The Night Watch: la volta

To read the history of la volta, visit www.earlymusicmuse.com/lavolta La volta is the name of a dance type rather than a specific melody, so there were many individual tunes named La Volta. The first here is English, from Margaret Board’s handwritten lute book, c.1620 and 1635, reset for renaissance guitar. The second is German, from Terpsichore, 1612, a compendium of dance music collected by German composer Michael Praetorius. The superimposed dancers are Nonsuch, and their full video can be seen at    • Video