150. A _suite_ is a set of instrumental dances all in the same or in nearly related keys. The first dance is usually preceded by an introduction or prelude, and the various dances are so grouped as to secure contrast of movement--a quick dance being usually followed by a slower one.
The suite is interesting to students of the development of music as being the first form _in several movements_ to be generally adopted by composers. It retained its popularity from the beginning of the seventeenth to the end of the eighteenth centuries, being finally displaced by the sonata, whose immediate predecessor it is thus seen to be.
The _suite_ was formerly written for solo instrument only (harpsichord, clavichord, piano) but modern composers like Dvo[vr]ák, Lachner, Moszkowski, and others have written suites for full orchestra also.
151. Among the dances commonly found in suites are the following:
_Courante_--a very old dance in triple measure.
_Csardas_--Hungarian dance in duple or quadruple measure.
_Habanera_--Spanish dance in triple measure.
_Mazurka_--Polish dance in triple measure.
_Polonaise_--Polish dance in triple measure.
_Rigaudon_--lively dance in duple or triple measure.
_Tarantella_--swift Italian dance in sextuple measure.
The _allemande_ is especially interesting to students of music form because of its relation to the sonata, it being the prototype of the sonata-allegro (_i.e._, the first movement of the sonata). The _sarabande_ and _courante_ are likewise interesting as the prototypes of the second movement, and the _bourée_, _minuet_, etc., for their connection with the third movement.
152. The _scherzo_ (lit. musical joke) is a fanciful instrumental composition. It was used by Beethoven as the third movement of the sonata instead of the more limited minuet, but is also often found as an independent piece.
153. A _sonata_ is an instrumental composition of three or more movements (usually four), the first and last of which are almost always in rapid tempo. Each of these movements is a piece of music with a unity of its own, but they are all merged together in a larger whole with a broad underlying unity of larger scope. The composition receives its name from the fact that its first movement is cast in _sonata-form_. (See Sec. 157 for description of sonata-form.)