See Also: en suite(dictionary)
SUITE(law)
suite(dictionary)
en suite(dictionary)
suite(encyclopedia)
suite(dictionary)
bridal suite(dictionary)
three-piece suite(dictionary)
BAUEN SUITE HOTEL(tourism)
Chase Suite Hotels(tourism)

suite (sh)




Set of instrumental dances or dancelike movements.

The suite originated in the paired dances of the 14th-16th centuries (pavane-galliard, basse danse-saltarello, etc.). In the 16th-17th centuries German composers began to write sets of three or four dances, as in Johann Hermann Schein's Banchetto musicale (1617). In the late 17th century a basic ordering of four dances
allemande, courante, sarabande, and gigue
became established as standard; other dances came to be interpolated between the sarabande and gigue. In the 19th century suite came to refer to sets of instrumental excerpts from operas and ballets.