Triple metre in the context of "Passacaglia"

The waltz (from German Walzer [ˈvaltsɐ] , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, in triple ( 
₄ ) time, performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the generic term German Dance in publications during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

The courante, corrente, coranto and corant are some of the names given to a family of triple metre dances from the late Renaissance and the Baroque era. In a Baroque dance suite an Italian or French courante is typically paired with a preceding allemande, making it the second movement of the suite or the third if there is a prelude.

The sarabande (from Spanish: zarabanda) is a dance in triple metre, or the music written for such a dance.

A minuet (/ˌmɪnjuˈɛt/; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually written in
₄ time. The English word was adapted from the Italian minuetto and the French menuet.

The term also describes the musical form that accompanies the dance, which subsequently developed more fully, often with a longer musical form called the minuet and trio, and was much used as a movement in the early classical symphony. While often stylized in instrumental forms, composers of the period would have been familiar with the popular dance.

The polonaise (/pɒləˈnɛz/, French: [pɔlɔnɛz]; Polish: polonez, Polish pronunciation: [pɔˈlɔnɛs]) is a dance originating in Poland, and one of the five Polish national dances in
₄ time. The original Polish-language name of the dance is chodzony (pronounced [xɔˈd͡zɔnɨ]), denoting a walking dance. The polonaise dance influenced European ballrooms, folk music and European classical music.

The polonaise has a rhythm quite close to that of the Swedish semiquaver or sixteenth-note polska, and the two dances share a common origin. Polska dance was introduced to Sweden during the period of the Vasa dynasty and the Polish–Swedish union.

The German Dance, also known as Deutsche, Deutscher Tanz and Teutsche, was a generic term utilized in the late 18th and early 19th centuries for partner dances written in triple metre. These encompassed several different types of dances, including the waltz, ländler, and allemande. Composers of German Dances frequently wrote and published them in sets of three, six, or twelve for use at balls. Many composers published sets of Deutsche, including Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Franz Schubert to name a few.

Franz Schubert's Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D 759 (sometimes renumbered as Symphony No. 7, in accordance with the revised Deutsch catalogue and the Neue Schubert-Ausgabe), commonly known as the Unfinished Symphony (German: Unvollendete), is a musical composition that Schubert started in 1822 but left with only two movements—though he lived for another six years. A scherzo, nearly completed in piano score but with only two pages orchestrated, also survives.

It has been theorized by some musicologists, including Brian Newbould, that Schubert may have sketched a finale that instead became the big B minor entr'acte from his incidental music to Rosamunde, but all evidence for this is circumstantial. One possible reason for Schubert's leaving the symphony incomplete is the predominance of the same meter (triple meter). The first movement is in
₄, the second in
₈ and the third (an incomplete scherzo) again in
₄. Three consecutive movements in basically the same meter rarely occur in classical symphonies, sonatas, or chamber works.