A sammelband of three highly important early 18th century dance books, with choreographic notation
Paris: 1709-13.
FEUILLET and DEZAIS
Chorégraphie ou l'art de décrire la dance, par caractères, figures et signes démonstrifs, avec lesquels on apprend facilement de soy-même toutes sortes de dances. ouvrage très utile aux maîtres à dancer et à toutes les personnes qui s'appliquent à la dance. Par Mrs. Feuillet et Dezais Maîtres de Dances. Prix: [...].
Paris: Chez le Sr. Dezais, Ruë de Bussi Faubourg St. Germain à la Cour Impériale ... Avec Privilége du Roy, 1713.
1f. (recto title, verso blank), [i] dedication ("A Monsieur Pécour Pensionnaire des Menus Plaisirs du Roy et Compositeur des Balets de l'Académie Royale de Musique de Paris"), [ii] (Préface), [i] ("Extrait du Privilege du Roi"), 95, [i] (blank) pp. Engraved throughout.
The revised fourth edition of this seminal work, first published in 1700. RISM Écrits Imprimés p. 314 (2 copies only of all editions in the U.S.: one of the first [1700] edition, at the NYPL, and one of the present edition, at the Library of Congress). Beaumont p. 72. De Moroda 938. Schwartz and Schlundt 21. This edition not in Cortot, Hirsch, or Malkin.
"A rather less known choreographer is Jacques Dezais. He lived in the first half of 18th century and regarded himself as a follower of R. A. Feuillet. In 1726 he published a collection of dances named Premier Livre de Contre-Dances à Quatre, à six & à Huit. Unfortunately the publication was lost when the famous Anna-Amalie Library in Weimar burned in 2004." earlydance/news/8138-les-cotillons-de-jacques-dezais
Bound with:
FEUILLET
Recueil de Dances Composées par Mr. Feuillet Maître de Dance.
Paris: Chez l'Auteur rue de Bussi Faubourg St. Germain à la Cour Imperiale, Avec Privilége du Roy, 1709.
1f. (recto title, verso blank), 84 pp. Engraved throughout.
Contains 18 dances in Feuillet notation, with melody for each at head, as follows:
- Le Rigaudon de la Paix, pp. 1-2
- 2e Rigaudons, pp. 3-7
- Gigue à deux, Gigue de Roland, pp. 8-11
- Entrée a deux, Rigaudon, pp. 12-16
- Autre Entrée a deux, Rigaudon, pp. 17-20
- Sarabande pour femme, Sarabande, pp. 21-24
- Sarabande pour homme, Sarabande, pp. 25-28
- Sarabande Espagnole pour homme, Sarabande Espagnole, pp. 29-32
- Folie d'Espagne pour femme, Folie d'espagne, pp. 33-38
- Canary à deux, Canary, pp. 39-40
- Gigue pour homme, Gigue, pp. 41-44
- Entrée pour homme, pp. 45-48
- Autre entrée pour homme, entree, pp. 49-52
- Entrée grave pour homme, pp. 53-59
- Entrée d'Apolon, Entrée Apolon, pp. 60-66
- Balet de neuf Danseurs, entre graue, pp. 67-72
- Canary, pp. 73-74
- second canary, p. 75-84, with pp. 77-84 folding
First published in 1700. Little and Marsh 1709-Feu, p. 103 (for a list of editions and issues see 1700-Feu). De Moroda 938. This edition not in Malkin, Niles & Leslie, Schwartz & Schlundt, or RISM
"All but one of the dances in Feuillet's collection are solos or duets, ranging from easy to difficult; the single exception is a piece for eight dancers and a soloist - the only known example in Feuillet notation of a French ballet entry for more than two persons." Little and Marsh p. 91.
Bound with:
FEUILLET
Recueil de Dances Composées par M. Pecour, Pensionnaire des menus Plaisirs du Roy et Compositeur des Balets de l'Academie Royale de Musique de Paris et mise sur le Papier par M. Feuillet. Maître de Dance.
