Paper 45

Programme for a Cotillon Ball, 1799

Contributed by Paul Cooper, Research Editor

A cotillon (or cotillion) ball was held in the port city of Bristol in the year 1799. It wasn't an especially important ball, very little is known about it at all, but the programme of dances from the event does survive. This paper will investigate the concept of a Cotillon Ball and attempt to reconstruct the dancing from this specific event.

Figure 1. A Cotillon Ball in 1799 from the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette for the 11th September 1890. Image reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk).

An important characteristic of Cotillion dances is that they were choreographed, the dancers were required to know (and ideally have memorised) the figures that would be danced in advance. The figures for the dances used at our event were distributed to the attendees in preparation, probably as a printed sheet, a copy of those figures still survives... after a fashion. Ephemeral matter of this type tends not to be archived, it's used and then disposed of, it's only luck that allows us to investigate this specific event. The extant copy of the figures was printed in transcript form in the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette newspaper nearly a century after the event in the year 1890! The programme was printed as a curiosity, the editors considered the event from nearly a century earlier to be a suitable historical amusement for their readership to enjoy; a reader evidently owned an original copy of whatever had been distributed back in 1799, it was offered up to be reprinted, it's that transcript that survives today (see Figure 1).

The dances we'll investigate in this paper are:

• Le Jupon Rouge (64 bars for the main figure)
• Le Pauvre Capagi (either 32 or 64 bars for the main figure)
• York Visit (either 24 or 48 bars for the main figure)
• Oatland House (either 24 or 48 bars for the main figure)
• La Cassette Verte (64 bars for the main figure)
• L'Ete (either 24 or 48 bars for the main figure)
• Lord Nelson (40 bars for the main figure)
• La Vielesse (28 bars for the main figure)
• Prince of Wales (56 bars for the main figure)
• Le Petit Savoyard (32 bars for the main figure)

The terms Cotillon and Cotillion are, for the purposes of this paper, interchangeable. I prefer to use Cotillion unless quoting a source that does otherwise; other variant spellings for technical terminology will also be found within this paper.

The Cotillon Ball of 1799

The 1890 transcript was printed in the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette newspaper for the 11th of September 1890. The port city of Bristol hosted the ball, Bristol is located around 40 miles from the spa town of Bath, it was heavily influenced by the social conventions established at Bath. Bath was, back in the 1790s, arguably the most influential location for social dancing in Britain - visitors to the Spa would arrive from across the nation, they would mingle with people they didn't already know and they would dance together at the town's Assembly Rooms. The Cotillion dance arrived in Britain from France and gained popularity in the mid to late 1760s, it became popular in Bath and subsequently spread across the nation. The success of the Cotillion dance in Britain reached its peak in the 1780s, it then experienced a slow decline towards the end of the 18th century, only to re-emerge in the early 19th century in the less fussy form of the Quadrille dance. Bristol may (perhaps) have retained the Cotillon Ball for longer than many other towns, it was a decidedly old-fashioned dance by the turn of the century, it's moderately surprising that a Cotillon Ball was being hosted in 1799 at all.

The transcript from 1890 (see Figure 1) begins as follows:

Apropos of our remarks in a recent number on the order of dances at the Assembly Rooms, in the year 1775, a correspondent sends us the programme of a ball (Cotillon) at the Assembly Rooms, Bristol, in 1799. As it may amuse our readers to know the different names and sets in those days, we print the dance list in its entirety. Perhaps someone versed in the art of poetry in motion may be able to explain the figures under the terms moulinet, rigadoon, pas de basqui, en avant (?avant) four.

This introduction was followed by a list of four named cotillion dances, with figures, that were described as being before tea and six more that were after tea. A small horizontal rule separates every two dances, this may simply have been for formatting purposes, but it could imply that the cotillions were grouped in pairs (perhaps implying that the same group of dancers would remain together for two complete cotillion dances). It's possible that the original source material included further text now lost: for example, the introduction references pas de basqui steps, a phrase that doesn't otherwise feature within the transcript as we have it. The text that we do have is undoubtedly genuine however; the possibility of minor transcription errors can't be denied, but the terminology and arrangement of the figures is too perfect for it not to be a legitimate late 18th century text. The 1890 editors may not have known what some of the technical terms meant but they faithfully reproduced them. One of the dances is named Lord Nelson, this title helps to date the collection to no earlier than 1798 (the date at which Admiral Nelson received his viscountcy in the wake of victory at the Battle of the Nile); the given date of 1799 for the ball therefore seems both reasonable and likely.

An immediate difference between the description of this Ball and those of other Balls we've studied will be obvious: on this occasion we know the dancing figures that were actually danced, rather than the names of the tunes alone. The previous balls we've studied in our preceding papers consisted mostly of Country Dances, they were unchoreographed dances in which the calling couple were invited to select figures immediately before the dance began; Cotillion dances, in contrast, required synchronised movement from all of the dancers. A Cotillion typically required eight dancers (arrangements for sixteen dancers were uncommon but not unknown) who would move in synchronised patterns; synchronisation required rehearsal, the publication of the figures would be an essential aide-memoire for the dancers, instructions might be kept about the person and used in-situ at the ball itself.

The 1890 introduction began by referencing a previous newspaper column that had in turn referenced events held in 1775; that earlier column was printed in the Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette for the 21st August 1890, it reported the following:

Figure 2. The Cotillion Dance, 1771, courtesy of The New York Public Library.

