Description
La Native is a short D major dance in a swinging 6/8, the kind of plain, tuneful figure that sets couples moving across a ballroom floor. It comes from The Lancers' Quadrilles, issued in the mid-nineteenth century by Duval of Dublin as their second set; the Lancers, a square dance for four facing couples, was the fashion of London rooms like Almack's. Ladoiska in the same set carries Kreutzer's name, but this piece names no composer. Its title, La Native, is French: giving each part of the dance a French name is the custom of the quadrille.
It is in D major and 6/8, about 33 seconds long with 172 notes, one of the smallest pieces in the collection. In 6/8 a bar is felt as two broad beats, and the eighth notes grouped in threes create a swaying flow. The writing is easy to see through: a right-hand melody over a plain left-hand accompaniment.
It is rated beginner and can be played through in a short time. The task is to feel 6/8 as two broad swells rather than counting six flat beats. The range runs from D2 to A5, so it fits on a 61-key keyboard. Slow the playback to hear how the beat flows, and loop one phrase at a time with A-B looping to learn where the melody breathes.
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Sheet music provided by Mutopia Project
About the Composer
Anonymous
Pieces that carry no composer's name. The two here, La Native and Les Grâces, both come from The Lancers' Quadrilles, a set published in the mid-nineteenth century as the second set of Duval of Dublin: music for a dance of four couples that was in fashion in London assembly rooms. Ladoiska from the same set names Kreutzer, whose opera supplied its tune, and is filed under his page.
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