Suite Partitions

In music, the terms 'suite' refers to a set of instrumental pieces, written for either a soloist. or a group of players (chamber orchestra, band, symphonic orchestra). The first suites date from the 14th century, and were often a simple set of ordered dances. By the Baroque period, though, the suite had become an important musical form, with a tonal relation between pieces. Terms that were often interchangeably used with 'suite' were 'ordre', 'partita', and sometimes 'overture'. During the Classical and early Romantic periods, the Suite fell out of use, with the symphony being a much more popular -and structurally coherent- type of multi movement work. The form was later revived in a slightly different form, no longer incorporating dances but simply many movements, or extracts from Operas and Ballets, or incidental music.