It may interest some to know how their forefathers were wont to enjoy themselves in Bath. The following, under date April, 18, 1775 is recommended by Captain Wade, the M.C., as the programme of amusements for the remainder of the season:-

Monday - The Dress Ball at the New Rooms
Tuesday - Public Tea and Cards at the New Rooms
Wednesday - The Cotillon Ball at the Old Rooms
Thursday - The Cotillon Ball at the New Rooms and Public Tea and Cards at the old Rooms
Friday - Dress Ball at the Old Rooms
Saturday - Public Tea and Cards at the Old Rooms
Sunday - The Rooms to be open alternately for Tea and Walking.

There were evidently two weekly Cotillon Balls held at Bath in 1775; balls of this nature continued to be mentioned in the Bath press throughout the 1780s.

By the early 1780s the Cotillion dances enjoyed at Bath each season would be published in small annual collections. For example, the Bath Chronicle for 6th January 1780 advertised Printed very small and neat for the pocket, FIGURES of all the New and most Fashionable COTILLONS, As danced in the Public Rooms at Bath for one shilling. Two further such collections were advertised in 1781; the Bath Chronicle (12th July 1781) advertised FIGURES of 29 of the most favourite COTILLONS danced at the Public Assembly-Rooms in Bath, may be had of the Printer of this Paper, and of all the Booksellers in Bath, price One shilling; then (27th December 1781) This Day is published, Price One Shilling, The Third Edition of A Second Collection of COTILLONS, being THIRTY of the most favourite Figures danced at the Public Assembly-Rooms, in Bath. Printed by and for R. Cruttwell, and sold by all the Booksellers in Bath, &c. Of whom may be had, The Third Edition of the FIRST COLLECTION of COTILLONS, being 29 favourite Figures danced in the Rooms at Bath. A third book of figures for use at Bath was published in 1782 (Bath Chronicle, 31st October 1782) and a Sixth book in 1789 (The Times, 11th September 1789). It's unclear how long this convention lasted; the idea of a seasonal collection of dances is one that persisted, most notably with the annual collections of dances issued by such authorities as Francis Werner and Thomas Budd (Budd's annual dance collections continued to be issued into the early 19th century).

By 1792 the interest in Cotillon Balls at Bath was in decline, the Bath Chronicle (6th December 1792) reported: The MASTERS of the CEREMONIES, finding the COTILLON BALLS not so well attended as in former years, and it having been suggested to them that an Alteration in the Entertainments of the Evening would be acceptable, submit the following Arrangements to the Subscribers to that Ball and the Public in general; ... the name of COTILLON BALL be changed to that of FANCY BALL, At which Ladies will be allowed to appear in Hats, or any Mode of Dress (that of Character excepted) which they may think most elegant and becoming. The Ball to commence with a Country Dance, after which there will be one Cotillon only and then Tea. After Tea, a Country Dance, One Cotillon, and the evening to conclude with Country-Dances, and the Long Minuet. Balls consisting entirely of Cotillons were to be phased out, thereafter the Country Dance would be the principal form of entertainment. The Cotillon Ball didn't disappear from Bath entirely in 1792 of course; for example, Mr Deneuville advertised his own First Subscription Cotillon Night in 1794 (Bath Chronicle, 30th October 1794); he promised that Ladies and Gentlemen will be regularly instructed in the Figures and Steps used in Cotillons, Quadrilles, &c.. A year later Mr Mercie advertised (Bath Chronicle, 14th May 1795) that Having lately been in Paris, he likewise teaches the newest Cotillon-Steps, Cotillons, &c. &c.. Occasional references to both the tuition in and dancing of Cotillions sporadically appeared around the country throughout the 1790s and into the early 19th century, only at a far lower frequency than had been known in the 1780s. It's entirely possible that Cotillion Balls continued to be enjoyed nationwide, but as newspaper references to them decline in the early 1790s it seems likely that our 1799 Ball was a late example, it was a form of entertainment that was rapidly disappearing. Individual Cotillion dances would continue to be enjoyed in Ballrooms from time to time in the early 19th Century, an 1807 reference to an entire Cotillion Ball at the Assembly Rooms in Margate exists (Morning Post, 8th October 1807), so too a Cotillion Ball at Bath (Daily Advertiser, 1st February 1808). A Cotillon Ball was also held in Bath in 1806 (Daily Advertiser, 22nd Jan 1806) at which Fourteen cotillions were danced in seven different sets, this sounds similar to our ball of 1799. The 1815 An Epitome of Brighton described a weekly Cotillion Ball as being held at the Castle Assembly Rooms in that city in 1815, they may of course have been dancing something more akin to the Quadrille dance by that date. On a related note, Clementi & Co published some collections of dances in 1810 and 1811 that they described as being Selected for the Cotillion Balls and yet their dances were what later writers would term Quadrilles (we've written more of the Clementi dances elsewhere). These later 19th century cotillion balls seem not to have been cotillions balls of the form that would have been recognised in the late 18th century.

The Cotillion Balls of the late 18th Century

So what was a Cotillion dance, and what was a Cotillion Ball? Such questions are deceptively difficult to answer; most of what we know about Cotillion dancing derives from instruction books published in London c.1770, such texts are incredibly useful but the conventions of the late 1790s may have evolved. In the absence of clear descriptions of how the late 1790s Cotillion was danced we may have to make a few assumptions. We've written about Cotillion dancing in a previous paper, you might like to follow the link to read more about the dance in general; this paper will concentrate on what is most likely to have occurred at our ball. If you want to know about the form of the cotillion, the concept of changes, the steps that were used, and the wider context of the dance, you might like to read our previous paper to learn more.

