The times., 1899-08-06
THE FIRST WALTZ.
The Modern Dance Descended From
n Religious Ceremony,

- NA.rssouS
The recent congress of dancing masters
held in London resulted in an attack upon
the waltz as product of pastimes which
we ought to be getting away from.
As a matter Of fact, this dance is much
older than the date generally ascribed to
It. and given at the meeting mentioned
above. France, it is true, got the waltz
from Germany toward the close of the
eighteenth century. but it was no new
thing even then, says a reviewer In the
the time when We first find ii mentioned by
its present name, It was known not only
in Germany, but in all southern and east
ern Europe.
Like most dances 1t was originally a re-
iigious ceremony. The Moors had it. and
from them, even before their invasion, 1t
passed to the Spanish Christians About
$40, when St Isidore, Bishop of Seville,
was-by command of the council of To-
iedo-revising the liturgy, we find it used
to the accompaniment of a tambourine
This custom, afterward known as the
Moorish rite, was adopted in Provence and
Italy The tambcurine used in the dance
was called by st. Isidore ''rnoitie de SYM
phonie," and seems to have corresponded
TO the instrument which. in the ancient
sacred dances. accompanied the flute.
When in the eleventh century the Gregor-
ian supplanted the Moorish rite. the dance
disappeared from the Church, only to be
taken up socially under the name 'earoIe''
tLatin, carolere). Later still it was known
as the "basse dance" in which the grand
preiates. kings. and dignitaries did not dis
dain to join. composed of three parts. two
very slow and one more lively.
The people used the latter part called
the tourdin which was lighter and more
lively, and little by little it became chang
ed. In Italy 1t was the first separated from
the rest under the name OF Romanesca and
from there it went over to Provence and
southern Germany, but in. each of those
countries was diversified and developed ac-
cording 10 the character of the people.
In Provence IT became the gaillard, and
| the name sufficiently indicates the charac-
ter of the transformation. Five centuries
afterward it was known as the volte, which
was In turn a transformation of the gaillard
The measure was ternary like the latter
and might be designated technically thus:
Two steps, skip, feet together pause
! The man faced the opposite couple, then
| skipped on the left foot, turning the left
| shoulder toward them. Repeating this -four
J times, he again faced the other dancers.
AS to the lady her movements were re-
duced to embracing as tightly as possible
| the neck OF her cavalier.
| AS can be easily seen, this dance re-
sembled the waltz in three ways-it was
| danced in three time, it was the first
4 dance in which turn was made and the
| first in which the dancer embraced his
partner. The latter, in fact. did mo-
touch the ground. The cavalier held hsI
| suspended with his left arm as he executed
the movements described above.
! At the Valois court the volte, for OBJ
vious reasons, was the fayorite dance
especially with Catherine d 'Medicis. Henry
| II, too, was charmed with the words which
| Clement Marot set to voite air. religious
words, which gave back to the Church
| something of what had been taken from
| it. OF course, the fair and frail Margarite
! de Navarro, wife of Henry ", was de-
vout yolteuse. When the league had dis
J persed the corrupt court OF the Valois
| the dance disappeared.
| The Romanesca in Provence and south
| ern Germany was developed very differ
entiy--in Provence into the gaillard and
volte, while the Germans. more dreamy
and slow changed the Romanesca into the
| german and waltz. The volte succumbed
while young to oblivion In the sixteenth
century, by very reason of its excess, but
| the german lived long and produced the
waltz which lives today.
1 About 17Se the waltz was introduced in
1 an opera, tina Cosa yara," by Vincent
Martin, which, In 1877, dethroned Mozart's
Figaro at Vienna. Four characters in
this opera, Lubia, Vita, Chita, and Lila
dressed in black and rose color, danced OIL
| the stage the first waltz.
| The favorable reception of the opera
| drew the attention OF society to the dance,
and under the name of cosa vara it imme-
| diately became the fashion, shortly after
!, ward assuming the name OF waltz, by
which it has been known ever since.