Écossaise

What it means

Ecossaise is the French word for “Scottish” and designates a quick dance in 2/4 time that was especially popular around 1800. Despite the name, it has little to do with Scottish folk music: it belongs to the family of the contredanses, the line dances, and received its name from the fashion of the time of naming dances after countries.

Characteristic are a quick tempo, a duple metre, clearly articulated phrases, and a cheerful, lively character. The ecossaise is usually short and consists of two repeated sections of eight bars each.

It is to be distinguished from the anglaise, the “English” dance, with which it is closely related, and from the schottische of the nineteenth century, a couple dance that is again quite a different form.

In the notation

The ecossaise is in 2/4 time, articulated into two repeated sections. The melody is plain and rhythmically pregnant, often with dotted figures. The accompaniment is simple and emphasizes the alternation of strong and weak beats.

Musical use

The ecossaise was a widespread social dance in the first decades of the nineteenth century. Numerous composers wrote ecossaises for piano, often in collections of short pieces for convivial use. Later the dance was replaced by other fashionable dances but remained preserved in the piano literature.

Despite the name, the ecossaise has little to do with Scottish folk music; it is a continental form of the contredanse that came into fashion around 1800 in France, Austria, and Germany. It is in quick 2/4 time, articulated into short eight-bar sections, and was danced at balls as a social dance. Beethoven and Schubert wrote numerous short ecossaises for piano, often in groups. Later the dance was replaced by the galop and the polka. Characteristics are lively verve and a clear structure of repeats.

Performance practice

Keep the articulation short and springy. Show the phrase structure distinctly. And remember the convivial origin: an ecossaise wants to entertain, not to impress.