Figure 3. Rehearsing a Cotilion, 1792. Image courtesy of the National Trust Collections.

There are a great many things we can't know: how many sets of dancers were there, how long did each dance take to perform, which steps did they use, how well rehearsed were the dancers, were the figures announced as the dance was in progress, was there a walk through of the figures prior to the dance, etc.? We can make some educated guesses however. For example, we know that there were four cotillions to be danced before tea and six after, there's only so much dancing that can be squeezed into a single event - there must have been some concessions to timeliness. If, for example, only a single set of eight dancers were to perform at a time, then it's unlikely that many individuals would receive a chance to perform each dance. It seems more likely that as many sets as were inclined to dance would form-up concurrently and that all would dance at the same time; the figures for all of the dances had presumably been distributed to all of the attendees, more than one concurrent set remains probable for that reason too. When the cotillions were first introduced to Britain in the late 1760s it was common to dance a proscribed sequence of changes, this would result in perhaps a dozen iterations of each dance; that strict formality could be a burden however, it's unclear whether it persisted. Logic suggests that extended arrangements would be unpopular; the formality would tire the dancers and would significantly extend the time it would take to dance all ten cotillions from our ball. Whereas, one c.1770 dance collection that I've studied contained a handwritten set of four changes to be used (see Figure 4), perhaps the owner and their friends felt that three or four iterations were sufficient for them. Numerous cotillion collections included the list of changes to use, but as each list differed in the minutiae of detail, most assemblies must have had their own local conventions; whether they danced four iterations or ten is unknowable, it's likely that our dancers of 1799 would dance whatever was generally considered to be comfortable.

A fascinating poem was published in 1811 that described the cotillion dancing conventions at Bath (The Wonders of a Week at Bath, in Doggrel Address), it offers some insight into the preparation for cotillion dancing that may be relevant to our ball:

...
But enough of these matters; this night there'll be millions
To look at the elegant sets at cotillions;
And really this dance is no trifling concern,
For it takes a dull fellow a fortnight to learn;
They seldom are out, to be sure, for the fact is,
They go to the rooms in a morning to practise,
In a gay dishabille, or, just as it suits,
The girls in their clogs, and the men in their boots:
You'll see with some wonder how earnest they look
Now down at their legs, and now up at their book;
For know, my young Sir, that you'll never succeed in
The dancing cotillions, unless with hard reading;
Both spelling and hopping, 'twont do for a dunce
To try two such difficult matters at once;
...

Figure 4. The Changes of Les Quatre Saisons. A hand written collection of four changes for a cotillion dance; the date of the annotation is unknown, it was found within a copy of Mr Siret's c.1770 A set of Cotillons or French Dances.

The implication is that study was required for dancing cotillions, that instructions were issued for the dancers to read, and that informal rehearsal opportunities were available in the mornings for any who needed them (perhaps as depicted in Figure 3). The poem goes on to describe the fictional, but presumably based on genuine experience, injuries that some dancers have sustained while dancing cotillions.

The requirement for rehearsal may have been an unwelcome chore for some. An advertisement from colonial Calcutta referred to the subscription assemblies there recently taking on the name of Cotillion Assemblies (Calcutta Gazette, 27th of October 1791). It continued: it is thought proper to give this public intimation, that Minuets and Country Dances will continue the principal Part of the Amusement, and that Cotillions will seldom or ever be danced, as few will be inclined to go through the Fatigue of Practice previous to the Performance. It's possible that a similar sentiment would have been held at Assemblies across Britain.

A commentator in the early 1780s (Morning Herald, 16th September 1782) complained of unrehearsed dancers at the Hampstead Assembly: He begs leave also to put the Hamstead beaux in mind to perfect themselves in their cotillons before they come into the Ball-room; as it is not only ridiculous, but impertinent in those who pretend to lead down a dance, to make the company wait till they have learnt the figure of it from a book, or have with much difficulty been made to comprehend it by their more accomplished partners!. It's no surprise that some individuals were less well rehearsed than might be hoped for, the problem was clearly endemic. George Keates in his 1779 Sketches from Nature made a similar comment: I must own I am rather sorry to observe, that the COTILLON begins to be introduced into our balls. How far more experience in those dances, may improve us in them, I know not; but I have scarcely yet seen the figure gone through without interruption.. It's likely that by 1799, the date of our ball, the only dancers still actively dancing Cotillions would be those who had danced them over many years and knew what they were doing, that certainly hadn't been the experience of prior decades.

Modern historical dance enthusiasts often expect Cotillion dances to have been Called or Prompted when danced in the 18th century. This is the convention whereby a Master of the Ceremonies (or similar) reminds dancers of the figure of the Cotillion as it is being danced. This seems not to have been the normal convention at the time however. Dance historian Richard Powers has shared an excellent paper demonstrating how the convention of Calling dances seems to have started with the Quadrille dance format in the 1810s. Dancers of the 1790s were expected to memorise the figures of their Cotillions.

