Paper 30

The Country Dances of the Cahusacs

Contributed by Paul Cooper, Research Editor

The Cahusac family operated music shops in Georgian London between the 1750s and 1820s. In this paper we'll consider their history, their dance publications, and some of the more interesting figures within their extensive Country Dancing repertoire. They are best remembered today as the publishers of the Duke of Kent's Waltz, a favourite dance with modern enthusiasts, but they deserve to be known for more than that one tune.

Figure 1. Image of Thomas Cahusac II, c.1800. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The Cahusac Family

Thomas Cahusac (1714-1798) made and sold musical instruments from his shop in The Strand. He died in 1798, passing the store to two of his sons, Thomas Cahusac (b. 1756, hereafter Thomas II, see Figure 1) and William Maurice Cahusac (b. 1770). The half-brothers operated the business for another couple of years, before splitting into independent concerns. Annual Country Dance publications were sold by the various Cahusac businesses between at least 1785 and 1821, with sporadic surviving publications from earlier dates.

A particularly useful investigation into the early career of Thomas Cahusac was published in The Galpin Society Journal, Oct 1988, by Maurice Byrne. Byrne charted their early history, his paper is available to be read though JSTOR; if you're interested in the Cahusacs, I'd recommend reading it. Byrne discovered that Thomas Cahusac made flutes in the 1740s from an address in Stationers Alley, and speculated that he may have been apprenticed to an instrument maker caller Johan Just Schuchart in the 1730s. Cahusac's early career is veiled in mystery. Byrne reports that he moved to his permanent address at 196 The Strand (opposite St Clements-Dane Church, see Figure 2) in 1753, he remained there until his death in 1798; this address was conveniently located just around the corner from the Crown and Anchor Tavern, one of the more significant dancing venues in London. An obituary (The Sun, 28th May 1798, see also The Gentleman's Magazine for 1798) reported that he died the oldest musical instrument maker in London, at the advanced age of eighty four years, much respected by all his friends. He was a father of thirty children and married to four wives. The thirty children seem not to have been an exaggeration, Byrne confirmed the existence of many of them through the records of the IGI.

Figure 2. Above: 196 The Strand, from the Horwood map of 1792-9. © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD, HUS 050. Below: A row of buildings demolished in 1810. © Trustees of the British Museum, Crace XVII.183. The Cahusac music shop is highlighted in both images.

Thomas' brother Daniel Cahusac had died in 1782, his Will is available through the National Archives; Daniel left money to Thomas, and to various of Thomas' children. Thomas' own Will from 1798 is also available through the National Archives. Thomas left money to several of his daughters, and split the stock in trade of his business between Thomas II and William Maurice to share and share alike. He also left money to two of his grandsons by Thomas II, they were Thomas III and William; these grandsons shared the same names as their Father and Uncle, adding ambiguity to the historical record (later references are easily confused between the second and third generations of the family).

Thomas I operated his business at 196 The Strand between 1753 and 1798 (see figure 2). His son Thomas II operated a music warehouse of his own at 4 Great Newport Street, near Long-Acre (Bath Chronicle, 31st October 1782) between about 1780 and 1786, before moving to Reading. He announced his arrival in Reading (Reading Mercury, 6th February 1786) as follows: Thomas Cahusac, (from London) begs leave to acquaint the public, that he has taken the shop next door to Mr. Lyne's, Minster-street, Reading, which will be opened as soon as possible it can be fitted up for selling all sorts of MUSIC and MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. Mrs Cahusac having taught the Harpsichord and Piano Forte, for upwards of 12 years, begs leave to offer her service to the ladies of Reading and its neighbourhood, and doubts not but they will find her character and knowledge of the above instruments to be such as will insure their kind encouragement and protection. N.B. Mrs Cahusac will wait on any lady or family immediately. A succession of adverts appeared in the Reading press over the following three years, often listing musical instruments for sale; a final such reference (Reading Mercury, 26th January 1789) reported that he: begs to acquaint them that he is going to leave Reading, in a short time, to be with his father in his business, at No 196, facing St Clement's Church, Strand, London. Any person in want of Instruments or Music may be supplied during his stay in Reading.

Thomas II may have returned to London to enter into business with his father, but William Maurice appears to have retained his independence. Doane's Musical Directory for 1794 described him (or potentially another of the half brothers with a similar name) as being at 24 James-Street, Westminster, a member of the Academy of Ancient Music, and a member of the Chapel Royal Choir. At some point William did join his father's business. The Cahusac Country Dancing publications for 1796 addressed the business as that of Cahusac, rather than Thos Cahusac, or similar variants as used at earlier dates. The publication for 1797 named them as Cahusac & Sons. Thomas Cahusac Senior died in 1798, thereafter the half brothers operated as T. & W.M. Cahusac until c.1800, when they evidently separated. The Will of Thomas I had advised that if the half brothers wished to separate they should take a year to split the concern, it seems that they did so. Following the split, William's country dance collections doubled in price from 6d to 1s.

