When I watched a performance of an unfamiliar quadrille back in December, I was informed that it was called Les Cinq Parties du Monde and was from 1876. Both pieces of information turned out to be...not entirely accurate. And I was far from the only person fascinated by the unusual figures; at least two French researchers and one Russian have taken a crack at them as well. As a result, this is an interesting opportunity to compare different people's work and demonstrate why I disagree with some of their decisions.
But first, the basics: the figures were indeed published with the quadrille music "Les Cinq Parties du Monde" in 1876. They are credited to Henri Cellarius "neveu", the illegitimate nephew of the more famous Cellarius. The music is by Emile Kohler. The sheet music cover may be seen above (click to enlarge). So why do I disagree?
Well, as part of my reconstruction process, I look at other works by the same author to see if there are any clues about some of the more unusual descriptions. I am only aware of one other publication by Cellarius neveu, another polka quadrille, Arcachon, published in 1865, with figures by Cellarius neveu and music by H[ippolyte]. Barrez.
Both sets are available online at the Bibliothèque nationale de France; look here ("Cinq Parties") and here ("Arcachon") for reference.
But when I looked at the figures included with the "Arcachon" music, hoping for some useful insights, I discovered that the figures were exactly the same as those with the "Cinq Parties" music. Not only did I not get any new information, I got a puzzle to solve. Two sets of quadrille tunes with the same figures published eleven years apart is somewhat odd. Were either of the dates wrong?
Nope!
Here (second listing from the top in the right-hand column) is the "Arcachon" music listed in the 1865 Bibliographie de la France, and here (halfway down the left column; second listing under "Musique Pour Piano") is the "Cinq Parties" music listed in the 1876 edition. "Arcachon" is definitely the earlier publication. The "Cinq Parties" music must have been written, or at least arranged, specifically for these figures, since they're of unusual lengths. But why? The figures are certainly unusual, but were they so popular that they needed a new set of tunes? Was Cellarius neveu so famous that it was worth republishing his figures eleven years later, but not famous enough to have any more (surviving?) published work? I feel like there might be an interesting story here, but I don't know what it is.
Reconstruction-wise, knowing the figures are from 1865 means that figure performance needs to take into account the massive hoop skirts of the mid-1860s, such as the one shown at left (click to enlarge, or look at more illustrations here). Even if you exclude the train, which might have been looped up for dancing, that's still a whole lot of skirt to accommodate, which affects how I choose to reconstruct and perform some figures.
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