.