The quadrille is a
dance that was fashionable in late 18th- and 19th-century Europe and its colonies. The quadrille consists of a chain of four to six ''
contredanses''. Latterly the quadrille was frequently danced to a medley of opera melodies.
Performed by four couples in a rectangular formation, it is related to
American square dancing.
The Lancers, a variant of the quadrille, became popular in the late 19th century and was still danced in the 20th century in folk-dance clubs. A derivative found in the Francophone
Lesser Antilles
The Lesser Antilles ( es, link=no, Antillas Menores; french: link=no, Petites Antilles; pap, Antias Menor; nl, Kleine Antillen) are a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. Most of them are part of a long, partially volcanic island arc bet ...
is known as ''
kwadril'', and the dance is also still found in
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
and is within old Caribbean culture.
History
The term ''quadrille'' originated in 17th-century military parades in which four mounted horsemen executed square formations. The word probably derived from the Italian ''quadriglia'' (diminutive of ''quadra'', hence a small square).
The dance was introduced in France around 1760: originally it was a form of
cotillion in which only two couples were used, but two more couples were eventually added to form the sides of a square. The couples in each corner of the square took turns, in performing the dance, where one couple danced, and the other couples rested. The "quadrille des contredanses" was now a lively dance with four couples, arranged in the shape of a square, each couple facing the center. One pair was called the "head" couple, the adjacent pairs the "side" couples. A dance figure was often performed first by the head couple and then repeated by the side couples. Terms used in the dance are mostly the same as those in
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form ...
, such as ''
jeté,
chassé
The ''chassé'' (, French for 'to chase'; sometimes anglicized to chasse ) is a dance step used in many dances in many variations. All variations are triple-step patterns of gliding character in a "step-together-step" pattern. The word came fro ...
,
croisé,
plié'' and ''
arabesque
The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...
''.
Reaching English high society in 1816 through
Lady Jersey, the quadrille became a craze. As it became ever more popular in the 19th century it evolved into forms that used elements of the
waltz
The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position.
History
There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the w ...
, including The Caledonians and
The Lancers. In Germany and Austria dance composers (
Josef Lanner and the Strauss family) composed for the quadrille. Its popularity made it a metaphor, the "
stately quadrille", of the constant formation of fresh political alliances with different partners in order to maintain the
balance of power in Europe.
Lewis Carroll lampooned the dance in ''
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...
''s "
The Lobster Quadrille" (1865).
Though new music was composed, the names of the five parts (or ''figures'') remained the same, as did the steps and the figures themselves. The parts
[ p. 97] were called:
# ''Le Pantalon'' ("Trousers")
# ''L’été'' ("Summer")
# ''La Poule'' (The Hen")
# ''La Pastourelle'' ("The Shepherd Girl")
# ''Finale''
All the parts were popular dances and songs from that time (19th century): ''Le Pantalon'' was a popular song, the second and third part were popular dances, ''La Pastourelle'' was a well-known ballad by the cornet player Collinet. The finale was very lively.
Sometimes ''La Pastourelle'' was replaced by another figure; ''La Trénis''. This was a figure made by the dance master Trenitz. In the Viennese version of the quadrille both figures were used: ''La Trénis'' became the fourth part, and La Pastourelle the fifth, making a total of six parts.
[Bob Skiba, "Here, Everybody Dances: Social Dancing in Early Minnesota", ''Minnesota History'', vol. 55, no. 5 (Spring, 1997), 220]
available online
accessed May 3, 2011
The quadrille – musical analysis
Thus the quadrille was a very intricate dance. The ''standard'' form contained five different parts, and the Viennese lengthened it to six different parts. The following table shows what the different parts look like, musically speaking:
* part 1: Pantalon (''written in ' or '')
*: theme A – theme B – theme A – theme C – theme A
* part 2: Été (''always written in '')
*: theme A – theme B – theme B – theme A
* part 3: Poule (''always written in '')
*: theme A – theme B – theme A – theme C – theme A – theme B – theme A
** ''Part 3 always begins with a two-measure introduction''
* part 4: Trénis (''always written in '')
*: theme A – theme B – theme B – theme A
* part 5: Pastourelle (''always written in '')
*: theme A – theme B – theme C – theme B – theme A
* part 6: Finale (''always written in '')
*: theme A – theme A – theme B – theme B – theme A – theme A
** ''Part 6 always begins with a two-measure introduction''
All the themes are 8 measures long.
References
See also
*
Joseph Binns Hart, composer of quadrilles
Historically related forms of dance:
*
Contra dance
*
Square dance
*
English country dance
*
Irish set dance
{{Authority control
European dances
French music history
Dance forms in classical music
Square dance
Country dance
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