Thomas II operated from 41 Haymarket, near Picadilly from at least 1802 (Morning Chronicle, 14th June 1802), then from 114 New Bond Street by early 1805 (Morning Post, 27th February 1805); it appears that he sold his house and entire stock in trade in 1807 (Morning Chronicle, 3rd February 1807). References to him thereafter are vague, and may be to his son Thomas III (who was an organist, chorister, and composer). While he remained in business Thomas II specialised in producing flutes for the Military (e.g. Morning Post, 3rd March 1806): Regiments furnished with Instruments on the most reasonable terms, at the shortest notice.

Figure 3. A Cahusac Trade Card, c.1800. Courtesy of the British Museum.

William Maurice continued in business at 196 The Strand until being forced to move by the c.1810 demolition of that entire row of buildings (see figure 2). His country dancing publications for 1811 listed his new address as 79 High Holborn, a location he remained at until his bankruptcy in September 1816 (e.g. The Literary Panorama and National Register). He recovered sufficiently to continue publishing Country Dance collections from a series of temporary addresses around Brunswick Square; the publication for 1817 was published from 39 Lucas Street, 1820 was from 30 Cromer Street, and 1821 was from 87 Cromer Street. I know of no further publications; no Cahusac businesses are listed in Kent's Original London Directory for 1823, this hints that they may have ceased trading by that date.

An 1804 advertisement on behalf of Thomas II listed examples of the stock available through his shop (Morning Post, 18th December 1804): Thomas Cahusac begs leave to acquaint the Nobility, Gentry, and Public, the INSTRUMENTS which he manufactures are inferior to none with respect to tone and workmanship, particularly German Flutes of every kind in ivory, ebony, cocoa, and box-wood, of which he has an elegant and large assortment, which he sells at reduced prices. A fine toned Chamber Organ to be Disposed of. Just published, a New Hymn for Christmas Day, composed by Thomas Cahusac, Jun, 1s. Two Sets of Dances for the year 1805, each 1s. An earlier advert from his time in Reading (Reading Mercury, 14th January 1788) listed his stock as: Bassoons from 3 guineas to 5l 5s., Voxhumanes, Tenoroons, Clarionetts from 1l 11s 6d to 2l 12s 6d, Hautboys from 12s to 1l 11s 6d, German Flutes from 7s 6d to any price, Common Flutes and Fifes of all sizes, a fresh assortment of all sorts of Violin Strings. It's likely that each of the Cahusac shops would have maintained a similar stock; they are best remembered today as manufacturers of fifes.

The Cahusacs operated at least one workshop, producing instruments in-house; they were also related by marriage to other musical instrument manufacturers.

Cahusac Family Dance Publications

The Cahusacs published numerous annual Country Dance collections. A publication exists for the year 1758 (there's a copy in the Mitchell Library in Glasgow) and it's likely, based on the page numbers, that a 1757 edition existed too; another edition was published for the year 1764 (the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library have a copy). Whether there were publications issued between these years is less clear, I've yet to find evidence of them. A series of Twenty Four Country Dances For The Year .... exists for the years 1785 through 1814, issued for most (perhaps all) of the intermediate years. A second series of Twelve Country Dances, with their basses, for the year .... exists for the years 1788 through 1821 (perhaps with a few omissions). This second series are interesting as they feature a bass accompaniment. It's noteworthy that William Maurice continued to publish the collections of 12 after his 1816 bankruptcy, this suggests that they were financially successful and worth his effort to continue with. The popularity of Country Dancing was waning across the industry from around 1818, so it's especially noteworthy that he continued doing so.

Figure 4. James Cantelo's Cotillons, as sold by Cahusac. Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 31st October 1782. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Image reproduced with kind permission of The British Newspaper Archive (www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk).

The Cahusacs had an association with the dancers of the city of Bath. As early as 1782 the Bath based musician James Cantelo published a set of Twenty-five new Cotillons, being the Music to the Third Book of Figures; composed (and humbly inscribed to the Nobility and Gentry, subscribers to the Cotillon Balls at Bath) by J. CANTELO (Bath Chronicle, 31st October 1782, see Figure 4). It was described as being printed for the Author; and sold at J. Bland's, No 45, Holborn, and at Mr Cahusac's music-shop, Great Newport-street, near Long-Acre, the address identifies the Cahusac retailer as Thomas II. The Cantelos were a high profile musical family based in Bath, they regularly featured in the concerts at the Bath Assembly Rooms. A subsequent collection of American Country Dances were also published on behalf of one of the Cantelos (variously identified as the trumpet player Hezekiah Cantelo, or the keyboard player Thomas Cantelo, or perhaps even James himself) by Longman & Broderip in 1785, this indicates that the Cahusac association wasn't exclusive.

James Cantelo also had a Bath based distributor for his book, they were sold from Lintern's and Whithead's music-shops. James Lintern operated one of Bath's major music shops, he was also credited as being the Bath distributor of the Cahusac dance collections. A collection of Thirteen Favorite New Waltzes & Country Dances was jointly published c.1800 by T. & W.M. Cahusac and J. & W. Lintern, Bath. It's likely that their relationship spanned many more works, and continued through to Lintern's death in 1817 (his Will is available through the National Archives); his successor was George Parker, Parker in turn was named as the Bath distributor of William Maurice's dance collections from 1818. Parker printed an advert in 1820 (Bath Chronicle, 27th January 1820) in which he mentioned availability of the favourite DANCE of the Regent's Park (as danced at the Upper-Rooms every ball night); The Regent's Park was included in the Cahusac collection for 1820, along with a another called Freemasons Hall that was described as being As Danced at BATH and WELLS. It seems likely that Parker was promoting tunes published by the Cahusacs, and encouraging the Cahusacs to publish tunes popular in Bath.

