Sarabande is a dance that originated in Central America in the 16th century and was popular in the Spanish colonies. Although at the beginning it was indecent, it gradually shed its provocative character and evolved into a slow and court dance. In the early 1700's, Handel adjusted the Sarabande for one of his compositions.
Since its composition, the piece remained in obscurity until the 1970s, when the film director Stanley Kubrick used the music in his film "Barry Lyndon". The film was based on the 1844 book "The Luck of Barry Lyndon" by William Makepeace Thackeray, about the story of a young Irishman (Ryan O’Neal) who marries a rich widow to gain access to the upper class, only to fall from grace by his own personality weaknesses: being opportunistic, snob and deceptive. This is a morality story about how our choices determine our fate, and chance has no place in our lives. The movie begins and ends with a duel, and the setting for the final duel is a barn, resembling a church, where the rivals are torn by their emotional stress while musical spells of "Sarabande" haunt the viewer.