The Early Sarabande and Chaconne: Media Lingua, Stereotypes, and Etymological Speculation Relating to African Dance and Literature in Colonial and Imperial Spain

Abstract

The chaconne and sarabande, two dances that have flourished in Western Art Music since the sixteenth century, have frequently been assigned African or New World origins. In the twentieth century, there was a well-published debate regarding the origins of the chaconne and sarabande, two forms that first found favor in the sixteenth century as fast, raucous, and popular dances, but that left a lasting legacy as slow, refined court dances. This paper investigates this debate regarding the origins of the chaconne and sarabande, and uses examples from Spanish literature to examine authors’ myriad claims and assumptions regarding the chaconne and sarabande. The result serves to place literary mentions of the chaconne and sarabande in the cultural context of colonial and imperial Spain. Specifically, the focus is on media lingua and parody in authors’ portrayals of the “exotic” other, especially blacks and the peoples indigenous to the Spanish colonies. By compiling, analyzing, and critiquing the circumstances surrounding the histories of the chaconne and sarabande, this paper serves as both a historiography and a critique of previous histories.