Figure 3 shows a cotillion being rehearsed, it's an image dating to 1792. It appears to show a group of people meeting at a town's Assembly Rooms, with the music present, attempting to walk through a dance. There are sheets of paper being held by many of the attendees; it's likely that these sheets have the figures of the dances recorded on them, it may be a sheet of this nature that was the source of the text that was recorded in transcript form in 1890. One of the people depicted will be the dance director, it's unclear which; a group of dancers to the right of the image appear to be successfully dancing a cotillion, a couple towards the centre are attempting to dance an allemande turn, several others are scrutinising their instructions.

Our dancers of 1799 had probably been issued the figures for the cotillion dances in advance and had received the opportunity to rehearse those dances at the assembly rooms (with the orchestra present) prior to the date of the ball. They may have been dancing the same cotillions all season.

Observations on the Figures

The figures that are listed for the Cotillons are reasonable. They're consistent (the same figure seems to use the same amount of music wherever it appears) and they return the dancers back to where they started after each iteration. All seems to be as it should be. We don't have the original music that was associated with each dance, we don't even know how many bars of music should be assigned to each figure (though the use of hyphens as separators do offer a useful clue); there aren't any references to the changes so it's unclear what convention may have existed. Some reconstruction is required.

We do however have an incredibly useful cipher by which to interpret the dances; the first dance of the collection is named Le Jupon Rouge, it had previously been published in Thomas Budd's 1781 9th Book (see Figure 5). Budd published both the music and figures for the dance and he explicitly indicated how much music to assign to each figure; Budd's figures precisely match those from our ball (albeit using slightly different wording), it's clearly the same dance. It's curious that a dance first published in a collection for the year 1781 was still being danced in 1799, one might expect such things to be seasonal. The coincidence is useful for us, we can use Budd's exceptionally clear arrangement of the dance to remove most ambiguity from the surviving instructions for our ball; having done that, we can apply similar ideas to reconstruct the remaining dances. Once the timing of the figures has been reconstructed we can search for suitable tunes of a similar shape that might be employed in place of the unknown originals. An important observation is that Budd provided a strain of music in which the changes would be danced, it's therefore reasonable to guess that Changes were also danced at our ball (although the specific list of Changes remains unknowable).

Figure 5. Thomas Budd's version of Le Jupon Rouge from his The Ninth Book for the Year 1781, Twelve Favorite Cotillons and Country Dances. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD, a.9.cc.(1.) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

It's possible that some of the other Cotillions from our ball had also been published elsewhere, at least one of the names is known from another collection. The most prolific Cotillion publishers of the 1780s were Thomas Budd and Francis Werner; sadly it is difficult to check their collections as so few of their volumes are known still to survive. If currently unarchived copies of their work should be uncovered then we may learn more. Given that one of the dances had previously been published by Budd, maybe several of them had been, it's certainly possible.

We'll now consider each of the dances in turn, estimate how much music is required to dance them, and suggest a possible tune that could be used in a modern recreation of the dance.

Le Jupon Rouge

This dance is especially interesting as it had previously been published in Thomas Budd's 1781 9th Book (see Figure 5), we therefore have both the original musical score and a second explanation of the figures. It was also published, with figures only (no musical score), in the 1784 edition of A Second Collection of Figures to Thirty of the most favourite Cotillons as now Danced at the Assembly Rooms, Bath. It was evidently a popular dance. Budd's tune consisted of four strains of music, the second of which is sixteen bars in length, the others being only eight bars in length. The final eight bars of the second strain were in fact a repeat of the A strain in this particular tune, it could therefore be expressed as a BA pattern. The resultant pattern of the music for the main figure (ignoring the changes) involved 64 bars arranged in the pattern BA,BA,C,A,D,A. This Cotillion was the single most complex of the entire ball, we're lucky to have an independent arrangement of it.

We've animated a suggested arrangement of the dance here.

What follows is an arrangement of the dance with both the 1799 figures and Thomas Budd's equivalent 1781 figures taken into consideration:

The dance then returns back to the start with the next Change being danced. Dancers may like to alternate which pair of couples move forward during the C phrase of the music, perhaps the head couples lead on the first iteration and the side couples on the second - the instructions don't say to do this, but it was a common convention, especially within the slightly later Quadrille dances.

Figure 6. Thomas Budd's Les Bonsenfans from his The Ninth Book for the Year 1781, Twelve Favorite Cotillons and Country Dances. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD, a.9.cc.(1.) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Neither the 1799 text nor Budd's 1781 text reference the dancing of Changes, this is despite Budd's arrangement quite clearly providing the music in which to do so; it's almost certain that Budd would have expected Changes to be danced. It's less certain that our 1799 dancers would have shared that same opinion, it's possible that they'd have used the initial A strain of music as an introduction and have begun dancing with the B strain - this convention would become an established part of the Quadrille dance a decade or so later, there may have been precedence for it as early as 1799. Several of the cotillions, as we will see shortly, are notably quadrillesque in their arrangement, it's plausible that the later style of dancing would be emerging at our 1799 date.

The 1799 text (as quoted in 1890) contains both hyphens and semicolons as separators, they offer some clue to synchronise the arrangement of figures to music; those clues are imperfect however, Budd was much clearer in his arrangement. The hyphens will prove useful when considering the other dances in the programme but we shouldn't rely on them providing a perfect demarcation of the musical arrangement; if they seem unreliable in the later dances then the evidence from Budd is that they could indeed be in error.