Figure 5. The cover of James Platt's Book 4, Twelve New Country Dances for the Year 1799 printed and sold for T. & W.M. Cahusac, Musical Instrument Makers. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD, a.11 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Another collaborator of note was the Composer and Dance Publisher James Platts. Platts published his Book 4th, Twelve Country Dances for the year 1799 through T. & W.M. Cahusac (see Figure 5), his earlier editions were published elsewhere; this collection is interesting for being credited as the first Book ever published with a Tambourine Accompaniment (The Observer, 17th February 1799). They also printed a tutor to the German Flute, a large collection of songs and hymns, and a series of at least eight publications titled Music For The Amusement of a Leisure Hour.

The Cahusacs seem not to have been one of the bigger music publishers in London; my interest in them lies primarily with their collections of Country Dances, many of which are worthy of note.

Golden Period Cahusac Country Dancing Figures

I've been able to study a large selection of the Cahusac dance collections (indexed below), though not all of them. I group them into four broad collections: the early period (pre 1785), the golden period (1785-1804), the quiet period (1805-1813), and the late period (1814 onwards). The early period is defined by a scarcity of information, there's not much to comment upon as so little is known to have survived. Their golden period is a delight to study, with many interesting figure combinations that distinguish their dances from those of other publishers. The quiet period is again marked by a lack of evidence, but what does survive is consistent with the mainstream of Country Dancing for that period - these collections are nice enough, but nothing special (and the figures and music often mismatch). Their later period covers the time during and after William Cahusac's bankruptcy, collections of this period are recognisably Wilsonian in style (that is, in the style of the prominent Dancing Master Thomas Wilson, we discuss this period below).

Interpreting the figures of a typical Country Dance publication can be a challenge. The historical sources provide insufficient information for us to really know what the otherwise terse figure descriptions were supposed to mean; and even if we knew exactly what the publisher intended to be understood, there's little reason to think that the public at large would share that same comprehension. Moreover, many collections featured combinations of figures and music that didn't fit together, and dancers were liable to ignore published figures anyway. The Cahusac collections of their golden period are rather more interesting than those of the typical collection - the figures fit the music, and the associated text is unusually descriptive. Those extra details can be used to inform our reconstructions. For example, as many as 19 different variants of the lead down figure emerge from across their pages. What follows is a brief discussion of some of the Cahusac figures that have struck me as particularly notable, most of which are from their golden period.

Figure 6. Earl Morias Waltz, from W.M. Cahusac's Annual Collection of Twenty Four favourite Country Dances for the Year 1804. Image © VWML, EFDSS

• Lead Down

  We've discussed this most fundamental of Country Dancing figures before elsewhere, it's a figure that did evolve over time. It could be used as either a short figure or a long figure; it could be followed by a cast, or a return to places, or a return to progressed place; it could involve forward motion or sideways motion (also known as a gallop); it could involve partners taking one hand or both, and so forth. Examples of all of these variants can be found to be explicitly present within the Cahusac dance collections, including:
  • gallop down up again & cast off e.g. The Suwarrow Bonnet, 24 for 1800
  • gallop down 2 & 2; up again & cast off e.g. The Automaton Chess Player, 24 for 1800
  • Gallop down 1 Cu and cast off e.g. Mount Vernon, 24 for 1799
  • Gallop down 2 Cu, up again, foot it and cast off e.g. The Drunken Patriot, 24 for 1799
  • Gallop down, up again & cast off e.g. Gems of Genius, 24 for 1798
  • lead down your partner with one hand 4 Cu other hand back again e.g. Earl Morias Waltz, 24 for 1804 (see Figure 6)
  • lead down your partner with one hand, up again & cast of e.g. The Maid of Bristol, 24 for 1804
  • lead down 1 Cu, up again and cast off e.g. The Military Fete, 24 for 1799
  • Lead down the middle up 1 Cu e.g. O dear what can the Matter be, 24 for 1794
  • The 1st Cu lead down the middle one Cu, and come up on the out side to their proper places e.g. The Reel of Fife, 24 for 1794
  • Lead down 2 Cu & up one e.g. Lady Derby's Waltz, 24 for 1798
  • Lead down 2 Cu up again and cast off e.g. The Jay, 24 for 1796
  • lead down 2 Cu up again e.g. Dunster Castle, 24 for 1791
  • lead down the mid: four Cu: up again e.g. The Daphne, 12 for 1814
  • Lead down two Cu, up again e.g. Tibbs Fancy, 12 for 1791 [note, this example appears to involve returning to places]
  • Lead down the middle and back again into the second Cu's places e.g. Dutchess of York's Fancy, 12 for 1793
  • Lead down the Middle & Allemand at Bottom, Lead up & Allemand once round e.g. Money out of Pocket, 12 for 1797
  • down the middle open handed back again e.g. Dutchess of Bedfords Waltz, 24 for 1804
  • Dance 2 Cu down Back & up again e.g. Botheration Rigg, 24 for 1802

  Whether or not these figures are entirely unique is open to debate, some may imply a cast, some clearly don't - a reconstruction remains non-trivial. It's abundantly clear that (at least for the Cahusac choreographer(s)) there wasn't a single universal lead down figure employed in every single dance. It's curious that several of the figures emphasise use of a single hand, or an open handed lead, this could imply that the two-handed sideways lead was more common at this period (or even that a promenade embrace was commonly used), and that they would emphasise the single handed figures in the dances for which they were intended to be used.

