The name is absent

33

Guidry OfLafayette, Louisiana. This tune is unique among the songs in Whitfield’s
collection in that it is made up of two contrasting musical sections: a sixteen measure
waltz in triple meter followed by a six measure Allegretto. The text Whitfield provides
has four variants, only two of which have the added two lines (the Allegretto section) at
the end.

Example 1.4: Gringalet

Tempo di valse

Je suis Grand Ga - 1ère,          le fils à mon.oncle Pierre ce - lui qui res - tais dansje - ren -

fonce - ment du bois. Je suis en voy - age pour la pre - miére fois, et je ne pense

Allegretto

^⅜ J JJI J J≠l J. =f¾ ʃjl -J- I- J JJbJ I J ʃb J ü

pas que ça sera la der - mère.                   Diable! c'é-tait beau.              Diable! c’é-tait beau,              Diable! c’é-tait beau.

A loose translation of the first stanza of text is as follows:⁵⁹

I am Grand Galere, the son of my uncle Pierre,

He who stayed in the dark woods.

I am traveling for the first time,

And I don't think it will be the last.

Devil! It was beautiful,

Devil! it was beautiful,

Devil! it was beautiful.

In Larsen’s adaptation, she incorporates the form of a stop-waltz, which is intended
to create rather unexpected alternations between the sections. “The stop-waltz
customarily is a joke piece in which a couple waltzes slowly. The music changes and the
male dancer makes up a solo step at random until the waltz begins again. The changes in

⁵⁹ Translation by Daphne Gerling.

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