The Gentleman Dancing-Master

The Gentleman Dancing-Master: Mr Isaac and the English Royal Court from Charles II to Queen Anne is a study of the life of the most significant dancing-master at the late-Stuart court in London. It discusses his use of dance music and brings together, for the first time, reprints of the notations of all his twenty-three surviving dances created for performance at court in the presence of the monarch, including several created to celebrate the birthdays of Queen Anne or named after important courtiers or political events. This study highlights the significance of dance as a central part of court culture, and also the wider context of the London book trade within which Isaac’s notators turned his dances into a publishable form ultimately taken over by John Walsh’s music publishing firm. Using extensive archival and printed sources from his day, the book follows Isaac’s career as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer of sophisticated duets in the fashionable French style, some of which were also performed in the theatre. Isaac, however, was no slavish follower of French fashion, and by careful consideration of the extant dances from the point of view of a dancer, this study also seeks to throw light on Isaac’s often individualistic approach to choreography.