The Capriol Suite is a set of dances composed in October 1926 by Peter Warlock

Peter Warlock

Peter Warlock was a pseudonym of Philip Arnold Heseltine , an Anglo-Welsh composer and music critic. He used the pseudonym when composing, and is now better known by this name....

, and is considered one of his most popular works. Originally written for piano duet, Warlock later scored it for both string

String orchestra

A string orchestra is an orchestra composed solely or primarily of instruments from the string family. These instruments are the violin, the viola, the cello, the double bass , the piano, the harp, and sometimes percussion...

 and full orchestra

Orchestra

An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...

s. According to the composer, it was based on tunes in Thoinot Arbeau

Thoinot Arbeau

Thoinot Arbeau is the anagrammatic pen name of French cleric Jehan Tabourot . Tabourot is most famous for his Orchésographie, a study of late sixteenth-century French Renaissance social dance...

's Orchésographie, a manual of Renaissance dance

Renaissance dance

Renaissance dances belong to the broad group of historical dances.During the Renaissance period, there was a distinction between country dances and court dances. Court dances required the dancers to have been trained and were often for display and entertainment, whereas country dances could be...

s. Nevertheless, Warlock's biographer, Cecil Gray

Cecil Gray

Cecil Gray was a Scottish music critic and composer. He published books on the composers Jean Sibelius, Peter Warlock and Carlo Gesualdo, the last of these co-authored by the same Warlock; also a history of music, collections of essays on music, a play about Gilles de Rais and an autobiography.He...

, said that "if one compares these tunes with what the composer has made of them it will be seen that to all intents and purposes it can be regarded as an original work."

The suite consists of six movements, most in D minor

D minor

D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. In the harmonic minor, the C is raised to C. Its key signature has one flat ....

:

1. Basse-Danse, Allegro moderato
2. Pavane, Allegretto, ma un poco lento
3. Tordion, Con moto
4. Bransles, Presto
5. Pieds-en-l'air, Andante tranquillo, G major
   G major
   G major is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp, F; in treble-clef key signatures, the sharp-symbol for F is usually placed on the first line from the top, though in some Baroque music it is placed on the first space from the bottom...
   
   
6. Mattachins (Sword Dance), Allegro con brio

The individual movements are very brief; a performance of the suite lasts about 10 minutes.