The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #136104   Message #3106552
Posted By: GUEST,BobL
03-Mar-11 - 07:30 PM
Thread Name: 18th century dancing masters
Subject: RE: 18th century dancing masters
There certainly are dance tunes out there with strange phrasing (e.g. Huntington's Maggot in Henry Playford's 1698 "Dancing Master", revived in "The Fallibroome Collection"). Popular songs of the time provided one source of tunes, and I'm sure I've come across a few that are padded with nonsense syllables to unusual lengths, though none I could name offhand.

As to whether the dance figures fit the music, well, that is going to depend on the figures. And the answer may not be a definite yea or nay: figures can usually be padded out or hurried up as necessary to fit longer or shorter musical phrases.

BTW, the description "rights and lefts" did indeed mean different things at different times, but the figures are pretty much interchangeable - after all, they were done to the same music. If you're after historic authenticity, the Dolmetsch Society might be able to advise.