The gigue is a rapid, lively old dance that derives from the British folk dance the jig. In the classical Baroque suite the gigue is traditionally the final, concluding movement, meant to sum up the whole cycle brightly and exuberantly.
The gigue is characterised by a fast tempo and a “leaping,” springy rhythm based on a compound meter (most often 6/8, 9/8, or 12/8). Often the gigue was written in an imitative, polyphonic manner — themes pass from voice to voice, as in a fugue — which lends the music both intellectual play and festive energy. Together with the allemande, courante, and sarabande, the gigue forms the backbone of the Baroque suite, and fine examples of the genre are found in the work of Johann Sebastian Bach, Handel, and other masters of the era.