  It's also interesting to note that several of the c.1800 dances use the term gallop. By the time that Thomas Wilson began publishing in 1808 the gallop seems to have been the most common form of leading for London's dancers; that the Cahusac choreographer emphasised the term c.1800 may hint at a point of transition where both the old-favourite forward facing lead and the new-favourite sideways facing lead were both widely used.

• Figure 7. Tindel's Favourite, from Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1791. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD, a.248.(3.) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Allemande

  This is another figure we've written about before, twice. The Cahusac collections are interesting as most publications offer little insight into the style of Allemande to be used in a Country Dance, whereas the Cahusacs often did. Examples include:
  • Alemande with your partner with Right hand back with left e.g. Dutchess of Bedfords Waltz, 24 for 1804
  • Cross Alemande twice round e.g. Earl Morias Waltz, 24 for 1804 (see Figure 6, context suggests the Cross is part of the Allemande)
  • Allemand once round e.g. The Youthful Frolick, 12 for 1797
  • Allemand to the right and Cast off, Allemand to the left and Cast up e.g. Tindel's Favourite, 24 for 1791 (see Figure 7)
  • Allemande half round back again e.g. The Jubilee, 24 for 1790
  • Ballance Allemand e.g. The light heart, 24 for 1800

  Once again it's clearly the case that the Cahusac choreographers had more than one different figure in mind for the word Allemande, some of their dances would feature more than one type of Allemande within a single choreography (e.g. The New Forest, 12 for 1797); it's arguable that Earl Morias Waltz was choreographed to contain three different Allemande figures within it (see Figure 6). It's perhaps significant that their most frequent allemande variant (when arranged for a single long measure strain of music, and during their golden period) involves allemanding with the right hand, and then with the left; this figure appears in so many of their choreographies that I've come to think of it as the Cahusacian Allemande. I imagine it as an overhead allemande, perhaps involving a pirouette turn, and perhaps changing places; unfortunately their meaning isn't clear, but the key point is that a specific hand is involved in the allemande, rather than a turn in a specific direction.

  As with the lead down, it's likely that many different allemande figures were known to the Cahusac choreographer. This in turn lends credence to the idea that dancers at large employed many different allemande figures.

• Swing Corners

  This is another staple figure of Country Dancing. A swing is a single handed turn, a swing corners is a sequence of single handed turns starting from a progressed position; the first turn is generally with the right hand, the second with the left, then to the right, and finally to the left. The primary sources describe two major variants of this figure, they might loosely be described as swinging corner, partner, corner, partner, and partner, corner, partner, corner. The second variant was certainly the favourite of Thomas Wilson in the 1810s, it's harder to find clear evidence of the first variant being used (other than by the A.D. writer in the 1760s). The Cahusacs however appear to have preferred the first variant, and they offer a rare sighting of a third variant too. They use such figures as:
  Figure 8. The Philosophers Fancy, from Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1790. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD, a.248.(2.) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
  • Swing corners into places e.g. David's Waltz, 12 for 1802
  • Swing corners and swing in the middle e.g. Miss Roycroft's Fancy, 12 for 1794
  • Swing contrary Corners & swing your Partner in the middle e.g. The Maid of Bath, 12 for 1795

  The terminology is sufficiently vague to remain open to interpretation, but where they do indicate a specific swing corners variant to use, they seem to prefer the corner-partner-corner-parter sequence (which is distinct from Thomas Wilson's preferred partner-corner-partner-corner variant). They often employed a swing corners without further qualification, this could imply that they defaulted to partner, corner, partner, corner and only intended otherwise when it was made explicitly clear to do so. Their swing corners into places figure name is interesting, it seems to suggest two single swings rather than one of the more common figures.

• Lead Outsides

  This figure is one of the most confusing figures in the whole of historical Country Dancing, it could imply any of around a dozen distinct figures. The Cahusacs once again provided additional hints from which we might reconstruct what their choreographer intended to be understood; and once again, there's more than one figure implied across their publications.
  • lead outsides and back again e.g. The Request, 24 for 1790
  • Lead your Partner outside and set; Ditto back to the other side; and turn once round in the middle e.g. The Philosophers Fancy, 24 for 1790 (see Figure 8)
  • foot it out sides and turn e.g. The Woodmen of Arden, 24 for 1799
  • Swing Corners & foot it out sides with your Partner e.g. Miss Rae's Whim, 24 for 1804
  • Sett opposite Corners and turn, Lead out sides e.g. Trip To Carlisle, 12 for 1788

  The fifth figure that has a lead outsides following set opposite corners and turn could be the same as one described by the anonymous A.D. writer in the 1764 Country Dancing Made Plain and Easy; that writer described a figure called lead out at the sides. That variant begins with the first couple in the centre of the minor set, slightly off their normal position, something easily achieved if the preceding figure ends with a turn in the middle. A.D. wrote: lead out at the man's side first, by the man's right, and woman's left hands; and on coming again into the middle, lead out at the woman's side with the other hands, ending in the second couples place proper. This style of leading outside can follow neatly after the variant of swing corners in which partners end by turning each other in the centre.

