When Lady Caroline Lamb met Byron in 1812, the waltz was starting to gain traction with the more progressive elements of Society. This couples dance was considered rather racy in an age when stately group English country dances were the primary offerings at Almack’s.
Thomas Rowlandson’s image of the waltz in 1806
The vivacious and racy Lady Caroline Lamb met Lord Byron in 1812. She recalled that time in a letter she wrote 12 years later:
Devonshire House at that time was closed from my uncles death for one year – at Melbourne House where I lived the Waltzes and Quadrilles were being daily practised – Lady Jersey, Lady Cowper, the Duke of Devonshire, Miss Milbank, and a number of foreigners coming here to learn…
You may imagine what forty or fifty people dancing from 12 in the morning until near dinner time all young gay & noisy were.
In the evenings we either had opposition suppers or went out to Balls and routs – Such was the life I then led when Moore and Rogers introduced Lord Byron to me… Caroline Lamb, 1824, in a letter to Captain Thomas Medwin
It is interesting to note that Caroline mentions Lady Jersey and Lady Cowper, two of the patronesses of Almack’s, where the waltz was banned. Eventually, however, the ultra exclusive Almack’s would cave in, and by 1814 the waltz was finally sanctioned. Young ladies would still need approval before a gentleman could clasp his arm around her waist, but the doors had been opened beyond the confines of the upper classes.
La Walze, Le Bon Genre, 1810. This caricature has a feeling of decadence.
By 1815, when Jane Austen’s Emma was published, the waltz has become so respectable that it would be danced in Highbury at the home of the Coles.
Mrs Weston, capital in her country-dances, was seated, and beginning an irresistible waltz; and Frank Churchill, coming up with most becoming gallantry to Emma, had secured her hand, and led her up to the top.” – Emma
The waltz looks gentrified in this 1816 illustration.
More on the topic:
The above illustration you say, “La Walze, Le Bon Genre, 1810. This caricature has a feeling of decadence.” It looks positively lewd ha! ha! One to one engagement!!!!!!!
I’ll bet you it’s not as lewd as what went on number 16 Cheyne Walk though!!!
I hope you are well.
All the best,
Tony
“The name of the waltz is taken from the Italian ‘volver’ – to turn, or revolve. It was an outgrowth of the ländler, a country dance in three-quarter time, and replaced the heavy hopping and jumping movements with more polished and graceful gliding.” Bob January
I learned a landler and can say it was kind of klunky and countrified. Close contact in the waltz made it suspect in Germany and Austria where it originated from the beginning.
funny isn’t it how times have changed? I love to waltz. It does feel intimate but in a contained way of moving with your partner as well as just engaging with the music. Compare that to today’s way of dancing and lewd has a whole new look. I’m certainly glad it survived. I can certainly see how coming from a dancing apart kind of atmosphere would consider it an invasion of space (as well as other things). Funny thing is my grandparents never said that the waltz was considered overly intimate in the 1800’s. Their parents immigrated to the U.S. from Germany in the mid 1800s and I just took it for granted that it wasn’t an issue but then again the generation moving from the 1800s into the 1900’s did see so many changes it probably didn’t even cross their minds. thanks for all the info.
In “The Sound of Music” Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer dance a version of the landler. Please may I be so clunky just once before I depart this earth?
There was also a country dance called the waltz. It is assumed that this is what Mrs. Weston played. Frank Churchill didn’t led Emma on to the floor, he led her to the top of the set.
Nancy, thank you. Good point. I had assumed from the various images and the positions of the arms overhead that the waltz movements were different in the early 19th century and that they evolved over time. Apparently a form of the waltz called the Volta was danced in France 700 years before its introduction to England. This dance was also considered scandalous. (I have included the link below).
Your research page states:
The poem you quote in your research was included in a letter by Sir W. Elford to a Miss Mitford in 1813. He concludes his letter by saying:
For people who are interested in learning more about the waltz, click on the link above or this link to read the rest of Nancy’s discourse: http://www.susannaives.com/nancyregencyresearcher/pages/dance1.html
Lady Sarah Spencer mentions that at a large outdoor breakfast on a day early in July 1806 The Duke of Cambridge and lady Charlotte Campbell and two others began dancing the waltz. A military band accompanied them and they danced beautifully..Unfortunately she didn’t see them so couldn’t describe the dance..
Thomas Wilson has descriptions of many waltzes in his Companion to the Ballroom of 1816 . However, he makes it clear that this was not the German or Belgium waltz which he was going to describe in another book.
Part of the problem is that most of us identify the waltz with the Viennese waltz and Strauss waltzes. It appears that the Waltz evolved over the decades.
According to Byron’s poem, it appears people objected to the placement of the man’s hands on the person of the female. The other position of the arms above the head or shoulder height is not different from other ordinary dances.
Suzan, the waltz orginated in Germany, so they probably would not think anything of it. Also by the mid-1800’s it was accepted everywhere.
Great post, Vic.
A very good post. I had thought the waltz to be thought daring and racy because of the proximity of the couple more so than the man’s hand on the woman’s waist. I’m also interested in hearing more about this “other waltz”.
Here is a link to Thomas Wilson’s book on the German Waltz of 1816.
http://www.walternelson.com/dr/regency-waltz
I will try to find his description of a regular waltz
KField2
Wilson’s 1816 Dance book has several waltzes, though he says these are not the German or French Waltzes of his other book.
I haven’t been able to translate all the signs nor discover how to enter them in Word. All the waltz tunes in the book of Country dancing are 3/4 or 3/8 times.
Waltzing steps are used.
The Royal Waltz is 3 ladies and 3 gents set to each other with setting waltz step lead down the middle up again with progressive waltz step turn your partner and swing corner a la waltz repeat.
The Brunswick Waltz the 1st lady meet & turn 2nd gent a la waltz the 1st gent turns the 2nd Lady ditto. waltz whole pousette & turn corners a la waltz.
the omitted sign is a horizontal ba with two dots under it . think it means repeat. I will have to find the page that gives the explanation.
Thank you for explaining that!
Oh, the wicked waltz! How outrageous! Dancing in contact with your partner! Scandalous! :D As someone above said, how the times have changed.