When Charles II was restored to his throne in 1660, it seems that he lost little time in appointing a royal dancing master. England’s Royal Dancing Masters, 1660-1714

This entry was posted in Ballroom Dancing, Dancing at Court and tagged Anthony L’Abbé, Baroque Dance, Catherine of Braganza, Charles II, James II, Mary of Modena, Mr Isaac, Queen Anne, Queen Mary II, William III on Novemby moiragoff. ‘Monsieur L’Abbé and Le Palais des Plaisirs: a new source for a London spectacle’, Proceedings of the SDHS Conference 2010, pp.

‘The testament and last will of Jerome Francis Gahory’, Early Music, 38.4 (November 2010), pp. Reprint of the 1932 ed.Ī register of English theatrical documents 1660-1737, compiled and ed. Queen Anne: the politics of passion (London, 2012)Įleanore Boswell. William and Mary (Stroud, 2008)Īnne Somerset. For this post, I have mainly relied on the following secondary sources: L’Abbé was Isaac’s brother-in-law and would continue the line of royal dancing masters when he was appointed to that post by George I around 1715.įurther research among a range of primary sources is needed on this topic. William III himself tacitly acknowledged the importance of French dancing at his court, continuing the precedent set by Charles II, when Le Palais des Plaisirs was given at Kensington House in 1698 and again when the French dancers Claude Ballon and Anthony L’Abbé danced there before him in 1699. It is worth reiterating that the birthday balls that were a feature of Queen Anne’s reign and continued throughout the ensuing Georgian era had their beginning in the 1660s, perhaps under the auspices of the royal dancing master Jerome Gahory (Mr Isaac’s uncle). I have recently been investigating some of the choreographies by Mr Isaac, dancing master to Princess Anne, and it is possible that those that can plausibly be dated to the 1690s include some that were originally performed at the birthday balls for William III. Princess Anne’s birthday was celebrated by a ball at Kensington House on 6 February 1698, although this seems to have been an isolated occasion. In November 1696, William III’s sister-in-law Princess Anne – who had taken on her late sister’s role of court ‘hostess’ – gave a ball for the King’s birthday and there were further such balls in 1697, 16. In November 1695 there was no ball for the birthday of the widowed King. The death of Queen Mary II on 28 December 1694 brought court entertainments to a halt. There may well have been a ball in November 1692 as well but direct evidence that would confirm this does not survive. William III’s birthday was accompanied by a ball at Whitehall Palace in November 1691, November 1693 and November 1694. There seems to have been no parallel entertainment for Mary II’s birthday on 30 April the following year, or indeed in later years, although the Queen apparently hosted a ball for her sister Princess Anne’s birthday on 6 February 1691. There was a ball to celebrate William III’s birthday on 4 November 1689, the first of what would become a series. Doing so helps us track how our collection is used and helps justify freely releasing even more content in the future.Following their joint acceptance of the throne on 13 February 1689 and their coronation on 11 April that year, it was several months before court entertainments settled into a pattern.

Though not required, if you want to credit us as the source, please use the following statement, 'From The New York Public Library,' and provide a link back to the item on our Digital Collections site. This item may not be in the public domain under the laws of other countries. Physical Description Extent: 1 page Type of Resource Text Languages English Identifiers NYPL catalog ID (B-number): b11868620 MSS Unit ID: 2091 Other local Identifier: Myers #2247 Archives EAD ID: 480085 Universal Unique Identifier (UUID): 27592dc0-2e60-0133-78eb-58d385a7b928 Rights Statement The New York Public Library believes that this item is in the public domain under the laws of the United States, but did not make a determination as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. Autographs of English and Foreign Persons Dates / Origin Date Created: Library locations Manuscripts and Archives Division Shelf locator: MssCol 2091 Genres Documents Notes Funding: Digitization was made possible by a lead gift from The Polonsky Foundation.

Second and charles whitehall