  Figure 9. A Lead Outsides cartoon, c.1819; adapted from A Dance of Crotchets and Quavers.

  The most fascinating description for me is the second one (Lead your Partner outside and set; Ditto back to the other side; and turn once round in the middle, see Figure 8); by the late 18th century the term lead could often imply a sideways movement, so lead your partner outside may have involved partners taking two hands and slipping/galloping sideways out of the set on the men's side, then crossing back across the set and out at the ladies' side. The Cahusac description closely matches the otherwise obscure description of the figure provided by Thomas Wilson in his publications (in most detail here), and is also consistent with that of the 1764 A.D. writer (who explained of Lead outsides from the middle that This figure the modern dancers have turned into galloping out at the sides, first to the one wall, and then to the other). It's not certain that the Cahusac choreographer was describing the same figure later described by Wilson and previously described by A.D.; but it seems likely to be a match, even though the Cahusac strain markers are unreliable and the ditto is unclear - the Cahusac choreographer may have intended an extra four bars of music to be played. I interpret the figure as a gallop out at the men's side of the set, setting, galloping across to the ladies' side of the set, returning to the centre and two-hand turning home; it's an asymmetric figure, something that Wilson disapproved of, but based on Wilson's writing I suspect this to be the most common variant of the figure to be danced in the early 19th Century. Figure 9 shows a cartoon of uncertain provenance and date, but that appears to be 1810s in origin and shows a lead outsides figure which involved partners taking two hands to travel sideways.

  The Cahusac figure that involves foot it outsides and turn may be the figure more fully described by Thomas Straight in his 1779 Country Dance called The New Academy. Straight described the figure as: 1st Lady take hands with the 2d & 3d Gent, foot it to the side of the Room, at the same time the 1st Gent take hands with the 2d and 3d Ladies & foot it to the opposite side of the Room; meet in two threes & foot it to each other. However, I've arranged it as a duple minor figure based on the Lead outsides & in again the two first Men & the two first Women & finish in their own places figure described by Nicholas Dukes in his 1752 A Concise & Easy Method of Learning the Figuring Part of Country Dances. The Dukes figure seems to make most sense in context for this particular dance.

  A further variant I sometimes use, though not explicitly referenced by the Cahusacs, is as described in a c.1772 dance by John Johnston called The Lowdon. His figure is lead out sides round the ladies; same round the men, which is seemingly a variant of the A.D. figure, except leading from the ladies side first rather than from the mens side first.

  For more information on this family of related figures (including some variants that I've not discussed here) I recommend reading Susan de Guardiola's investigation of the subject. Her writing was both formative and key to my own thinking regarding this figure.

• Others

  What follows is a relatively random mix of unusual figure names that can be found amongst the Cahusac dances of the golden era. It's not a complete collection, they're just figures that I thought to be note worthy.
  Figure 10. Rosamonds Bower, from Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1802. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD, a.9.f.(6.) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
  • The first Cu Sett to the second Lady and turn themselves once round e.g. Vulcan's Cave, 12 for 1793
  • The first Lady turn the second Gent and retreat back to her place, e.g. Dutchess of York's Fancy, 12 for 1793
  • First Cu cast off one Cu & Set; Cast off 2d Cu & set; The same up again e.g. The Elopement, 12 for 1797
  • Right & left to the top e.g. Female Volunteers, 24 for 1804 [presumably three passes, potentially with a turn single at the end]
  • figure in right and left e.g. The Lobby, 24 for 1799
  • chain pousette with the top & bottom Cu e.g. Rosamonds Bower, 24 for 1802 (see Figure 10)
  • first Cu Ballance all round e.g. The light heart, 24 for 1800
  • ballance hands e.g. Trip to Denbigh, 24 for 1794
  • Ballance Rigadoon e.g. The Pony Race, 24 for 1790
  • Cross over & sett 3 & 3 back to back; the same in front e.g. The Gipsy Prince, 24 for 1802
  • ... then the 2d Cu Allemande with right and left hands while the 1st Cu rest being to the 1st Cu place the 1st Cu e.g. The Duke of York's Fancy, 24 for 1790
  • The 3 Ladies Promenade round the 3 Gentlemen e.g. The Dwarf, 24 for 1785

  Every one of these figures could be discussed in more detail, they perhaps hint at an exotic use of a figure... or perhaps just at a misprint or other error.

