Category Archives: Country Dancing

Mr. Siret, A Set of Cotillons, c1770

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A Set of Cotillons, or French Dances by Mr Siret is undated, but has been ascribed to around 1770. This places it among the collections published soon after the cotillon first became popular in London. The title page declares that Siret’s cotillons are ‘properly explain’d and illustrated, by Corographical Lines, drawn on a plan entirely new & far superior to those which have been before Published’, adding that both the tunes and the figures are by him.

Unlike the other treatises that appeared in London around this time, which all have verbal descriptions, Siret records his dances in a form of notation like that used in France for the publication of contredanses. He was probably French – he is very likely the Siret recorded as a musician in Paris around 1780 who had earlier published music in London. He may have been a relation of the French organist and composer Nicolas Siret (1663-1754).

Siret explains the notation he uses. He gives the same symbols to the ladies and the gentlemen, except that the ladies are shown in white and the gentlemen in black, with partners sharing identical shapes. He makes a mistake when he says ‘every Gentleman has his partner on his left hand’.  In his diagram of the couples standing in a square, Siret does show the ladies on the right according to convention.

He lists seven changes, plus the grand rond ‘all eight hands round and back again’. These, he says, are ‘the most fashionable’. Each dance has an ‘Explanation of the Plan’, which is a verbal description of the figures, and a ‘Plan of the Figures’, which notates them. The ‘Explanation’ names some steps, for which Siret provides no descriptions. His six cotillons all have French titles.

Siret obviously intended to make his mark among the dancing masters competing for attention, and dance students, in late 18th-century London. All these cotillon collections raise the question of dancing masters and their lessons, my next topic.

Henry Kingsbury. A Cotilion. [Detail, right hand side]. 1788. © Trustees of the British Museum

Henry Kingsbury. A Cotilion. [Detail, right hand side]. 1788. © Trustees of the British Museum

George Villeneuve Junior, A Collection of Cotillons, 1769

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The 1769 Collection of Cotillons by George Villeneuve ‘Junior’ advertises its ‘plain and easy Directions’ on the title page. He lists seven steps and nine changes. His twelve cotillons all have French titles.

The epithet ‘Junior’ presumably distinguished George Villeneuve from his father. It is likely that he was the son of the Mr Villeneuve (also George) who danced at Drury Lane and then Covent Garden between 1734 and 1756. The elder Villeneuve married another dancer, Elizabeth Oates, at Lincoln’s Inn Chapel on 8 September 1735. George Junior was apparently born on 7 November 1738. Unusually for dancing masters at this period, his family tree can be traced a little further. George Villeneuve Junior married Susannah Smart on 20 May 1769 at St Mary in Marylebone Road, shortly before his book was first advertised. The couple had at least four children between 1770 and 1778.

There are no records to suggest that George Villeneuve Junior ever worked as a dancer on the London stage. He presumably taught ballroom dancing to amateurs, perhaps working with or in succession to his father. He may also have been a musician, as many dancing masters were, although the title page to the collection says nothing about the composer of the music. The collection was obviously designed to capitalise on the dance’s popularity and probably to draw attention to Villeneuve as a dancing master.

Henry Kingsbury. A Cotilion. [Detail, centre right]. 1788. © Trustees of the British Museum

Henry Kingsbury. A Cotilion. [Detail, centre right]. 1788. © Trustees of the British Museum

Thomas Hurst, The Cotillons Made Plain and Easy, 1769

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On the titlepage of his 1769 collection, The Cotillons Made Plain and Easy, Thomas Hurst describes himself as ‘Of  the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, Late Pupil and Assistant to Mr. Grimaldi Ballet-Master’. Giuseppe Grimaldi (d.1788) worked at Drury Lane from 1758 to 1785 and was the father of the famous clown Joseph Grimaldi. Hurst seems to have worked at Drury Lane from 1755, when he was a child dancer, until at least 1782.

Given his background, Hurst’s remarks in his preface are surprising. He refers to the many books already published on the cotillon, complaining that they ‘cannot be of service to any but great proficients’ and declaring that he will avoid the terminology and steps of theatre dancing. He offers no French tunes, preferring instead English, Irish and Scotch airs for his cotillons. Hurst dedicates his book ‘to the Dancing-Masters of these Kingdoms’. Perhaps he was just setting up as a teacher of social dancing.

Hurst provides a diagram of the ‘Dancing-Room’ which shows clearly the placing and numbering of the four couples. He briefly explains how to perform a cotillon – the bows, the alternation of changes and the figure, and the changes themselves. He lists fourteen changes, explaining that he has added ‘several new ones, to those now in use’. He says nothing about steps. Thomas Hurst’s sixteen cotillons all have French titles, which he translates into English.

