Congress of Vienna

topic posted Tue, January 23, 2007 - 7:07 PM by  offlineDominic
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Does anyone know where I can find a copy of this dance. I need both the dance instructions and to find a copy of music that can be listened to.

This is for a friend who is currently residing in Hawaii, so I can't just tell him to come to Gaskell's and learn it, but I think he is trying to learn it so he can dance it next time he can get to the bay area.

Thanks in advance!
posted by:
Dominic
SF Bay Area
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  • Re: Congress of Vienna

    Tue, January 23, 2007 - 7:42 PM
    You can purchase a CD of it from Frank Davis, the Brassworks trumpet player.

    The dance was created By John Hertz from some Scandinavian folk records. I had a friend of mine check the copyright clearance who worked for the library of congress. As John combined elements from several recording into a new work. The new work belongs to John. However as the lead sheets were written by other such as Frank and no one has made any claims in the 20 or so years this has been used at Gaskells, it is probably considered an "undocumented folk song." Just be sure to credit John and Frank when you use it.

    Anyway here is the leadsheet in abc music notation. You can learn more about this musical notation and how to convert to midi from this wicki site:

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABC_..._notation)

    X: 1
    T: Congress of Vienna
    M: 3/4
    L: 1/8
    K:C
    e2|"Am"(c2 A2) e2|"Em/G"(B2 G2) e2|"F"(A2 F2) e2|"E"E4 e2 \
    P:A
    |:"Am"(c2 A2) e2|"Am/G"(c2 A2) e2|
    |"Em"(d2 B2 G2|"E/D"E4) (^F^G|"Am/C"A2 ^G2 A2|"G/D" {c}B2 {cB}A2 B2)|"Am/E"(c>d cB c2|"F"A6)|
    |"D"(({g}^f)e f^gaf|"Am"edef e2)|("Dm/F"dc defd|"Am/E"cBcd c2)|("G"B/2c/2B/2A/2 Bc"Em"dB |
    |1 "Am"A4) e2:|2 "Am"A4) (GA \
    P:B
    |:"G"B2 ^c2 d2)|"Bm/D"(^fe d^c B2)|"D/F#"(a2 ^f2 d2)|"Bm/E"(^fe) (d^c) B2|
    |"G"(B2 ^c2 d2)|"Bm/D"(^fe d^c B2)|"G/B"(ba"C#dim"ga"D"^fd|1 "A/E"e4) (GA:|2 "Em"e6) \
    P:C
    |:"Em/A"(e3 d ^cB)|
    |"Am"A>A A2 A2|c>c "Em"B>B E2|((3BcB) "Am"A2 A2|"Em/A"(e3 d ^cB)|"Am"A>A A2 A2|c>c "Em"B>B G>G|
    |"Am"A2 A2 z2 \
    P:D
    ::z2 z2 e2|"A"(e2 ^c2) c2|(^c2 e2 g2)|("D"(3g^fe f2 d2)|"D"(d2 ^f2 a2)|
    |"A7"(a3 g e2)|(^c2 e2 g2)|"D"({a}(3gfe f2 d2)|"A"e2 e2 z2 \
    P:E
    :|z6|"Em/A"(e3 d ^cB)|"Am"A>A A2 A2|
    |c>c "Em"B>B G2|((3BcB) "Am"A2 A2|"Em/A"(e3 d ^cB)|"Am"A>A A2 A2|c>c "Em"B>B G>G|"Am"A2 A2 z2|z2 z2 e2|]
    • Re: Congress of Vienna

      Fri, January 26, 2007 - 7:00 PM
      Incidentally, Bangers & Mash got John's permission to record the dance. I have no information as
      to whether Brassworks did, but I was the intermediary who put Craig and Stan in touch with John.

      Piggybacking on this topic, I'd like to mention that Congress of Vienna was written for Regency dancing,
      and we do it at each Bay Area English Regency Society ball, along with many free waltzes, long-set dances
      and sometimes other choreographed waltzes. The next BAERS ball is the racy, flirty Cyprians' Ball, coming
      up on February 17 in San Mateo. (www.baers.org for info).
      • Re: Congress of Vienna

        Sat, January 27, 2007 - 10:58 AM
        In searching the web for CoV references, I found one site that claimed that CoV was danced during the congress in 1814

        it seems that there are enough other references to it, that someone putting a history page together wouldn't make that mistake, but you can never go broke underestimating the average american.

        I know that Frank also talked to John about the music, Frank was attempting to find out what the original sources were, so that he could credit them also.
        • Re: Congress of Vienna

          Tue, January 30, 2007 - 9:01 AM
          I actually just came back from Vienna and toured the Schonbrunn Palace with its magnificant ballrom. According to the the information at the site, a Ball was held in that room to celebrate the "Congress of Vienna" conference...

          Which is to say...they danced AT the Congress of Vienna...but they didn't dance THE congress of vienna AT the congress of vienna.

          en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congress_of_Vienna
          • Re: Congress of Vienna

            Wed, January 31, 2007 - 6:32 PM
            They pretty much danced every night at the Congress of Vienna. They may have not
            got a lot of diplomatizing done (if memory serves, Talleyrand was successfully
            obstructionist in the "let's carve up France so this doesn't happen again" discussions),
            but they sure danced.

            There's a German operetta film from the early 1930s, "Congress Dances", which is a lot
            of fun and has some terrific costumes. (And the dashing young Tsar of Russia is the
            romantic lead, which is pretty mind boggling.)

            BAERS held a "Congress of Vienna" Ball a few years ago.

            -- Alan
  • Re: Congress of Vienna

    Tue, January 23, 2007 - 7:52 PM
    both the brassworks album, congress of vienna, and the bangers & mash album, breakfast at fezziwig's have the music.
    the earliest recording that i've heard of if is available at tibit.com/congress/

    there is video on youtube at www.youtube.com/watch
    if the link fails look for it by name.

    I have a booklet with john hertz's instructions, you can borow it next time you're over.
    • Re: Congress of Vienna

      Wed, January 24, 2007 - 8:55 AM
      Maybe it's just my computer, but the video and audio on the you tube is off. Either that or all of the dancers are about 10 beats ahead of the band.
  • Re: Congress of Vienna

    Wed, January 24, 2007 - 10:18 AM
    • Re: Congress of Vienna

      Wed, January 31, 2007 - 6:41 PM
      I don't know if anybody actually cares, but there's at least one difference between the
      dance as John Hertz wrote and published it, and how it's done here. At the end of the
      promenade-position circle-in-place (where man goes backward, women forward),
      John wrote:

      "They dance one measure in place, flexing the knees slightly on the first count."

      Tom has "Pause". The problem with "Pause" is that people have trouble merely pausing
      for a whole measure pausing, and lots of them start on the next thing somewhat early.

      Admittedly, almost nobody in the Bay Area actually does the knee-flex thing, and as far as I
      know I'm the only person who ever teaches it, and somehow the heavens don't crumble.

      -- Alan
      • Re: Congress of Vienna

        Tue, February 20, 2007 - 2:45 AM
        Hmm. I probably missed that when I took the class from John. I'm sure you're right, though.

        I also see people just continue moving forward for one more measure, but that tends to make it harder to get back where you started. (5 measures forward vs. 4 back.)

        I'd definitely like to look at John's instructions, I wrote my from memory.

        Tom




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