Annotation:Calédonia (Le)

Back to 

 CALEDONIA, LE (quatrieme partie). AKA - "The Caledonian." French-Canadian, Reel. D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'BB'. This is the fourth part of a five part French-Canadian quadrille. According to editor Joyal, the dance 'the Caledonia' is particularly popular in the Gaspé region of Québec. The melody appears in other French-Canadian pieces; for example, in "Set Americain (premiere partie) by accordionist Theodore Duguay and as the second part of "Caledonia" by accordion player Gerard Lajole (Joyal). The set "The Caledonian Quadrilles" was first published between 1820 and 1830, according to Flett & Flett (1964) and (as "The Caledonians") was one of three surviving quadrille sets in Scottish tradtion, along with "The Lancers" (first published about 1817) and the original First Set of Quadrilles, this latter of which became known simply as "The Quadrilles." F. Rhodes notes that The Caledonians was a dance that was introduced into Cape Breton dances between 1890 and 1900, along with other square and couple dances.    Source for notated version: Jean-Marie Verret (Lac Saint-Charles, Québec) [Joyal].   Printed sources: Joyal (Danses d'ici: Musique Traditionnelle du Québec), 1994; pp. 79 & 120.  Recorded sources: Carnaval C-402, Gerard Lajoie. Folkways RBF 115, Theodore Duguay - "Masters of French Canadian Music 4." MCA Coral CB33028, Gerard Lajoie. Philo Forerunner Series 42016, Jean-Marie Verret - "La Famille Verret, vol. 2" (1974). Vox A-108 (78 RPM), Theodore Duguay (1945).

Back to