The passamezzo (plural: passamezzi or passamezzos) is an Italian folk dance from the 16th and early 17th centuries.

Many songs named "passamezzo" use one of two musical patterns that were later called passamezzo antico and passamezzo moderno. These patterns were repeated many times one after another during the dance.

During the Renaissance, the passamezzo dance was often followed by other dances with a 3/4 time signature, such as the saltarello, gagliarda, or paduana.

Name

There are many different ways to spell the term. In Italian or international writing, it is also written as pass'e mez(z)o, passo e mezzo, and passomez(z)o. In early English writing, the term often included the word "measure" because of a common belief, leading to spellings like passemeasure, passingmeasure, passy-measures, or passemeasure(s) pavan, especially to describe the passamezzo antico progression. Terms following the passamezzo moderno progression are called "quadro pavan" or "quadran(t) pavan."

Influence

In the 1550s, French printed collections of passamezzo antico music were created. These collections were edited by Claude Gervaise for Attaingnant and by Jean d’Estrée for du Chemin. Catherine de’ Medici’s love for dancing helped increase the sharing of music between France and Italy. It also supported the creation of a French version of the Florentine Intermedii.