Henry Kingsbury. A Cotilion. [Detail, centre left]. 1788. © Trustees of the British Museum

Henry Kingsbury. A Cotilion. [Detail, centre left]. 1788. © Trustees of the British Museum

Giovanni Battista Gherardi’s Three Books of Cotillons, 1768-1770

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Three collections of ‘Cotillons or French Dances’ were compiled by Giovanni Battista Gherardi and published in the late 1760s. Notices in the Public Advertiser for 9 March 1768 and 2 March 1769, together with the date 1770 on Gherardi’s dedication in the third volume, suggest that they appeared over two to three years. Gherardi himself dates the first volume to1767 and the second to 1768, a discrepancy which is worth further research although this is not the place for it. If he did not initially conceive them as a set, Gherardi obviously developed this idea as he went on, for each of the three volumes provides additional information about the cotillon.

Fourteen Cotillons or French Dances, of 1767 or 1768, lists nine changes and nine step sequences. The fourteen cotillons all have French titles, perhaps suggesting a Parisian origin for the choreographies. The book also has music for four allemandes, indicating the parallel growth in popularity of the allemande country dances (like cotillons, performed in a square formation by four couples) as well as the couple allemande.

The Second Book of Cotillons or French Dances, of 1768 or 1769, includes an additional explanation of twelve ‘Figures the most in Vogue’. It lists the same nine sequences of steps as the first volume, referring also to ‘the steps necessary for the Country Dance in Allemande’ although Gherardi does not list or explain these. This book has twelve cotillons, three of which are also titled ‘Allemande’. At the end of his introductory text, Gherardi proposes ‘to the Nobility and Gentry, admirers of these fashionable performances, a Subscription for a Cotillon Academy’. He intends to teach not only cotillons ‘of his own composing’ but also all other fashionable dances, including Allemandes. The beau monde would be protected from interlopers ‘as the Subscription shall be wholly confin’d to Ladies & Gentlemen of Rank, Fashion, & Fortune’.

In his A Third Book of French Country Dances or Cotillons, Gherardi explains ‘several Figures not much used’. There are nine of these. The nine step sequences are the same as before, but the nine changes differ from those in the first book. Does this suggest an evolution of the cotillon, or merely alternatives in use in London’s ballrooms? Gherardi provides twelve more cotillons, all with French names. He also advertises his ‘Academy … for the Winter’ to begin in the following January. He must have had to work hard to maintain his position as one of London’s leading dancing masters.

I will return to Gherardi’s explanations and descriptions later.

Henry Kingsbury. A Cotilion. [Detail, left hand side]. 1788. © Trustees of the British Museum

Henry Kingsbury. A Cotilion. [Detail, left hand side]. 1788. © Trustees of the British Museum

Cotillons in print

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Apart from Gallini’s New Collection, the 1760s saw the appearance of a number of small books offering instruction in the cotillon along with several choreographies for enthusiasts to dance. Giovanni Battista Gherardi ‘some Time since principal Dancer at the Opera in Paris’ led the way with ‘A Collection of the most favourite Cotillons now in vogue in Paris’, announced for imminent publication in the Public Advertiser for 9 March 1768. This was presumably the Fourteen Cotillons or French Dances published by Welcker. Gherardi followed this up with A Second Book of Cotillons or French Dances, which appeared a year later, and then A Third Book in 1770. The Second Book was advertised as costing 2 shillings (10 pence, around £20 in today’s money although an exact equivalent value is hard to calculate).

Thomas Hurst’s The Cotillons, Made Plain and Easy was published in April 1769. It, too, cost 2 shillings. A Collection of Cotillons by George Villeneuve Junior came out in May 1769, at the slightly cheaper price of one shilling and sixpence (around 8 pence, say £15 today). There was also Mr Siret’s A Set of Cotillons or French Dances, perhaps published a year later in 1770.

All these books offered advice on dancing the changes, figures and steps in cotillons. For the dances, Gherardi, Hurst and Villeneuve followed the English practice of describing country dances in words. Siret adopted the French convention of a simplified form of notation. Between them, these manuals provide a detailed introduction to the cotillon when it first became fashionable.

I will look at each cotillon manual in more detail in later posts.

Gallini’s Additional Tunes

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At the end of the New Collection of Forty-Four Cotillons, Gallini includes ‘Music for Six select Dances, Two of which may be used as Cotillons’. The tunes are individually titled:

Allemande (a cotillon, numbered 45)

Le Prince de Galles (a cotillon, numbered 46)

Le Charmant Vainqueur

La Fourlane Venitienne ou La Barcariuole

Menuet du Dauphin

Le Passe-pied de la Reine

In his Treatise upon Dancing of 1762, Gallini had listed the dances ‘most in request’, although he did not include the allemande. This dance, which had a long history, was enjoying a revival in a new and fashionable form alongside the cotillon.  Gallini did list some titles which dated back to the early 1700s, alongside others which seem to be little more than generic dance types. Among the former are the Bretagne and La Mariée, while the latter include the Forlana and the Passepied. The Menuet du Dauphin is the title of a choreography by the famous French dancing master Marcel, published in notation in Paris in 1765, although Gallini supplies different music. In the late 1760s, other dancing masters advertised a similar repertoire. It is all but impossible to know what choreographies were actually danced. Were amateur dancers still expected to perform dances from the court of Louis XIV in London’s ballrooms? Were fashionable French ballroom duets performed in London as well as Paris?

I will return to dancing masters and their lessons. The survival of dances from an earlier era is a topic for exploration at a later date, as is the allemande.

