This entry is part of the Lexicon of Klezmer Terminology (LKT). The LKT compiles a wide array of source materials that shed light on the historical and contemporary state of knowledge about klezmer music. Each entry includes a number of citations from primary and secondary sources that include or refer to the term in question. It also indicates whether musical notation or sound recordings are included in the source. By clicking on the bibliographic hyperlink at the end of each citation, you get the full reference.
“In L. Levanda’s article ‘Starinnye evereiskie svadebnye obichai (Perezhitoe 3), the author lists the dances done by girls with the bride at the preliminaries including: polka, waltz, mazurka, quadrille, and lancers. The šer is not mentioned there. I imagine this happened because Levanda wrote the article in Russian and did not try to include dances other than those generally known; thus, it is typical that the frejlaxs is also not cited. Most of the dances Levanda mentioned were widespread among the masses only in the second half of the nineteenth century. As is known, the polka was created only around 1830 (in Czechoslovakia) and the quadrille in the early nineteenth century (Parisian), and the lancers was first performed in the Berlin ballet only in 1857. There is no question of the ‘Old Jewish wedding customs’ of the title of Levanda’s article.” Beregovski 1937 [= Beregovski/Slobin 1982, p. 533].