Le Pauvre Capagi

This Cotillion is less easily interpreted than Le Jupon Rouge as we we don't have an independent arrangement to compare it against; nor is the name of the tune known (at least to me) from other sources, so there are no external clues to be found. We'll reconstruct this dance from first principles.

An immediate observation is that the structure of the dance isn't entirely obvious. The figures, as written, involve the head couples enjoying all of the activity; the sequence then ends with the instruction The side couples repeat the same figure. This is an arrangement that may be familiar from Quadrille dancing, London's quadrille dances of the mid 1810s routinely featured activity for the head couples that would then be repeated for the side couples; this could be an argument for omitting the Changes from our Cotillion entirely and dancing it straight-through as though it were a Quadrille dance. The term Cotillion was less widely used at our 1799 date than it had been in the preceding three decades, the term French Country Dance sometimes replaced it; one of the implications of this terminological shift is that the stricter protocols of the old style of Cotillion dancing were going out of fashion, the less fussy Quadrille dance would emerge as the favoured style of dance in the 1810s. We could, therefore, interpret this Cotillion dance a-la-Quadrille. The counter argument to this idea is that Cotillions of the 1770s could feature this same repeating structure but with a Change inserted as and when required, arguments can be made in favour of either arrangement.

Three major arrangements would each make sense. We could arrange the dance as Change-heads-sides (repeat) which is the classic Cotillion arrangement with the main figure needing 64 bars of music; as Change-heads-Change-sides (repeat) which will take less time to dance as the Changes are exhausted faster and the main figure requires only 32 bars of music; or as Heads-Sides (no repeat) which is the typical Quadrille arrangement where the entire dance takes only 64 bars of music. These different structures have implications for the musical arrangement that will be required.

We'll arrange our reconstruction as a regular Cotillion of an earlier date, with Changes included, the main figure will require 64 bars of music. There are many ways the music in turn could be arranged, for our reconstruction we'll use a tune that is also sourced from Thomas Budd's 1781 9th Book named Les Bonsenfans (perhaps that should have read Les Bons Enfans, see Figure 6). We'll modify the repeating structure of the tune so as to result in a BB,C,D,BB,C,D arrangement for the main figure; this particular tune has a 16 bar B strain of music the second half of which is as actually a repeat of the A strain, it could therefore be expressed as a BA,C,D,BA,C,D arrangement.

We've animated a suggested arrangement of the dance here.

Alternative arrangements of this dance are clearly possible and you might like to provide your own music to dance it to. We'll go on to discover that several further potentially quadrillesque cotillions were danced at our 1799 ball, you might like to consider arranging this dance as though it were a quadrille of the 1810s.

Figure 7. C Feuillade's Innocent Pleasures from Four new Minuets in 3 parts, Six Cotillions, Eighteen Country Dances & 2 Hornpipes for the Year 1782.

York Visit

The third cotillion at our ball was named York Visit, an immediate and unusual attribute of this dance may be evident: it is named in English. Almost all cotillion dances published in Britain were named in French; this doesn't necessarily imply that they were republished from a French original, just that the French origins of the dance form were emphasised in the dance titles. Whereas this dance, together with several others from our ball, is named in English. The name itself is likely to refer to the Duke of York (the second son of King George III); the cotillion after this one in the programme is named for what was then the Duke's official residence at Oatlands House, the possibility therefore exists that both cotillions were named in combination and in reference to a visit to Oatlands, perhaps even in reference to the 1799 Oatlands Fete that we wrote about in a preceding paper.

The dance, once again, features a sequence of figures for the head couples in the cotillion followed by the instruction side couple to repeat the same figure. This dance could therefore be interpreted as a primordial Quadrille dance of the type that emerged in the 1810s; a difference on this occasion compared to Le Pauvre Capagi is that the figure sequence includes simultaneous activity for all four couples. Most quadrilles of the 1810s provided figures for the head couples alone, then repeated it for the side couples, in strict sequence; our cotillion is less quadrillesque than Le Pauvre Capagi; it's most similar in form to a finale quadrille of the 1810s, a finale was the last dance in a set of Quadrilles, they typically involved simultaneous movement for all of the dancers (though not necessarily in each figure). Our Cotillion could be interpreted as a Quadrille or as a traditional Cotillion.

A further oddity of this dance is that the couples are referred to using absolute positional references. The phrases right hand side couple and left hand side couple are used in such a way as to reference an external observer, rather than being relative to the dancers themselves. The uncertainty from this terminology is the location of the observer; they could be located below the bottom couple and be looking up the room, or above the top couple and looking down the room. An argument could be made in favour of either option, the more probable answer is that the observer was at the top of the room facing down; this is traditionally where the band and master of the ceremonies would be situated, it's also the location of the presence in older styles of country dancing, the top most couple in a cotillion are implicitly the leading couple and figures might be arranged from their perspective. Several of the c.1770 cotillion guides hint at this same absolute naming convention. Modern dance instructions tend to use terminology that is relative to the dancers, not to an external observer.

We'll arrange this dance as a regular Cotillion with 48 bars of movement between each Change. For our reconstruction we'll use a tune named Innocent Pleasures sourced from C. Feuillade's Four new Minuets in 3 parts, Six Cotillions, Eighteen Country Dances & 2 Hornpipes for the Year 1782 (see Figure 7); this tune was also named in English. The tune is arranged in 2/4 time signature and shows the individual strains to be repeated, we'll alter that arrangement slightly by repeating the sequence. The repeating structure of our tune (ignoring the Changes) is B,C,D,B,C,D.

