Allemande

[1] Along with the waltz and ländler, the allemande was sometimes referred to by the generic term German Dance in publications during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

[2] A quite different, later, Allemande, named as such in the time of Mozart and Beethoven, still survives in Germany and Switzerland and is a lively triple-time social dance related to the waltz and the Ländler.

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[3] of two or occasionally three sixteenth notes.

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".