Reading Taubert: References to his Published Writing on Dance, 1728-2019

Gottfried Taubert's monumental treatise Rechtschaffener Tanatzmeister, oder gründliche Erklärung der Frantzösischen Tantz-Kunst, printed in Leipzig in 1717, has attracted the attention of - mostly German-speaking - scholars and dancers ever since. The extensive treatise, weighing in at more than 1,200 pages, is a unique compendium of accumulated knowledge and new deliberations on dance and it cultural, societal and moral status. Meticulous descriptions of dance techniques and dance education, as well as a German translation of Feuillet's Choréographie, make it one of the most important sources on the reception of French dance in Germany. Taubert's recently discovered 63-page Kurtzer Entwurff Der Nutzbarkeit Des Künstlichen Tantz-EXERCITII (Zerbst 1727), focusing on the so-called danse en prose (i.e. walking, standing, and bowing), even saw a contemporary Danish translation (1742) and a German pirate copy (1748). This paper traces the ways the monumental 1717 treatise and the 1727 Kurtzer Entwurff were received the centuries: Who made reference to it, in what context, and for which purpose? By evaluating citations from 1728 to 2019, I am going to show how Taubert's writings served as a key source for considerations of 1) danse en prose; 2) the minuet; 3) Polish dances; 4) folk music and dance in general.