French origin, shifting meters at cadences (usually a hemiola).

• A. Courante
• B. Allemande
• C. Corrente
• D. Sarabande

Answer: (A)

The key idea is a Baroque dance with a distinctly French origin that is built to play with meter, especially at cadences. The courante is known for its lively, flowing character in triple time, but it often shifts the feel at cadence points, creating a hemiola—a cross-rhythm where two groups of notes in one meter line up against three groups in another. In practice, this means you hear a momentary sense that the rhythm is cutting across the underlying triple pulse, as if the accents are moving from three-beat groupings to two-beat groupings right before a cadence.

That’s what sets it apart from the others. An Allemande is German in origin and usually more steady and flowing in 4/4 or 2/4 without the characteristic hemiola cadential effect. A Sarabande is typically slower, of Spanish origin, and emphasizes the second beat in a stately triple meter rather than shifting meters at cadences. A Corrente (Italian) is fast and light, often in 3/8 or 3/4, but its defining trait isn’t the French hemiola at cadences.