The Duke of Kents Waltz, and the Challenges of Reconstruction

The Cahusacs are likely to have published at least a thousand country dancing tunes between the 1750s and 1820s, potentially many more. Of that entire repertoire, the one that is most celebrated today is an unassuming little tune called Duke of Kents Waltz from their Annual Collection of Twenty Four Favorite Country Dances for the Year 1802 (see Figure 11). It's not especially significant in its own right, but it is a firm favourite amongst modern enthusiasts, albeit in an adapted arrangement. Many videos exist of it being danced on YouTube and elsewhere, for example, this rather lovely version. We've animated three separate arrangements of it: a four part duple minor variant, a four part triple minor variant, and a three part variant. Several further reconstructions are discussed at the excellent website of the Lambertville Country Dancers. There are a few commercial recordings of the music available, but therein lies a problem worthy of further discussion.

Figure 11. Duke of Kents Waltz, from Twenty Four Country Dances for the Year 1802. Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD, a.9.f.(6.) ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

This particular dance, like many others, has been arranged in different ways by different people over many years. I would rarely identify any arrangement of any historical social dance as being explicitly correct or incorrect; the more I learn about the historical context of such dances, the more convinced I am that people at the time wouldn't have shared a single and immutable understanding of the figures either (nor the tempo, etc.). If a modern arrangement is broadly credible, that's fine; somebody somewhere would probably have shared the same opinion as the modern arranger, or would have invented their own sequence of figures to fit the music (or perhaps, like the dancing master Thomas Wilson (see below), have invented entirely new and original figures just for the fun of it). But the existence of modern recordings tends to shape the modern experience, we struggle to adapt the recorded music to fit our preferences. That observation is especially relevant for this tune; as originally written it has a three part figure, but most modern versions are adapted into four parts; that has involved the final repeating section of music being removed from the recordings, and that's an inconvenience for anyone attempting to dance a three part arrangement. That's not really very important in the grand scheme of things, it's just indicative of a broader challenge in interpreting and performing historical dances.

The tune's modern popularity should not be seen as evidence of it having been a favourite two hundred years ago. Measuring the historical popularity of a Country Dancing tune is difficult as there's little information to work with, especially outside of London. The primary metric we have is the frequency with which a tune was republished across different collections; if it was widely published, it was probably a popular tune, if it was only published in a single collection, it was probably of little general interest. This is not a fool-proof measurement, but it's usually the best we have; and on that basis this tune, like most others, falls into the little-interest category. That's not to say it wasn't danced, it could have been a firm favourite in some corner of the country, the absence of evidence doesn't disprove the hypothesis. But this is in stark contrast to some of the other tunes in the same publication; for example, Fight about the Fire Side and Hilton Lodge were widely published (or the titles were, I've not checked that the tunes are all the same across the various publications); most successful of all was a very popular tune called Harlequin Amulet, it was derived from a pantomime of the same name performed at Drury Lane from 1800 (Morning Post, 1st January 1801), a tune of that name was published by many of London's music shops at around the same date (e.g. Bland & Weller's collection for 1802, Preston's collection for 1802, Campbell's 1801 16th Collection, and G. Walker's 1802 2nd collection; the tune remained sufficiently popular to feature in Thomas Wilson's 1809 Treasures of Terpsichore). It might also be recognised that the tune named Barbara & Allen from the collection was actually the already popular tune of Mrs Garden of Troup's Strathspey but printed under a new name.

The Duke of Kent's Waltz tune has the word Waltz in its title, but that doesn't necessarily imply that it should be reconstructed as a waltz country dance. We've written about the introduction of the Waltz in a previous paper. The word itself arrived in England shortly before 1790, but the earliest evidence I know of for The Waltz couple dance being performed dates to around 1800, and my earliest evidence of waltz-like figures being performed in a Country Dance is from 1807 (whereas, the dancing master Thomas Wilson claimed to have personally invented the entirely new concept of a Waltz Country Dance in 1815). All of which leads me to think that while the Waltz was known in 1802, it wasn't widely danced. As such, while I've no doubt that dancers in 1802 would have moved their feet to the triple-time rhythm of the music, I've no reason to think that they'd dance it using something explicitly referred to as a waltz step, or with waltz turns and waltz leading; this terminology is probably a little too anachronistic for the 1802 date. I suspect it would have been danced in much the same way as with any other tune in 3/8 rhythm of the previous few decades (such as the Hessian Dance, an otherwise similar tune in 3/8 rhythm from Thompson's 24 Country Dances for the year 1758). Waltz steps certainly were being taught to London's dancers from the start of the 19th century, but I have no clear evidence for their use in Country Dancing at this early date. That stated, I have seen an Irish dance published for 1799 (The New Waltz, within Hime's Collection of Favorite Country Dances for the Year 1799) that included the instruction lead down the middle (with the Waltz), which seems to imply a waltz step of some kind, so anything is possible.

Next we could consider how many dancers would have been involved in each minor set. Modern arrangements are usually danced as a duple-minor, with four people involved in each set. The original is more likely to have been understood as a triple-minor, with six people involved in each set. Such terminology is modern of course, we've written about these considerations in more detail in another paper. Country Dancers of the early 19th Century almost always employed (at least) three couples in each minor set, even if only two were needed for the figures. The A.D. writer back in 1764 had acknowledged the concepts of duple and triple minor dances, but used the terms single and double to describe them; by 1802 it's likely that even the single dances would have been danced by minor sets of three couples.

Figure 12. An Election Ball, 1819. Featuring the left hands back figure, as danced in Duke of Kents Waltz. Note that each dancer takes the hand of their opposite; the third couple are either inactive, or are a neutral couple that is separating two minor sets.

