Practische Anweisung zur regelmassigen, freyen und leichten Execution der franzosischen und englischen Contre-Tanze, nebst einer Rechtfertigung des Tanzens gegen einige unbegrundete theologische Einwurfe (Petersen, c.1768)

Dance manual/reference by Johann Wilhelm Christian Petersen, Tanz-Meister / published in Germany c.1768 (Google-Books scan, publisher page trimmed). Source: 1768-Petersen-Practische_(Goog).txt (928 lines, German Fraktur OCR). First German-language practical manual systematically teaching the Beauchamp-Feuillet notated execution of the NEWER contredanse genres — French Contre-Danses (Cotillons) and English Country-Dances — alongside the older Baroque-French step vocabulary (Menuet, Gavotte, Bourree, Rigaudon). Two-part structure: (Part I) theological-philosophical defense of dancing against the mid-18c German Pietist anti-dance polemics of H.F. von Bogatzky; Petersen invokes Luther (Tom. III Altenburg p.40: 'Wo sich ein Thun oder Lassen befindet, da Gott nicht von gelehret, geboten noch verboten hat, soll mans frey lassen seyn'), Paul (Romans 14:3 on not condemning one's neighbour's lawful practices), Plato, Cicero (defending the social Roscius against Cato's 'Nemo saltat sobrius' charge), and Alphonsus of Aragon ('Sakatorem & Stultum, eo tantum diftingui, quod ille tota vita, iste, dum faltat, ftultescat' — answered by Alphonsus himself when he danced honourably with Emperor Friedrich III's wife); (Part II) the practical Beauchamp-Feuillet pedagogy: chapter on choregraphic tables, the five bonnes positions, the demi-position, the step-definitions (Position, Pas, Plie, Eleve, Saute, Cabriole, Tombe, Glisse, Tournement de Corps, Cadence, Figure), the Allemande hand-giving figure (les deux mains d'Allemande — 'a l'Allemande beyde Hande zu geben, oder, mit durcheinander geschrankten Armen sich beyde Hande geben'), the Chaine (Kette) figure, and the component-step vocabulary (Rigaudon, Balancement, Gavotte-Schritte, Bourree-Schritte, Menuet-Schritten). Tables 3-12 present the chorographic notation of 4 named French Contredanses and 12 named English Country Dances for the 'first half-year': FRENCH — Art laesst nicht von Art (Tab. 3), Der Zweifelnde (Tab. 3), Die gleichgetheilte Herrschaft (Tab. 4), Die Egyptischen Pyramiden (Tab. 5); ENGLISH — Der Spatziergang / The Promenade (Tab. 5), Das Band / The Ribbon (Tab. 6), Der 15te Tag des November-Monats / The Fifteenth Day of November (Tab. 6), Das Taendeln / The Flirtation (Tab. 7), Heil dem Koenige! / God Save the King (Tab. 7), Ich weiss, Cephise hasst mich nicht / I know, Cephise does not hate me (Tab. 8), Der Froehliche / The Merry One (Tab. 8), Der Herr von Cornwallis / Lord Cornwallis (Tab. 8/9), Nichts umsonst / Nothing in vain (Tab. 9), Das Glueck des ersten Renners / The Fortune of the First Runner (Tab. 10), Es lebe die Handlung! / Long live commerce! (Tab. 11), Die Holsteinische Grille / The Holstein Caprice (Tab. 12). HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE: bridges the early-18c German-Feuillet treatises (Behr 1709 / Taubert 1717) with the NEWER mid-Enlightenment contredanse repertoire, anchors the German adoption of the French Cotillon (the pre-Quadrille 4-couple square-set form) alongside the English Country-Dance (the longways-set form), and documents the persistence of Beauchamp-Feuillet pedagogy two generations after Feuillet 1700. Step_Coverage=None; the tables are chorographic notation plates (not OCR-extractable), the prose is pedagogical/apologetic. (1768). Imported from local collection.