This is the fifth in a series of six posts covering the six figures of the Mid Lothians, a set of quadrilles from the 1820s. The first figure, background information, and sources are discussed in the first post in the series. Second figure here. Third figure here. Fourth figure here.
The fifth figure of the Mid Lothians is set to the famous march of Clan Campbell, "The Campbells are Coming", with its rousing chorus, presumably not sung while dancing a quadrille:
- The Campbells are coming Oho, Oho!
- The Campbells are coming Oho, Oho!
- The Campbells are coming to bonnie Lochleven
- The Campbells are coming Oho, Oho!
There are many, many recordings of this tune available. Though the lyrics were partly rewritten by Robert Burns in the late eighteenth century, the tune dates back at least to the Jacobite rebellions of the first half of the century.
Evans' gives a three-strain version (ABC) of the tune, with each strain being eight bars. The A and C strains are identical. Interestingly, this figure does not have the dance figure written into the A part, but with the two identical strains there just isn't much music here. A (ABCx4) would follow the general pattern of the other figures, with the repeated A, but A (BCAx4) is also a possibility.
The instructions for the figures are given on the sheet music as follows:
Les deux Dames font un tour de mains et balancent au premier Cavalier;demie rond de trois, et les trois en avant et en arriere. Le Cavalier de vis_à_vis fait un balance à sa Dame et tour de mains a leurs places.
Two ladies turn with both hands and balance to the first Gent: Hands three half round,then (the Gent:in centre of the two Ladies) advance and retire. The Gent opposite balance to his partner and turn to places.
The spelling and punctuation above are as in the original. The instructions in Pollock's and Whale's books are almost the same (other than puncutation), but both give "hands three round" rather than "hands three half round".
After the lengthy and confusing fourth figure, the fifth figure is refreshingly short with only minor issues of interpretation.
Mid Lothians, Figure 5 (8b introduction + 24bx4)
4b Head ladies turn two hands to face first gentleman (first lady at second lady's left)
(this is roughly a three-quarter turn)
4b The two ladies balancez (set) to the first gentleman
4b Hands three round into trio line (second lady at gentleman's left) (see note #1 below)
4b Trio forward and back
4b Second gent balancez (set) to partner
4b Second couple turns two hands to places
The figure is then repeated three times, with the head ladies setting to the second gentleman, then the side ladies setting to the third and then to the fourth.
Reconstruction issues
1. Hands three: half round or all the way? Neither, exactly. The gentleman goes all the way around, or slightly less if he did not center himself while the ladies were turning. The two ladies each go three quarters round, dropping hands fairly early to open into a line.
2. Whether the persons being set "to" are actually also setting at the same time. I believe it was generally customary for them to do so, though I also enjoy the "performance" aspect of just the two ladies setting at the beginning and then just the single gentleman setting at the end. The latter would have probably been described as a pas seul had that been the intention.
3. Who turns at the end? An argument could be made that the final two-hand turn to places is performed by the first couple as well as the second. I feel that the turn is really the second part of the balancez, and thus should be performed by only the second couple. They must travel very aggressively during the turn to get back to their places across the set.
Steps
Turns with partner or as a trio with three chassé; jeté; assemblé
Balancez with any suitable sequence of steps
Advance and retire with any suitable sequence of steps
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