What is the bpm of this tempo marking?

Question:I have a piece of music from Sonata in G Major by Jean-Baptiste Loeillet, and the tempo marking is Giga, and i cant find a definition of it anywhere! Does anyone know how fast this should be??

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I have a piece of music from Sonata in G Major by Jean-Baptiste Loeillet, and the tempo marking is Giga, and i cant find a definition of it anywhere! Does anyone know how fast this should be??

The above answer is correct.
However, know this -- gigue is a style, not a tempo marking, from the baroque period. The gigue is a lively dance that did not have tempo markings, the tempo was left up to the performer and standard style practices of the time! Any tempo markings added are probably the result of the arranger at a later date.
My best suggestion to you is to remember, this is a dance piece, you want it to be fast enough that someone can dance to it, but not sound frantic. This is the fun part about being a musician -- you get more control over the music! So, decide where your threshold is to make the movement sound lively and dance-like without sounding frantic.

Giga is a Gigue or Jig. Normally in 6/8 time. It should be quite fast. Click the link below to hear a (pretty bad) preview.