Paris: Chez l'Auteur rue de Bussi Faubourg St. Germain à la Cour Impériale Avec Privilege du Roy, 1709. 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 72 pp. Engraved throughout.
Contains 15 dances in Feuillet notation, with melody for each at head, as follows:
- la Bourée d'Achille, Bourée, pp. 1-3
- menuet, pp. 4-11
- La Mariée, la Mariée, pp. 12-21
- le Passepied, passepied, pp. 22-23
- 2e. Passepied, pp. 24-31
- la Contredance, Gigue, pp. 32-36
- le Rigaudon des Vaisseaux, Rigaudon, pp. 37-39
- 2e. Rigaudon, pp. 40-42
- la Bourgogne, Courant, pp. 43-44
- Bourée, pp. 45-46
- Sarabande, pp. 47-48
- PassePied, pp. 49-53
- la Savoye, Bourée, pp. 54-61
- la Forlana, la Forlana, pp. 62-67
- la Conty, Venitienne, pp. 68-72
First published in 1700. Little and Marsh 1700-Péc, p. 93. De Moroda 1341. This edition not in Malkin, Niles & Leslie, Schwartz & Schlundt, or RISM.
"Pecour's Recueil was bound and sold with Feuillet's Chorégraphie and Feuillet's Recueil ... (for a survey of editions and issues, see comments under 1700-Feu). This collection contains a variety of pieces for ball dancing in vogue in 1700; many of them are quite difficult. According to the preface to Feuillet's Chorégraphie, Pécour himself went over the proofs to eliminate errors in notation." Little and Marsh p. 93.
Louis Guillaume Pécour (?1651-1729) was an important French dancing-master and choreographer. He worked closely with celebrated royal choreographer Pierre Beauchamp (1631-1705), Louis XIV's personal dancing master.
Octavo. Full dark brown mottled calf with raised bands on spine in decorative compartments gilt, dark brown title label gilt.
Binding worn, rubbed, and bumped, with some abrasions; head of spine, joints, and edges chipped, with minor loss; endpapers slightly worn, soiled, and foxed. Occasional minor signs of wear, soiling, and foxing; several titles very slightly cropped.
Very good copies overall of all three works.
Feuillet was a highly important French choreographer, dancing-master, and author. "He worked at the court of Louis XIV. His fame rests on his Chorégraphie, a book describing a system of dance notation that was used in Europe throughout the 18th century. He probably did not invent the system himself (although he said he had) but derived it from the original work of Pierre Beauchamps, Louis XIV's personal dancing-master. Unlike previous methods, which describe movement verbally and use letters to refer to the sequence of steps, Feuillet's system is a track notation. It represents symbolically not only the steps of the dancer, with his turns, leaps and slides, but also the floor pattern in which he is to travel. The dance music is printed at the top of the page, and the steps are marked off in a manner corresponding to the structure of the music. ...
The publication of the Beauchamp-Feuillet notation meant that specific dances could easily be distributed throughout Europe. It also added to France's pre-eminence in the world of dance. Today the system makes it possible for scholars to study some of the dances in use in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, an important period for the development of the classical French ballet style and technique." Meredith Ellis Little in Grove Music Online
"With the invention of his dance notation system in the eighteenth century, Raoul-Auger Feuillet revolutionized the dance world. Published in 1700, his Chorégraphie ... was conceived as a self-teaching device, not a way of preserving dance. Yet owing to its immense popularity throughout Europe, even today a large body of theatrical and ballroom dances from that period in both printed and manuscript forms can still be found in most archives. ... Chorégraphie was reprinted three times in thirteen years, translated into English by John Weaver in 1706, and appeared in various "improved" versions in France, Germany, Spain, and Portugal. Voltaire (1751) ranked the invention among the "achievements of his day" and Denis Diderot (1763) devoted ten pages to the subject in his Encyclopédie." International Encyclopedia of Dance Vol. 2, p. 588.
An extraordinary presentation of three of the most important early choreographic works, all major factors in confirming France's preeminence in the world of 18th century ballet.
Item #40499
Price: $18,000.00 other currencies