A little while ago, Robert Kenny (author of the marvellous Monsieur Francisque’s Touring Troupe) kindly sent me transcriptions of advertisements in the Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal for 25 July and 26 August 1741 which billed performances at the theatre in Canterbury by a Monsieur Nivelon. I immediately began to wonder whether he was the famous Monsieur Nivelon (the subject of my last post Revisiting the Career of Francis Nivelon). Further research revealed that this Nivelon had danced in London as well as in Canterbury over a period extending from October 1740 to August 1741. There is no record of his return in subsequent seasons. So, who was he?

It is evident that he was not Francis Nivelon, making a return to the London stage where he starred for so long. The advertisement for this Nivelon’s first performance at Drury Lane in the London Daily Post and General Advertiser, 13 October 1740, includes:

‘… a Peasant Dance by Mons. Nivelon, lately arriv’d from Paris, (being the first Time of his Appearance in England) …’

The entry for this performance in The London Stage only partly transcribes the bill. ‘Mons. Nivelon’ apparently danced at Drury Lane  until around the middle of April 1741, where his entr’acte repertoire comprised this Peasant Dance (which may have been either a group dance or a solo, the wording of the bill is unclear), The Enchanted Garden (one of several group dances led by the Fausans, who were very popular visitors at Drury Lane in 1740-1741) in which he danced Pierot Man with Miss Thompson as Pierot Woman and a French Peasant duet with Mlle Duval. He also appeared in a number of afterpieces: The Rural Sports, as Hercules; Harlequin Shipwreck’d, as a Tryton; and The Fortune Tellers, as a Pilgrim in the ballet A Voyage to the Island of Cytherea. In addition, Nivelon was among the dancers in the mainpiece Comus (in which he may have given his last performance at Drury Lane on 16 April 1741).

His identity as another Nivelon is further suggested by his performances at the New Wells, Clerkenwell during April and May 1741, where he danced a solo Drunken Peasant, the duet Miller and His Wife with Mlle Duval, and the group dance Les Matelotes Provencale [sic] which he led (the other performers included ‘Mons. La Pierre, Madem. Duval, Madem. Nivelon’). These performances were advertised in the London Daily Post and General Advertiser for 6 April and 11 May 1741.  Nivelon seems then to have gone to Canterbury, returning to London only in late August, when he gave a French Peasant solo at Lee and Woodward’s Booth, Bartholomew Fair, on 26 August 1741. The following day, 27 August 1741, he was again advertised at the New Wells, Clerkenwell as ‘lately arriv’d from Paris’ (which seems not to be true as he had been dancing in Canterbury) and performing ‘several new dances’ for which no details are given. These appearances were advertised in the London Daily Post and General Advertiser for 26 and 27 August 1741.

This brings me back to his short season in Canterbury, where Nivelon was billed as dancing with ‘a Company of Comedians from the Royal Theatres in London’ from 8 June to 28 August 1741. I list the newspapers in which the advertisements can be found at the end of this post. So far as I can tell, he gave eleven performances over that period, dancing a varied repertoire and partnering Mlle Roland. I think she was probably the French dancer Ann Roland, who made her debut at Drury Lane in 1735-1736, then moved to Covent Garden for 1737-1738 where she was still dancing in 1740-1741. (Her sister Catherine Roland followed a similar career in London – it is sometimes difficult to tell them apart in the Drury Lane and Covent Garden bills – but danced principally with Michael Poitier and seems less likely to have ventured to Canterbury to appear with a new partner).

In Canterbury, Nivelon danced two solos: French Peasant, Drunken Peasant. Mlle Roland had three solos: Louvre, Serious Dance and Scotch Dance. They were billed together in three duets: Pierrot and Pierrette, Tambourin and a ‘French Dance’. There were also two ‘Pantomime’ dances in which they appeared together: The Art of Making Love in Switzerland and The Gardener and His Wife, as well as another piece entitled The Rambling Lovers, in which Mlle Roland was Colombine to Nivelon’s Harlequin. They both danced in The Beggar’s Opera, when it was given on 7 August 1741. Here is the advertisement from the Kentish Post or Canterbury News Letter, 1-5 August 1741.

In addition, Nivelon danced among the Countrymen and Women in The Dragon of Wantley (given on 22 June and 8 July 1741) and as Harlequin in the ‘Favourite Scene of Harlequin Skeleton’ which ended the performance on 10 August 1741.

Nivelon was also advertised as teaching dancing while in Canterbury, albeit only once. Here is the advertisement in the Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal, 13 June 1741.

Mlle Roland was advertised as teaching at least three times during the Canterbury season.

The information about this other Nivelon dancing in London and Canterbury raises a number of questions about our knowledge and understanding of stage dancing in London and the provinces at this period. One concerns the relationship between dancing at the patent theatres and the lesser venues in the capital. Another is the importance of provincial touring for professional dancers employed in London during the season, which usually ran between September and the following June. Sybil Rosenfeld published an extensive exploration of the world of provincial performance in her Strolling Players and Drama in the Provinces 1660-1765 (Cambridge, 1939), which is yet to be built on by dance historians.

There is also the question as to who this Monsieur Nivelon was. His repertoire suggests a link with Francis Nivelon. Without further research it is impossible to be sure what this link might be, although it seems likely that it was a family relationship. Was he perhaps a nephew, the son of one of Francis Nivelon’s brothers? There is far more work to be done on Monsieur Nivelon and his performances in London and Canterbury in 1741.

Kent and Canterbury Newspapers:

Kentish Post, or Canterbury News Letter

30 May-3 June 1741; 8-12 July 1741; 23-25 July 1741; 1-5 August 1741; 5-8 August 1741; 15-19 August 1741; 19-22 August 1741; 22-26 August 1741

Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal

13 June 1741; 20 June 1741; 27 June 1741; 8 July 1741