Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Melody – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Instrumental music from the 16th and 17th centuries rarely finds itself in the spotlight among performers and listeners. Recordings of such music are even rarer. This makes Traditerra all the more intriguing—a collective bringing together professional performers of Renaissance and Baroque music: Vladimir Molodtsov and Ksenia Kudryavtseva (wind instruments), Dmitry Cherevko (plucked string instruments), Yuri Posypanov (percussion), and multi-instrumentalist Ekaterina Lozbeneva.
Michael Praetorius made history primarily for his treatise, Syntagma Musicum. His music is known only to a few specialists. Yet, in that same treatise, he listed his works on 28 pages! Of this entire list, only a few sacred works and a collection of French dances, Terpsichore, have survived.
Here, it's important to note an important point: Praetorius didn't compose, but rather copied and arranged the melodies of dances in vogue at the time, as transmitted to him by French dance masters. One cannot help but recall the phrase persistently attributed to Glinka: "The people create music, and we, composers, merely arrange it!" In Praetorius's case, this aphorism should be taken in its most literal sense. The lion's share of this collection consists of courantes—an absolute hit of the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. There are far fewer voltes, ballets, galliards, and branles—genres little known today.
Terpsichore's dances are often included in the repertoire of ensembles performing early music, including the renowned The Early Music Consort of London and the New London Consort. Interestingly, different groups have clear favorites: foreign ensembles often choose ballets and voltes from the wealth of Terpsichore's music, while the Traditerra album primarily features branles and courantes. And this, perhaps, is its greatest interest: listeners are introduced to virtually every variety of branle, from the simple to the royal. Another distinctive feature of the Traditerra ensemble is its use of combinatorial play—composing one dance from several, freely alternating knees. All of this was typical of the living performance tradition of the time. The dances recorded by Praetorius do not pretend to be complete works. They can and should be varied and combined.
In pursuit of an authentic sound, Traditerra turns to instruments described by Praetorius himself: hummelchen, recorder, guitar, cittern, landsknechttrommel, and panderet. The ensemble always manages to find a balance in their combinations, achieved through two key techniques: the gradual introduction of timbres and their variation. The density of the sound changes from piece to piece, featuring both solo and group dances. Among them, the "Simple Branle," with its naive, pastoral undertones, and the "Double Branle," with its somewhat out-of-place, meditative, oriental introduction, sound like quiet intermezzos. Some of the dances have been given a rounded three-part structure by Traditerra, not so characteristic of early music but familiar to the modern ear. Ultimately, the album's form builds into a suite with perfectly calibrated dynamics and drama.
The colorful world of folk music recreated by Traditerra resonates with the paintings of the Little Dutchmen—the numerous scenes of revelry and feasting. The dances of "Terpsichore" would fit in well with our times. I believe the album will certainly find admirers among Dungeons & Dragons fans—connoisseurs of the so-called "medieval" atmosphere. Listening to these simple melodies, you're unlikely to conjure up the elegant image of one of the denizens of Parnassus, to whom the title of Praetorius's collection refers. But they serve as excellent proof of the well-known line by the "last troubadour," Guillaume de Machaut: "The Science of Music is how to sing, dance, and be merry."
Ivan Semkin, "Musical Life," March 22, 2026
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