We've animated a suggested arrangement of the dance here.

Alternative arrangements of this dance are possible and you might like to discover your own tune to dance it to.

Figure 8. Martin Platts Junior's La Ballarde from Book XXII for the Year 1788, Eight Cotillions & Six Country Dances. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD, b.52.(6.) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Oatland House

This dance was the fourth of the event and the last of the before tea section of the ball. The dance itself is named in reference to Oatlands House near London, the home of the Duke and Duchess of York (the Duke was the second son of King George III). As we speculated above, this dance together with York Visit may have been named as a pair, perhaps in reference to a visit to Oatlands House, potentially even in reference to the 1799 Oatlands Fete that we've studied in a previous paper.

This particular cotillion is a bit of a challenge to reconstruct as the instructions, as preserved, are mildly perplexing. It's likely that the dancers at the event itself would have received tuition in the dances in advance of the ball; the printed text would have been a memory aid, they weren't expected to learn the figures for the first time from that text and would not be misled by any ambiguities within the text. They, unlike the modern interpreter, would not be confused by any unclear or even cryptic instructions within the text.

The primary area of confusion involves the initial lead their partners figure; the term lead usually implies a promenade or queue du chat figure in which the head couples change places in a curving movement; but we're explicitly instructed to use two chassees and contre-tems in order to change places, an instruction that usually implies movement in straight lines. If changing places in a straight line it might be more convenient for the dancers to arrive in opposite positions improper (the man in the lady's position, and the lady in the man's position); whereas the more typical figure would have the dancers arrive in proper positions. The remainder of the dance might be interpreted quite differently depending on how this initial figure is interpreted. It's notable that one of the other cotillions of the evening named L'Ete included a hands across figure that was to be danced with two contretems which implies that our choreographer was comfortable with using a contretems step sequence to proceed around a curved track.

As with several of the preceding cotillions, this one ends with the instruction side couples do the same. This cotillion could therefore be interpreted as a form of quadrille dance in the style of the 1810s, or as a regular cotillion in either 24 or 48 bars of music. We will arrange it as a regular Cotillion in 48 bars of music. The tune we've selected to match it to is named La Ballarde and can be found in Martin Platts Junr's Book 22 for 1788. This tune consists of two strains of music, an 8 bar A strain for the Changes and a 24 bar B strain (see Figure 8); if the figures were arranged to a four part tune then they would involve a repeating structure of B,C,D,B,C,D but for our tune they're simply BBB,BBB. This particular tune begins and ends with a half bar of music, this identifies the tune as being arranged in the gavotte rhythm; dancers might decide to dance with their steps synchronised on the half bar in the gavotte style.

We've animated a suggested arrangement of the dance here.

It is after this dance that the programme scheduled a tea break.

Figure 9. La Cassette Verte from an unnamed c.1785 collection engraved by Thomas Skillern. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD, d.64.j ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

It's unclear to me as to whether typical cotillion dancers of the late 18th century would dance with a comprehension of gavotte rhythm or not; the Norwich based dancing master T.B. Bruckfield referenced gavot steps as being appropriate for use in cotillions in his 1787 Eight Cotillons, Eight Country Dances, & Two Favourite Minuets, he described the step as follows: is very natural, and is the ground-work of the Cotillons; and, is done in making the rounds, courses, and figures, each of them is equal to half a Bar; and, altho' every Step ought to be regulated in its motion, and of an equal distance; yet there are cases in which it is necessary to lengthen or shorten them accordingly, besides which, it is to be observed, that the Minuet Step is sometimes used. As interesting as this reference may be, it does not indicate that gavotte steps are arranged to the music in an unusual way. Dancers might like to recreate this this dance to a gavotte rhythm.

La Cassette Verte

This cotillion was the first that was scheduled to be danced after tea.

We're lucky that a cotillion tune with the same name as our dance does in fact survive in an undated and untitled c.1785 publication engraved by Thomas Skillern, we can therefore use the Skillern music with our dance (see Figure 9). The copy of the Skillern publication that I've studied has lost its cover, the title is therefore unknown though the contents clearly claim to be engraved by Skillern; the British Library have given this work the invented title of A Collection of 10 minuets for 2 violins and bass, printed in score, and 3 suites of country dances. The Skillern music is perfectly compatible with our dancing figures (though the figures printed by Skillern himself are entirely different); it seems probable that the Skillern tune is what would have been danced at our 1799 event, the compatibility of the arrangement seems too perfect to have been achieved by chance.

The title La Cassette Verte refers to the ministerial green boxes used by the French government, a minor novel of the same name had been published by Monsieur de Sartine in 1779.

The tune engraved by Skillern (as with the example by Budd above) explicitly allocated an A strain of music for use in dancing the Changes for the cotillion, it's therefore reasonable to assume that it would have been danced with Changes at our event of 1799. Skillern's music is in four distinct strains, the second of which is 16 bars long, the others being only 8 bars in length. A single iteration of the figures would take the pattern BB,BB,C,C,D,D for a total of 64 bars of music.

We've animated a suggested arrangement of the dance here.

