quadrille - The beginning – horsemen, From paired horses to paired dancers, Dances within Dances

A popular 19th-c dance, performed to music (often arranged from contemporary tunes) in a lively duple time.

For the Noel Coward play, see Quadrille (play).

Quadrille is a historic dance performed by four couples in a square formation, a precursor to traditional square dancing.

The beginning – horsemen

The term quadrille came to exist in the 17th Century, within military parades, where 4 horsemen and their horses performed special square shaped formations or figures.

From paired horses to paired dancers

This performance became very popular, which led people to perform a quadrille without horses. In the 18th Century (estimated around 1740) the quadrille evolved more and more in an intricate dance, with its foundation in dances like cotillions.

The quadrille (in French quadrille de contredanses) was now a lively dance with four couples, arranged in the shape of a square, with each couple facing the center of that square. The couples in each corner of the square took turns, in performing the dance, where one couple danced, and the other couples rested.

Dances within Dances

As the quadrille became even more popular in the 19th Century , it evolved into forms that used elements of the waltz, including Caledonian, Lancer, Ländler, Deutscher, and so on. And if it was performed with dancers – audiences also preferred to listen to the dance alone, and not dance to it – the way of dancing to the parts remained (mostly) the same too. The parts were called:

Le Pantalon (a pair of trousers) L’été (summer) La Poule (hen) La Pastourelle (shepherd girl) Finale

All the parts were popular dances and songs from that time (19th Century). In the Viennese version of the quadrille, both figures were used, where La Trénis (it was translated into French) became the fourth part, and La Pastourelle the fifth part, making a total of six parts for the Viennese quadrille.

The quadrille - music analysis

Thus the quadrille was a very intricate dance. The following table shows what the different parts look like, musically speaking:

part 1: Pantalon (written in 2/4 or 6/8)

theme A – theme B – theme A – theme C – theme A

part 2: Été (always written in 2/4)

theme A – theme B – theme B – theme A

part 3: Poule (always written in 6/8)

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 2/4)

theme A – theme B – theme B – theme A

part 5: Pastourelle (always written in 2/4)

theme A – theme B – theme C – theme B – theme A

part 6: Finale (always written in 2/4)

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.

The quadrille as a card game

In the 18th century the name quadrille was also given to a card game that was played by four players (played in pairs), with a deck of 40 cards (the 8s, 9s and 10s being removed).