If we then consider the figures, they too are open to interpretation. Figure 12 shows an image of what appears to be a right hands across left hands back figure being danced, much like the first figure from Duke of Kents Waltz (see Figure 11); the two minor sets that are dancing are quite clearly out of sync with each other (one circle is pushing ahead faster than the other), precisely synchronised dancing not being a feature of typical Assembly Rooms. The next figure involves the instruction to lead down the middle up again, a figure for which we've (above) identified 19 possible interpretations from the Cahusac collections alone. That is followed by the Allemand figure, again as described above. It's noteworthy that the original notation combines both the lead down and the allemande figures into a single long-measure strain of the music - that's a convention very familiar from the works of Thomas Wilson. Most modern arrangements split these two figures apart and inject an extra strain of music; in which case a cast is generally added, and the allemande is arranged as an over-head allemande (which is consistent with how the Cahusacs would usually describe their long-measure allemande figures). Nonetheless, given that the original publication uses what appears to be a standard Wilsonian arrangement, I personally would choose to use Wilsonian figures; Wilson consistently used short lead-down figures, and his allemandes were back-to-back figures seemingly without the linking of arms. Then there's a swing corners figure at the end which is also open to interpretation (and also discussed above), but generally involves six active dancers in its performance.

My personal preference is to use Wilsonian figures for Duke of Kents Waltz (as arranged here), they fit the music as-published and have a demonstrable and relevant provenance, and are suitable for the date; but it'd be going too far to refer to such a reconstruction as correct or the original version, especially as the Cahusac choreographers are known to have used so many unusual figures at around this date. We've indexed Wilson's figures (with links to the primary sources) here; if you'd like to interpret the figures in a Wilsonian style, simply find each figure in the index to see how Wilson taught it.

All of the above is fundamentally unimportant of course; I frequently get to dance to the Duke of Kents Waltz, and I enjoy an adapted arrangement of the figures as much as everyone else does; and for all I know, someone may have danced it that way back in 1802. Adapting it into a duple-minor and adopting both the Cahusacian allemande and the simple Cahusacian swing-corners makes a lot of sense, especially for the enjoyment of a modern audience where the third couple might otherwise get bored. An alternative and equally sensible modification would be to make a three-couple set of the dance; this is easily achieved with a corner, partner, corner, partner swing-corners figure (which is also notably Cahusacian) at the end, but using the final turn of the partner to progress into third place. There's often a compromise to consider between historicity and modern enjoyment when reconstructing a historical social dance, and even more so in the dancing of it.

It's a little unfair of me to have singled out this one tune as being especially problematic - it isn't; it's just a popular example that dance historians like to reflect upon. These same observations can be applied to almost any modern adaption of an historical country dance; I frequently change my opinion on the dance arrangements that I myself have produced, and modern Regency Balls routinely feature historical dances deliberately adapted to a modern taste. It's worth noting that if two modern experts arrange the same dance in different ways, that doesn't imply that one has to be wrong; often there is no single correct interpretation; something as simple as the tempo of the recorded music might result in different interpretations, irregardless of the original source material. If you want to dance Duke of Kents Waltz in some other fashion, that's great.

Late Period Cahusac dances, and the new figures of Thomas Wilson

The dancing master Thomas Wilson was a prolific publisher of Country Dances throughout the 1810s, his primary distributor was the music shop of Button & Whitaker. He was also a publisher of books about dancing, including the 1811 third edition of his Analysis of Country Dancing, a work notable for documenting a new set of figures that Wilson claimed to have invented himself (they were probably in the 1811 second edition too, but I'm unable to confirm that). These new figures supplemented the standard repertoire used by the majority of the industry; Wilson occasionally featured them in his own dance publications, we've documented some examples of use of these figures here.

Figure 13. The Wiltshire Election, from Twelve Country Dances for the Year 1820.

Wilson rarely featured these figures in his own published routines, but one of them can be found in a later period Cahusac publication. I've only discovered two historical uses of Wilson's Pass Round, and Set on All Sides figure, one of which is associated with a tune called The Wiltshire Election from the Cahusac collection of Country Dances for 1820 (see Figure 13). This is quite exceptional, though a similar figure was choreographed in The light heart from the Cahusac collection of 24 for 1800. The same late period collection also features a rare example of the Wilsonian Whole Figure Contrary Corners (in Duke of Wellingtons Visit to Bath) and a Wilsonian style waltz country dance (The Sussex Waltz). The presence of any of Wilson's invented figures would be noteworthy as it's so uncommon to find such things.

We don't know who provided the figures for the later Cahusac dance collections. It's possible, though unlikely, that Wilson himself was involved; Wilson had strong opinions on how dances should be arranged, the later Cahusac collections (especially those following William's bankruptcy) do feature distinctive Wilsonian terminology. A Wilsonian collaboration remains improbable however; Wilson was a consistent self-publicist, he would probably have required his name to be on the cover of any such publications. It's possible that Wilsonian figure sequences were copied from somewhere else, though the use of Pass Round, and Set on All Sides suggests otherwise - it's not copied from the only other example I know of (that being The Joyous Day from the Thompson branded collection for 1821). Moreover, Wilson changed the name of the figure for his later Complete System of English Country Dancing in which its referred to as Move Round, and Set on All Sides. My impression is that whoever choreographed the figures had access to one of the 1811 editions of Analysis of Country Dancing, and referred to it when they produced those later Cahusac dances; either that, or the choreographer had trained at Wilson's own dancing academy, and was intimately familiar with his style.