A curiosity of this dance is that the 1799 figures from our ball differ to those published by Thomas Skillern. It's clearly possible that a popular cotillion dancing tune might be arranged with more than one set of figures; that convention had always been true of country dances (it's not uncommon to find a dozen sets of figures arranged for the same country dancing tune), the same cannot be said for Cotillion dances however - this example is an unusual exception to the convention.

Figure 10. L'Ete from Francis Werner's Book XVII for the Year 1784. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD, b.55.b.(5.) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

L'Ete

This cotillion has a name that might be familiar; a popular sequence of Quadrille dancing figures of the 1810s were known under the same name of L'Ete, they're danced as the second Quadrille in many of the Quadrille sets of the 1810s and beyond. We've described how to dance the L'Ete quadrille figures elsewhere. Our cotillion does not use the figures that would become associated with Quadrille dancing, though several other cotillions had been published that did do so.

A cotillion dance named L'Ete was relatively well known in the 1780s; it was published by both Francis Werner in his Book XVII for the Year 1784 (see Figure 10) and also by Longman & Broderip in their 1786 Book the VI, Twenty Four New Cotillions. These two publications issued the same tune (with minor differences, notably the repeat markers) with similar figures attached. The Werner figures were somewhat similar to the later quadrille dancing figures, the Longman & Broderip arrangement was much more so - one might speculate that the later Quadrille figures were derived from the Longman & Broderip cotillion figures. Our L'Ete cotillion may be entirely unrelated to this family of French Country Dances, but as the name is shared it seems likely that the same tune was intended to be used. Our arrangement therefore uses the tune published by Francis Werner but adapted to the figures from 1799. This tune is a little unusual in that the A strain is only four bars in length.

Our cotillion figures end with the instruction The side couples must repeat the figure, this might offer a reason to arrange the dance as a quadrille of the style popular in the 1810s; we will arrange it as a Cotillion of the style danced in the 1770s. The main figure is 24 bars in length, which when repeated requires a 48 bar tune; using the music we've selected this results in a B,C,AA,B,C,AA structure. This does not match the repeat structure as printed by Werner, but it's closer to the structure printed by Longman & Broderip two years later. Once again the tune is arranged in the gavotte style with a leading half bar of music, dancers may be inclined to dance it to the gavotte rhythm.

We've animated a suggested arrangement of the dance here.

Figure 11. Pas de Basque from Francis Werner's Book XVI for the Year 1783. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD, b.55.b.(4.) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Lord Nelson

This cotillion was newly named at the 1799 date of our event; the honouree, Horatio Nelson, had only received the title Lord Nelson in 1798. The cotillion could have been known by another name at an earlier date but the given title dates to no earlier than 1798.

It's not entirely obvious how the figures for this cotillion were intended to synchronise to the music, our arrangement maps the main figures into 40 bars but alternative arrangements are possible. The music we've selected to accompany the dance is named Pas de Basque (see Figure 11), it was published in Francis Werner's Book XVI for the Year 1783. This tune has four strains of music, each of which is 8 bars in length; the music for the main figure will be arranged with a B,A,CC,D structure. This particular tune includes a passage in a minor key, this was a fairly common characteristic of Cotillion dancing music. An error in Werner's score may be noticed: the C and D strains switch from 4/4 time signature to 2/4 but without making that change clear. It's uncertain whether Werner intended the tempo of the tune to change at that point.

The convention for ending a cotillion could vary across different venues; most of the historical texts fail to address this issue, we're therefore uncertain of which conventions prevailed. Of those texts that do refer to ending the dance most hint that a cotillion would terminate with the last repetition of the main figure, not with a final Change. Nonetheless, some sources do suggest that a cotillion could be terminated with a Change, particularly with a Grand Rond (or Great Ring). Our arrangement of this dance lends itself to termination with a final 8 bar change such as a ring, the music would end awkwardly without that final A strain. The main figure, in our arrangement, ends in a minor key; the music only returns to the major key with the next Change in the sequence.

We've animated a suggested arrangement of the dance here.

Figure 12. Les Plesieur's des Dames from Francis Werner's Book XIII for the Year 1780. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD, b.55.c.(2.) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

La Vielesse

This cotillion appears to require an unusual number of bars of music, our arrangement uses an 8 bar strain followed by a 12 bar strain for the main figure. Most cotillions (as with most country dances) used music arranged in 8 bar strains, but not all did so. There are examples of published cotillions with 12 bar phrases, 20 bar phrases, and other irregular arrangements. The same was true of a minority of early Quadrille dances too, early arrangements of the La Pastoralle quadrille (for example) required 36 bars of music rather than the more normal 32 bars. Cotillion dances were choreographed such that the dancers had to learn the figures in advance of their performance; the music they were danced to would be similarly pre-determined. A tune with an uncommon structure could be paired with compatible figures to make for a slightly different dance; it's therefore taken a little more effort than usual to find a suitable tune for dancing this cotillion given the exotic structure of the dance. The term fancy dance was sometimes used to describe dances that were carefully arranged to suit the music and that couldn't easily be decoupled; this cotillion may therefore have been considered to be a fancy dance.

The tune we've selected is named Les Plesieur's des Dames (see Figure 12) and is taken from Francis Werner's Book XIII for the Year 1780. It consists of an 8 bar A strain which is notated to be repeated 4 times over followed by a 12 bar B strain. The main figure of the dance will use the music in an A,A,B arrangement. If we include two A strains for a Change then that does indeed involve repeating the A strain four times over. It may be noticed that the repeat markers around the B strain are mismatched, the leading marker implies repetition and the trailing marker doesn't; I find this to be a common occurrence in printed dance music of this date and not something to be concerned about - it could be arranged either way. Our arrangement does not repeat the B strain. The printed music then has a coda which would cause the A strain to be played again, in our arrangement we return to the start of the tune for the next Change in the sequence.

