La Westendaise, a novelty dance by J. Quesnel

Today I bring you to the beach with the dance “La Westendaise” (the one from Westende). Westende is a town on the Belgian coast – very close to Ostend, which gave its name to the famous Ostendaise by Kevers.

For once, it will also be an opportunity to highlight three women: a choreographer, a composer and a publisher.

The choreographer : Juliette Quesnel

The score of La Westendaise is signed ‘J. Quesnel, professeur de danse à Bruxelles’. The catalogue of the Royal Library of Belgium listed the other composer as ‘Jacques Quesnel’. And naively, I believed him. Except that there was no trace of a Jacques Quesnel in the Belgian capital at the turn of the twentieth century!

However, the name of Juliette Quesnel appeared regularly. So I began my research heroically, by asking a correction in the catalogue of the library. It now mentions all correct information. This is not the first time that an error is spotted in a library catalogue (cf. La bougie de Noël), so be careful during your research!

Juliette Quesnel was born in Brussels in 1868. Dancing did not seem to be the obvious path for Juliette. At the age of 22, she took over a lingerie shop in Brussels (Le Soir, October 16, 1890, ed.1, p.3).

In 1894, she opened a dance class on Chaussée d’Ixelles, still in Brussels (Le Soir, October 3, 1894, ed.1, p.3). The classes in Brussels continued in various premises – the previous ones having apparently became too cramped. Between 1899 and 1904, Juliette organised several children’s balls and carnivals in her home town (e.g. L’indépendance belge, February 1, 1903, ed.1, p.2).

From the summer 1895, she was in charge of the dance lessons and evenings at the Kursaal of Middelkerke, on the Belgian coast. She seemed to be there in residence every summer until at least 1900.

Around 1904, Juliette married Marcel Raymond, a Liege luthier’s son, and takes his name. She went on on her dance teaching path as “Madame Raymond” until at least 1908. After that I lost her track.

The composer : Valentine Bruneel

The website The LiederNet Archive states 1867 as Valentine’s year of birth. Therefore, she must have been… 9 years old… when she married the Ghent’s industrialist Ernest Dutry in 1876. This is either morally wrong, of factually wrong.

The website Geneanet states the dates of 1855-1944 for Valentine Bruneel, which is much more reasonable (marriage at 21). The year of birth in 1855 is also confirmed by the newspaper Bien Public on June 21, 1876:

We don’t know much about Valentine’s life, only that she pursued a modest career as composer, under the pseudonym T. Valdury. This is obviously an anagram of Val. Dutry.

I suppose that she used a pseudonym to protect her reputation in case of failure of her first works. Or, to protect the reputation of her husband, a public figure. Very soon, it appears that her true identity was of public knowledge.

Valentine’s moment of glory happened in 1913, during the Ghent International Exposition. On that occasion, the Palais des Travaux Féminins (Palace of the women’s works), reserved for women musicians, composers and performers, played works by T. Valdury several times (Vaderland, “Wereldtentoonstelling van Gent 1913. In het vrouwenpaleis”, July 17, 1913, p.3, and “La musique au Palais des Travaux féminins”, in: Les Fêtes musicales à l’Exposition Universelle de Gand 1913, Gent, 1913, p. 33, quoted by the Studie centrum Vlaamse Muziek).

Besides La Westendaise, she also wrote a number of songs:

• A une fiancée (text : Victor Hugo)
• Le puits (text : Robert de Smet)
• Pierrot (text : Robert de Smet)

The music publisher: Mme G. Beyer

Zénaïde Ronse, from Veurne, married in 1882 Gustave Beyer (1845 – 1912), a violist and music composer from Ghent. Around 1890, she took over the piano factory and music publishing business, set up by Vitus Gevaert in 1846. Zénaïde, under the name Mme G. Beyer, continued this activity until 1915.

The dance

A link with L’Ostendaise?

When I found the music sheet of La Westendaise, I immediately wondered if there was a link with L’Ostendaise. This famous dance was composed around 1860 by Edouard Kevers (see the excellent article on the blog Maitre à danser). Edouard had been for a while the director of the ball at the Casino in Ostend, which explains the choice of the title.

It must have been the same idea that led Juliette Quesnel, director of the Middelkerke balls, to name her own dance La Westendaise. Clearly, ‘La Middelkerkoise’ just didn’t sound as good.

Incidentally, Middelkerke (literally, “the church in the middle”) lies between Ostend (literally, “the eastern end”) and Westend (literally, “the western end”). All three villages were once on an island, Terstreep, which has disappeared to this day.

Illustration and dating

Before reconstructing the choreography, a word about the engraving that illustrates the music sheet. This image has indeed been having a much longer life than the dance itself.

The original drawing is by Jean Gouweloos (1868-1943), a Belgian painter, famous for his paintings of bathers on the Belgian coast. On the cover sheet we see a young lady, barefoot, wearing a traditional outfit. She lays on the grass and watches the seashore. In the background, there is a distinctive building, with two towers under onion domes: this is probably the « Westend Hotel ».

That drawing got engraved by J.E. Goossens in 1897, so it must be older (but not before 1878). The drawing got duplicated many times, may it be on the music sheet of La Westendaise, or on posters, postcards, magazines. There is even a copy in Lyon.

Does it mean that La Westendaise was published in 1897? I doubt it.

In 1907, two short articles announced that La Westendaise, danse nouvelle, by T. Valdury, arranged by V. Stévens (yes, with an accent – no, without any link with myself) would be performed on April 16th in Liège (« Kiosque d’Avroy » dans La Meuse, April 16, 1907, éd. 1, p. 3) and on June 2nd in Antwerp (« Société royale de zoologie », dans Le Matin, 2 juin 1907, éd. 1, p.2). This leads me to think that the date dates back from 1907.

After these two articles, La Westendaise fell into oblivion. Until today!

Reconstruction

Position: Partners placed side by side, holding hands as in the Pas de Quatre; ladies and gentlemen begin with the right foot.

A                     1                     Slide R foot to the R (1), step L close to R  (3)

                        2                      Slide R foot to the R (1), point L close to R heel (3)

                        3-4                  Idem 1-2 to the left

                        5-7                  3 « pas de basque » forward, finishing facing partner*

                        8                      Salute and honour

B                     1-4                  R hand to R hand, 4 boston steps turning

                        5-8                  L hand to L hand, Mg à Mg, 4 boston steps turning, finishing facing partner

                        9-10                2 sliding steps the the R “très allongés” (very elongated)

                        11-12              idem to the L

                        13-16              In closed position, turning mazurka (the Lead needs to change foot !)

Alternate figures A and B until the finale. Finale: repeat A1-4, then turning boston until the end. « Sur le dernier accord, révérence de la dame, salut et baise-main du cavalier. » (on the last chord, honour of the Lady, and kissing of the hand for the Gentleman).

* Step R to the R, cross L in front of R, step R just behind the L – three times

To finish on a high note, here’s a short sound extract from La Westendaise: