. The allemande originated in the 16th century as a
duple metre dance of moderate tempo, already considered very old, with a characteristic "double-knocking" upbeat It appears to have derived from a German dance but no identifiable dance and no German dance instructions from this era survive. The 16th-century French dancing master
Thoinot Arbeau and the British Inns of Court therefore preserve the first records of the allemande, in which dancers formed a line of couples who took hands and walked the length of the room, walking three steps then balancing on one foot. A livelier version, the
allemande courante, used three springing steps and a hop.
Elizabethan British composers wrote many "Almans" as separate pieces.
French composers of the 17th century experimented with the allemande, shifting to quadruple meter and ranging more widely in tempo. This slower allemande, like the
pavane, was adapted to the
tombeau or memorial composition. The German composers
Froberger and
Bach followed suit in their allemandes for
keyboard instruments, although ensemble allemandes kept a more traditional style.
Italian and
English composers were more free with the allemande, writing in counterpoint and using a variety of tempi (
Corelli wrote allemandes ranging from
largo to
presto). In his
Musikalisches Lexicon (Leipzig, 1732),
Johann Gottfried Walther wrote that the allemande "must be composed and likewise danced in a grave and ceremonious manner." Likewise in
Der Vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg, 1739)
Johann Mattheson described the allemande as "a serious and well-composed harmoniousness in arpeggiated style, expressing satisfaction or amusement, and delighting in order and calm". Its music is characterised by absence of
syncopation, combination of short motifs into larger units and contrasts of tone and motif. Some of the close embraces and turns of the allemande were carried over to
square dance and
contra dance. In an allemande, couples hold one forearm and turn around each other to the left or right. ==Triple meter dance==