Rearranging a tune to suit the needs of a dance is an acceptable thing to do. As modern enthusiasts we sometimes think of a printed score as being sacrosanct and that it must be played as printed; dancers two hundred years ago did not share this expectation - a score was implicitly modifiable. We've explored this concept in some detail in a previous paper.

We've animated a suggested arrangement of the dance here.

We've arranged this figure in 28 bars of music and located a compatible tune to dance it to. It could be arranged in a more conventional 32 bars of music by padding the final moulinet figure into 8 bars and making that figure a little fussier - perhaps taking 2 bars to gracefully enter the moulinet, 4 to rotate, then 2 to turn into places.

Figure 13. The Double Knot from C. Feuillade's Four new Minuets in 3 parts, Six Cotillions, Eighteen Country Dances & 2 Hornpipes for the Year 1782.

Prince of Wales

This cotillion is once again a little unusual. The 1890 text inserts semicolons at odd places in the figure, it seems likely that they're placed erroneously; we've arranged the figures with a more natural arrangement to the music.

The most unusual figure encountered in this dance is promenade quite round (making an allemande at each couple's place), there are several ways this instruction could be arranged. The first consideration is the word allemande itself, that figure could be interpreted as a pirouette-like turn under figure, or as the more common (for the date) interlocked elbows figure, or indeed as some other fancy turn. It could be interpreted with four bars of music to progress one side of the set then four for an allemande, repeated four times for a total of thirty two bars; it could be arranged with two bars of music for the progression and half-allemandes for a total of sixteen bars; it could be arranged with two bars to progress and two for a full-allemande for a total of sixteen bars of music. The most natural arrangement will depend on the speed at which the music is played and the choice of allemande (we've studied some of the options in a previous paper); if the music is played relatively slowly then the motion required can be squeezed into sixteen bars, if the music is played a little faster then thirty two bars might be needed. The other figures in the dance are a little more forgiving to tempo variations, it's this one key figure that will most affect the shape of the dance.

The music we've selected for this cotillion is named The Double Knot, it was published in C. Feuillade's Four new Minuets in 3 parts, Six Cotillions, Eighteen Country Dances & 2 Hornpipes for the Year 1782. This tune is in three parts, we've arranged the main figure with the sequence B,A,B,A,C,C,A for a total of 56 bars of music; it could instead be arranged with a further two C strains for a total of 72 bars of music if preferred.

We've animated a suggested arrangement of the dance here.

Figure 14. Le Petit Savoyard from Charles Wheatstone's c.1819 A Selection of favorite Quadrilles or Fashionable French Dances.

Le Petit Savoyard

This cotillion was scheduled to be the last dance of the event. It, along with Oatland House (the final dance before tea) uses slightly different terminology to the other cotillions; where the other cotillions refer to the top and bottom couples these two cotillions instead refer to the first and third couples; likewise the side couples are referred to as the second and fourth couples in this dance. There's no obvious significance to this change in terminology, it's probably mere coincidence.

Once again we find ourselves with a cotillion that has a slightly awkward arrangement of figures, decisions have to be made concerning how to adapt it to music. One of the more challenging decisions involves the promenade figure; the dancers are instructed to perform a Rigadon step sequence at the first place they come to, then a second Rigadon and Pirouette at the second position. The interpreter has to decide whether the pirouette is intended to be merged into the rigadon such that both activities occupy around two bars of music together, or whether the pirouette is performed after the rigadon with an additional two or four bars of music. The former option is easier to fit to music but is awkward to dance; the later option requires an exotic tune with either a ten or twelve bar strain at the critical point in the dance. Arguments could be made either way.

The piece of music we've selected for this dance is also named Le Petit Savoyard, it is found in Charles Wheatstone's c.1819 A Selection of favorite Quadrilles or Fashionable French Dances. It's unlikely that the Wheatstone music is that to which our cotillion was originally arranged, though this isn't impossible. The Wheatstone tune was arranged for dancing the Finale figures of a Quadrille Set, it wouldn't be unreasonable to use it for a Cotillion dance instead. The tune is in three parts, each of which is eight bars in length; we've arranged the main figure with the sequence B,A,C,A for a total of 32 bars of music.

We've animated a suggested arrangement of the dance here.

Conclusion

Many questions that might be asked of our 1799 Cotillion Ball remain unanswered, little can be known with any certainty. We do have the figures for the ten Cotillions, reconstructing them remains nonetheless an inherently imperfect undertaking, if you'd like to reconstruct them to different music or with different timing and figures then please feel free to do so. Our arrangements have been made in the style of the English cotillion dancing of the 1770s, you might prefer to arrange them without Changes in a style closer to that of the subsequent Quadrille dance, or to dance each Cotillion with a strict sequence of a dozen Changes, or so forth. Part of the fun is that there is so much room for artistic expression when interpreting a dance; even if we knew for certain what was danced at our event in 1799 it's entirely possible that the same dance would have been danced in a different way only a few weeks later or in another town.

We'll leave the investigation here; if you have any further thought to share then do Contact Us as we'd love to know more!