Suite
A set of self-contained movements, often built on dances
Related
A suite is a set of self-contained movements placed together. Baroque suites usually take dances as their frame — allemande, courante, sarabande, gigue, with minuets and gavottes inserted between; after the nineteenth century a suite can also be music drawn from a play, a ballet or a film.
The point is not quantity but one thread through different characters: key, theme or occasion holds the movements together. Unlike a sonata, whose movements have a narrative order, a suite is more like a string of beads that can be restrung.
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Sources
- 组曲的体裁历史与舞曲排列，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Suite"；本文为原创表述
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