A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Lancers' Quadrille, The

by William Barclay Squire

LANCERS' QUADRILLE, THE, a square dance, for 8 or 16 couples. It would appear to have been the invention of Joseph Hart in 1819, according to the title-page of his original edition, published in 1820. 'Les Lanciers, a second set of Quadrilles for the Piano Forte, with entirely new figures, as danced by the Nobility and Gentry at Tenby in the summer of 1819. Composed and most respectfully dedicated to Lady and the Misses Beechy by Joseph Hart, London, for the Author, Whitaker & Co., 75 St. Paul's Churchyard.' The dance consisted of 5 figures—La Rose, La Lodoiska, La Dorset, Les Lanciers, and L'Etoile, danced to Airs by Spagnoletti, by Kreutzer, from the Beggar's Opera ('If the heart of a man'), by Janiewicz, and by Horn ('Pretty Maiden,' from the Haunted Tower) respectively. Another version was published by Duval of Dublin about the same time. In this the names of the figures and the music remain substantially the same, though in the figures themselves there is considerable alteration. Hart's figures, with a slight difference or two, are still danced, L'Etoile being now called Les Visites, and Les Lanciers danced last. Whether Hart or Duval was the real inventor is uncertain.

[ W. B. S. ]