The first thing to know about the tune "Downfall of Paris" is that, contrary to some references, it is not the same tune as that which goes with the song "Ça Ira". It is rhythmically similar at the beginning -- hence the confusion -- and there's a vague thematic connection, but it's not quite the same piece of music. Regency dancing master Thomas Wilson explained this succinctly in his Companion to the Ballroom (London, c1816):
To account for the unusual length of this tune — it was originally composed for a Quick March, in opposition & partly taken from the French National Air of Ça Ira, it has since become a favorite dance particularly with good dancers, as it requires a very long figure not easily performed by Tyros in the Art…
Note that when Wilson says a "favorite dance" he means a "favorite tune for dancing". Good dancers apparently liked long tunes so that they could show off by setting lengthy combinations of figures to them. And, indeed, various figure combinations were set to arrangements of it during the early nineteenth century in both England and America.
A much longer explanation of the tune's history and association with "Ça Ira", may be found on the blog of the noted percussionist Robin Engelman, who has tracked down many musical manuscript sources and done such a thorough job explaining it all that I will simply refer you to his article, which helpfully includes a number of sound clips.
Its use as a dance tune (and that of "Ça Ira") during the Regency era might be an interesting topic, but it's not what I'm discussing today.
Instead, I'd like to jump forward in time and look at the set of figures published by Boston musician-caller-publisher Elias Howe and others in mid-nineteenth-century America as a contra dance. Here's the language from one of the oldest sources I've found, Elias Howe’s Complete ball-room hand book (Boston, 1858):
First couple down the outside, back--down the centre, back and cast off one couple--forward and back six, swing six half round--six forward and back again, swing six to places--first couple cross right hands with third couple half round, left hands back with same couple--right and left first four.
I've listed some of the other sources for this set of figures below, and the language is remarkably consistent across all of them. Other than minor changes of wording ("down the middle" instead of "down the centre") and the frequent substitution of the equivalent French term moulinet for the cross right hands/left hands back, there are no variations. I strongly suspect that everyone was copying from a single source, probably Howe.
The setup is a standard proper country (contra) dance set, gentlemen on one side and ladies on the other. Standard practice in the mid nineteenth century still called for only the first couple in each set beginning the dance with the dance spreading down the set and other couples becoming active as they reached the top of the set. But Elias Howe was partial to all dancers in the set starting simultaneously. If you use that option, be aware that this is a triple minor dance, so each minor set must be three couples.
One New Hampshire source recommends a set of six couples only, which would mean twenty-four times through the dance to get everyone back to places, which is the formal end of a country dance. Given the length of the dance, that's plenty for most dancers and certainly for most musicians.
Reconstruction (48 bar proper triple minor contra)
8b Active couple walk down the outside of the set (4b) and back (4b)
8b Active couple take two hands and galop down the set (2b) and back (2b) and cast off (4b)
8b Three couples (actives in the center of each line) forward and back, circle halfway round
8b Repeat forward and back and circle to places
8b Active couple right hands across/left back (moulinet) with the couple below them
8b Active couple right and left with the couple above them
Notes
This is a very simple dance to reconstruct. The only ambiguity in language is the use of the term "swing", which here should be understood to mean "circle" rather than its Regency-era meaning of a one-hand turn.
The choices I generally make for performance of contra dances of this era are:
(1) right and left done with hands as a chain figure (right to partner, left to neighbor; repeat with no "reset" of positions as in quadrilles). Further discussion of this here.
(2) down the middle and back done as a four-slide galop each way (1&2&3&4), partners facing and taking two hands, thus allowing
(3) four measures for an unhurried cast off
It would also be perfectly reasonable for the couple to promenade down the center and back with a simple walking step, but my experience with that is that doing so invariably wrecks the timing of the combined down/up/cast off figure -- no one wants to take just four steps down and four back, so, displaying instinctive musicality, people take eight steps down (four bars) and then try in the remaining four bars to get all the way back up and cast off. I don't care at all for this slow-slow-slow-slow-hurry-hurry-hurry-hurry method; casting off was a full four-bar move earlier in the century, and trying to squeeze it into two bars (with the ladies wearing hoops!) is silly. A four-slide galop is a documentable historical way to perform the down-and-up (most popular in the early nineteenth century, but Howe was in many ways oddly old-fashioned) and it heads off the timing problem beautifully.
Sources
Elias Howe. Howe’s complete ball-room hand book. Boston, 1858.
Elias Howe. The pocket ball-room prompter. Boston, 1858.
The Ball Room Guide. Laconia, New Hampshire, 1858.
The Ball-Room Manual of Contra Dances and Social Cotillons. Belfast, Maine, 1863.
Elias Howe. New American Dancing Master. Boston, 1882.
John M. Schell. Prompting, How To Do It. New York, 1890.
Elias Howe. New American Dancing Master (later edition). Boston, 1892.
Music
Below is the three-strain arrangement of the tune (click to enlarge) published by Elias Howe himself in the Second Part of the Musician’s Companion (Boston, 1843). With three sixteen-bar strains, it can be played simply ABC for the dance.
"Downfall of Paris" still has an ongoing life today as a fife and drum marching piece and as an Irish set dance tune. Hence, there are many, many, many recordings of it available, but they need to be checked for repeat structure against Howe's notation.
Saint Patrick's Day in the Morning
I'm careful to refer to "Downfall of Paris" as the tune rather than the dance, because reuse of the same figures with different tunes was still happening in the mid- and late nineteenth century. This same set of figures also appears recommended for a different tune, "Saint Patrick's Day in the Morning", in other books by Howe, including the two editions of the New American Dancing Master in which they also appear for "Downfall of Paris":
Elias Howe. American dancing master, and ball-room prompter. Boston, 1862.
Elias Howe. New American Dancing Master. Boston, 1882.
Elias Howe. New American Dancing Master (later edition). Boston, 1892.
The same figures reappear with the moulinet done with the second couple (above the active couple) instead of the third in one non-Howe source as well, under the name "St. Patrick":
Professor L. H. Elmwell. Prompter’s pocket instruction book. Boston, 1892.
The tune "Saint Patrick's Day in the Morning" appears in Howe's Improved Edition of the Musician’s Omnibus (Boston, 1861), but it has an awkward structure of two strains of eight and ten bars, which obviously presents some problems with this set of figures. Howe seems to have never met a tune he wouldn't set a contra dance to, but this example makes one wonder just how random the figure assignments in his books were!
Despite the length, this is not a particularly complicated set of figures, so while I wouldn't call it cold at a ball full of beginners, it's fine for those with some experience, and the catchy "Downfall of Paris" tune is a plus.
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