tarantella

tarantella târˈəntĕlˈə [key], Neapolitan folk dance that first appeared in Taranto, Italy, in the 17th cent. It had rapid 6–8 meter with an increasing tempo and was thought to cure the bite of the tarantula (Lycosa tarantula, a wolf spider), which supposedly caused the disease tarantism. Chopin, Liszt, Weber, and others used the dance in the form of a perpetuum mobile.

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