And now we come to figure four, the biggest mess in the entire quadrille! Problems with the figures, problems with the music, problems correlating the two...I believe in my conclusions, but I can't deny that there's a lot of guesswork involved in any reconstruction of this figure.
First, the music. Take a look at Figure 4's tune, "Georgette", here. There are three eight bar strains marked with a Da Capo al segno, to which my first response was, what segno? There is no segno! There's a Fine, oddly located at the end of the B strain, so presumably it was meant to be Da Capo al Fine. But quadrille music usually ends on the A strain, and while the length of the figure is the next problem to consider, it's difficult to come up with a reasonable repeat structure that has AB at the end. In thirty-two bars, A + BCAB repeated, perhaps, but in twenty-four bars, it's just impossible.
The solution Spare Parts used on the recording was to simply decide the Fine was wrongly placed and should be at the end of the A strain. Matching Patri's thirty-two bar reconstruction, they played it A + BBCAx4. While it's hazardous to go purely by instinct, I believe that the A strain feels like it ought to be the ending strain. You can listen for yourself here, where the audio clip plays A + BBCA BBCA B(fading out). So I agree with the choice to end on the A strain.
I am much less certain about the figure length and the four repeats, however.
Here are the original instructions:
Two 1st couples lead to the right & left. Chassez out. Forward four ladies. Each lady cross right hand with the opposite one. Promenade with her partner to place. Side couples the same.
"Side couples the same" hints at only two repeats rather than four, but the real problem is how many bars this figure ought to be. It looks to me, at first glance, like it ought to be twenty-four: eight bars for the leading and chassez-ing, eight bars for the ladies forward and cross right hands, and eight bars for the promenade. Is it possible to make it thirty-two bars? Well, maybe. But there are several questions about the individual figures to be considered.
First, the breakdown. I would argue that the figures for the ladies are meant to be paired: the ladies go forward and back, then "cross right hand", which I believe means to cross over by right hands -- to change places. This combination "forward and back then do something" is a popular one (found in the second, third, and fifth figures of this very quadrille!) and I would be surprised to find it broken up across strains. Thus I would assume eight bars for the ladies' figures then eight bars for the promenade.
That leaves the opening figures, "Two 1st couples lead to the right & left. Chassez out." Is "to the right & left" meant to be sequential, as in the fourth figure of Hart's Lancers, with the two head couples leading to the couple on their right then halfway round the set to the couple on their left? That's usually eight bars right there, which would mean eight for the chassez out for a thirty-two bar figure. But chassez out is usually a four-bar figure, and it typically comes paired with "lead to the right" as a fixed combination, "lead to the right and chassez out", which I have discussed at length in the past, most recently here.
If the couples step lively (very lively!) in the final promenade, it's possible to make the figure work with a sequential lead to the right and then to the left, but that still leaves the problem of the chassez out. Two bars of chassez-ing, two bars of setting, two bars for a half-turn, and two bars for more setting is possible, I suppose, but I've never seen such a combination. Expanding the figure to thirty-two bars also means more manipulation of the music to add an internal repeat that's not on the score. I'm just not convinced.
In the interpretation I would favor for this quadrille, the head couples lead to the couple on their right (two bars), set with that couple (two bars), take hands with the person they are facing and chassez apart, turning halfway (two bars), and set (two bars). This leaves the set in two facing lines of four, with each dancer directly opposite their partner. Given the standard figure, I think that "lead to the right & left" does not mean a sequence of movements. I believe it's just a clumsy way of writing that each head couple leads to their own right; the second head couple actually moves to the couple to the left of the first head couple. Here's how this figure looks in diagram form, starting from the standard formation:
L2 G2
G4 L3
L4 G3
G1 L1
Couples one and two lead to their own right and chassez out with the dancer they are facing, with a half-turn, to end like this:
L2 G4 L3 G1
G2 L4 G3 L1
The four ladies then go forward and back and cross over with the lady diagonally opposite them, leaving the lines like this:
L4 G4 L1 G1
G2 L2 G3 L3
The head couples then take hands and promenade about three-quarters round, inside the side couples, to their original places. The side couples just have move a bit to the right and bring the ladies around. The promenade can't be all couples, since that would leave the side couples opposite their starting places after the first time and everyone opposite their places after the second time.
All of this would be done twice only, once for the heads and once for the sides. Additional repeats would be exactly the same, so standard practice calls for only the two.
To recap my entire reconstruction:
Figure Four: "Georgette" A=8b, B=8b, C=8b; played A + BCAx2 (8b + 24bx2)
8b Introduction (not repeated)
4b Head couples lead to the side couple to their right (2b); all set (2b)
4b Take two hands with vis-a-vis person and chassez out, turning halfway (2b) and set (2b)
(there are now lines of four at the top and bottom of the set)
4b Four ladies forward and back
4b Four ladies change by right hands with lady diagonally opposite them
(everyone is reunited with their partners; head couples are roughly opposite original places)
8b Head couples promenade to original places; side couples slide into their places
Repeat once more led by the side couples with the lines at the sides of the set
For steps: lead to the right with two chassé, set with two pas de basque, chassez apart turning halfway with two chassé, set with two pas de basque. Forward and back and crossing over sequences I have already covered; for the cross by the right hand I would particularly favor the second one given, though the simple three chassé; jeté, assemblé of the first is always fine. The fourth sequence will not work with taking right hands. The promenade can be three chassé; jeté, assemblé twice through if the dancers can travel enough with those steps; if not, seven chassé; jeté, assemblé.
And what about Patri's choreography, which may be seen here (scroll down)? It is dramatically different from my reconstruction. Patri interpreted the figure in the light of the mid-century version of Hart's Lancers, with the lead to the right & left taking the head couples around the set and back to their home places. (Hillgrove's 1863 version of the fourth figure may be seen starting here.) Chassez out became the "chassez" of mid-century America that more resembled siding. The ladies figures became a forward (no back), moulinet, and left-hand turn (!!) broken up 2b-4b-2b, which I find very weird set to the C music, and finally a promenade for all four couples, which of course works when everyone starts it from their own places. All of this requires a thirty-two bar repeat, and Patri had it done four times (heads/heads, sides/sides) despite the lack of change in the extra repeats.
And now, coming full circle, we return to the problem of the music. Because the Spare Parts recording was structured for Patri's choreography, it is played with a thirty-two bar repeat instead of twenty-four and four times through instead of twice. If live musicians are available, this is not a problem; just have them play it as directed above. If using recordings, editing the track will be required.
Edited 8/31/2023 to add: I have edited the track to fit this reconstruction. Prove to me that you already own the album and I'll be happy send you an edited version. (end edit)
After this, the fifth and final figure is a breeze...
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