MINUET (adapted, under the

See also:

• INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence of the

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• ITALIAN

Italian minuetto, from Fr. menuet, small,

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• PRETTY

pretty, delicate, a diminutive of menu, from

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• LAT

Lat. minutus; the word refers probably to the

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• SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short steps, pas menus, taken in the

See also:

• DANCE
• DANCE (Fr. danse; of obscure origin, connected with Old High Ger. danson, to stretch)

dance)  , a dance for two persons, in f time . At the period when it was most fashionable it was slow, ceremonious, and graceful (see DANCE) . The name is also given to a musical composition written in the same time and rhythm, but when not accompanying an actual dance the pace was quicker . An example of the true form of the minuet is to-be found in Don Giovanni . The minuet is frequently found as one of the movements in the Suites of Handel and Bach . Haydn introduced it into the symphony, with little trace of the slow grace and ceremony of the dance . In the hands of Beethoven it becomes the scherzo .