What remains unclear is whether the public at large would have understood a figure such as Pass Round, and Set on All Sides; its use in a Cahusac collection is mild evidence that they may have, though I suspect the term would have been unrecognised if called at a typical assembly of 1820. The change in style of the Cahusac collections from about 1814 is a curiosity, it probably implies that they were working with a new choreographer of Wilsonian influence from around that date.

Louis de Cahusac (1706-1759), and Sir John Gallini (1728-1805)

Thomas Cahusac and his sons happen to share a name in common with an important 18th century dance theorist from France, Louis de Cahusac. As far as I can discern they were unrelated, but it's possible that their customers two hundred years ago may have assumed a connection. Although unrelated, it seems suitable to discuss Louis' work at this point, and the indirect method by which it influenced London's early 19th century dance publications. Louis published his book La Danse Ancienne et Moderne (see Figure 14) in the Netherlands in 1754; the three volumes are available today through the website of the Library of Congress, and elsewhere. It was one of the earliest attempts at writing a comprehensive history of dance, including the origins of the 18th century French court and stage dances. The book was not particularly well known in Britain at the time, at least not in its original form.

Figure 14. La Danse Ancienne et Moderne, 1754, by Louis de Cahusac

I don't know of an English language translation of this work, but it did heavily influence the historical passages of the 1762 A Treatise on the Art of Dancing by Giovanni-Andrea Gallini (later Sir John Gallini). It's through Gallini's book that a British audience would have come to know of Cahusac's work. Gallini was a celebrity in late 18th century London; his brief obituary in Saunders's News Letter (11th January 1805) helpfully sums up his rise to power:

At the age of twenty-five he made his entre at the Opera House, in the Haymarket, then under the management of Mr. Du Burgh, as a dancer; the ensuing season he was made principal dancer, and in a few seasons became ballet master, and then stage manager of the Opera House, and gave lessons in dancing. In that character he was introduced into the Earl of Abingdon's family, where Lady Elizabeth Bertie, his Lordship's eldest daughter, became enamoured of him, and married him; ... soon after his marriage, he went to Italy, and was made one of the Knights of the Holy Roman Empire: on his return to England, he became Manager of the Opera House

Gallini wrote of Cahusac in his introduction to Pantomimes: And as, on this point, Monsieur Cahusac, an ingenious French writer, has treated the historical part of it with so much accuracy, that it was hardly possible to offer any thing new upon it, beyond what he has furnished; and that not to make use of his researches would only betray me into a fruitless affectation of originality, I am very ready to confess, that for the best and greatest part of what I am now going to offer upon this subject I am indebted to his production.. Gallini widely borrowed from Cahusac, and others, within his book; equivalent accusations can be made of most other authorities however, writers regularly borrowed (or copied) from each other at this date; Cahusac himself is understood to have been influenced by earlier writers. Gallini's book helped to popularise Cahusac's ideas in Britain, and he did at least credit Cahusac as an influence.

A subsequent and uncharitable 1819 biographer of Gallini wrote: we, who knew Gallini from his first arrival in England, never thought that he had literature sufficient to write an original work in his own language, or even to translate such a one as that of Noverre or Cahusac into any language (The Cyclopedia). That particular reviewer claimed not to have read Gallini's book, but believed it to be almost entirely derived from Cahusac. Gallini went on to publish a second book c.1772, his Critical Observations on the Art of Dancing of Cotillons or French Dances (this later work was undated, but the list of publishers is consistent with that of the 1772 reprint of his first book); he also taught the Festino dancers at the Hanover Rooms, the most celebrated Cotillion dancers of their time.

I know of no evidence of Thomas Cahusac or his sons selling music for Cotillions, or indeed almost any other form of dancing other than Country Dances and the occasional Waltz. This may be indicative of the type of customer they sold to. The Cotillions, as taught by Gallini, were a social dance associated with the aristocracy, the market for such music may have been limited. Country Dance music, even in a superior grand-staff arrangement, had a wider commercial appeal.

It seems to be pure coincidence that the Cahusacs of London and Louis de Cahusac shared a name, it's possible that both families were originally from one of the Cahuzac villages in France; it's also possible that they were entirely oblivious to each other's existence.

Cahusac Country Dance Publications

The following table lists the Cahusac Country Dance publications that I've studied. Most of them are not currently available on the web (links are provided where possible); other titles are likely to have existed, but surviving copies have eluded my attempts at discovery. If you are lucky enough to own copies of any of these works, do please consider sharing them with the community of enthusiasts who enjoy recreating these dances. If you'd like assistance in so doing, please do Contact Us. I hope for a time when historians, researchers and enthusiasts can study these publications without having to visit a specialist library first!

We'll end the investigation into the Cahusac publications there. If you have any further information to share, do Contact Us, we'd love to know more.