Gallini’s cotillons

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The first, and best-known, of the manuals on the cotillon published in London seems to have been Gallini’s. His A New Collection of Forty-Four Cotillons, appended to his Critical Observations on the Art of Dancing, appeared around 1765. Most of the book is taken up with music and written instructions for the cotillons themselves, but Gallini begins with ‘General Rules’. These aren’t as helpful as they might be since he assumes that would-be dancers are already familiar with the square formation and the numbering of couples around the set. (I write here as a relative newcomer myself to this dance).

He begins by explaining that every cotillon begins with a Grand Rond and that any of another 8 changes may be danced after the figure. Gallini assumes that his readers know the basic structure of the cotillon. He then lists and explains a number of figures and steps – but ‘only those which are used in the following Cotillons’. These are the ones he includes.

Allemande; Assemblé; Balancé; Chaines; Chassé; Contretems;

Moulinet; Pirouette; Poussette; Course or Promenade; Quarrés;

Queue du Chat; Ronds; Rigaudon

It is not surprising that the terminology is entirely French. Indeed, the ‘Frenchness’ of this dance probably added to its appeal in London.

In his instructions for each cotillon (all of which have appealing French titles), Gallini specifies only the opening Grand Rond and then describes the Figure. He does explain the musical structure. In some cotillons, he specifies the use of minuet steps. Some knowledge and interpretation is needed to actually perform these dances.

The Cotillon becomes fashionable

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The growing popularity of the cotillon can be traced through advertisements and other mentions in the pages of London’s newspapers, particularly the Public advertiser. The dance begins to attract attention in 1768, although some of the references suggest that it was already being regularly performed at balls before then. (Newspaper references before 1768 have proved elusive, which doesn’t mean that there aren’t any). However, throughout 1768 and 1769 the cotillon is quite obviously becoming very fashionable – it’s the dance that everyone wants to do. It appears at least two or three times each month in different contexts.

There are advertisements by dancing masters offering to teach the cotillon alongside other ballroom dances, and even regular classes devoted to it. Cotillon music is advertised, encouraging enthusiasts to buy collections of tunes to play for their own private dances at home. Music publishers also printed treatises for those wishing to learn the dance (or perhaps for other dancing masters wanting to teach cotillons). There are critical or amusing letters, most written with satirical intent. Some of London’s leading entertainment venues, including Soho Square and Ranelagh Gardens, provided cotillon rooms – underlining the dance’s  importance to paying customers. The craze for cotillons was such that Drury Lane included one among the dances offered between the acts of the plays that were the theatre’s main fare.

James Caldwell, after John Collet. The Cotillion Dance. 1771. © Trustees of the British Museum

James Caldwell, after John Collet. The Cotillion Dance. 1771. © Trustees of the British Museum

In due course, I will trace in more detail these various strands surrounding the cotillon.

The Cotillon arrives in London

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Giovanni-Andrea Gallini’s Critical observations on the art of dancing, with its ‘collection of cotillons or French dances’ was probably first published in 1765. This was the year before he retired from the London stage as a dancer and director of dances at the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket (London’s opera house). Gallini was also a dancing master, teaching pupils from high society. 1765 seems to have been the year of his first subscription ball, given at the ‘Great Assembly Room, King Street, St James’s’ – later advertisements would make clear that this was Almack’s, the famous club which also opened that year. Gallini’s subscription balls would become an annual event in London’s social calendar.

Cotillons are frequently referred to as ‘French country dances’ in English sources. They have been identified with the contredanses françaises that began publication in Paris in the early 1760s. Did Gallini introduce the cotillon to London? He had trained in Paris and, although he had worked continuously in London since the late 1750s, he may well have returned there from time to time. He must surely have maintained his dance contacts in France, since they would have been useful for his work at the King’s Theatre.

There are several brief accounts of Gallini’s career in London, although none of them pay attention to his work as a dancing master. I will return to him, but my immediate concern is the success of the cotillon in London’s ballrooms.

The Cotillon

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I’m a recent convert to the cotillon. I love these lively little French contredanses with their four couples facing inwards around a square engaging in a game of perpetual motion. I’d really like to dance more of them, but it is difficult to find enough good dancers who are able to get together regularly to learn and practice. Cotillons are not easy.

So, what is a cotillon? It’s a country dance but, as I said above, it is a French country dance – a contredanse – in which the couples stand in a square rather than in two lines (the usual English form). It alternates a figure, which can be quite complex, with a series of simpler changes. The dancers continually move around the set and they never stop dancing. Danced at a good speed, the cotillon is an 18th-century aerobic workout.

My ambition is to get together a group to work on a potpourri cotillon. In these little choreographies each change is followed by a different figure. Unlike the ordinary cotillon, which uses the same music throughout, the potpourri cotillon has new music for each successive change and its figure. So, it is a challenge to the dancers’ memory and musicality as well as their stamina.

Here’s an example of an early cotillon, which hasn’t yet developed into the structure found from the mid-18th century. It is danced with a pleasing energy and precision, although I can’t help feeling that no group of 18th-century dancers would have been quite so accurate in their performance.