CONTREDANSES by DanzAntica - Stephan Mester

Vol. 1 Les Contredanses à deux
12 French Contredanses for 1 Couple

This Album contains the music to all "Contredanses à deux" that can be found in the dance collections of Feuillet 1706, 1708 Dezais 1712, Jayme 1717 and MS DURLACH ca.1725

The project CONTREDANSES by DanzAntica aims to give an overview of the French Contredanses from the time of Louis XIV and Louis XV.

Three questions are the focus of interest:

Which Contredanse choreographies are known from contemporary non-English, mainly French, sources?

Are there any contemporary music sources that pass on original bass lines or second voices and that allow conclusions about the harmonization and the sound of the dances?

Which English Country Dances have been adopted into the French repertoire whose choreographies are not contained in French sources, but whose verifiably English melodies appear in French music collections with French titles?

But the main intention of CONTREDANSES by DanzAntica is of a practical nature. It aims to give an acoustic face to the French "Recueils de Contredanses", on one single web page. This gives lovers of French contredanses the opportunity to select their dances based solely on choreographic aspects, without having to worry about the search for a danceable recording.

Volumes:

Vol. 1 Les Contredanses à deux, 12 French Contredanses for 1 Couple

Vol. 2 Les Contredanses en Menuet, 13 + 1 French Minuet-Contredanses

Vol. 3a,b,c "Recueil de Contredances" by Feuillet 1706

Vol. 4 "Contredanses nouvelles" by Feuillet 1708

Vol. 5 "II. Recueil de Nouvelles Contredanses" by Dezais 1712 (in preparation)

Vol. 6 "Recueil de Contre Danses" by Jayme 1717 (in preparation, with all the dances which do not figure in the previous Recueils)

Vol. 7 "Premier Recueil de Contre-Dances à quatre, à six & à huit" by Dezais 1726

Vol. 8a,b,c,d
46 dances from "Chorégraphie" by La Vigne(?) MS DURLACH, 1720ies

Vol. 9 "Livre de Contredance" by Lorin, late 1680ies (in preparation)

Vol. 10 Playford Dances à la française & other curiosities (in preparation)