This has me stumped. I went to an online dictionary which included the English, German, and French pronunciations. Which one is typically used in music?

I have always pronounced it "Kwa-drill" with the accent on the first syllable.

That's the way I pronounce it, but it's probably not correct. A quadrille is a 4 sided or square dance. quad (four) rille probably meaning rows or dance pairs.

It's french.

And you pronnounce it like

Qua-dree-a

'Qua' should rhyme with 'bra'

'dree' should rhyme with 'tree'

and 'a' should sound like the 'a' in 'a word'

(hmm. quite difficult to explain this, for a non-native english speaker)

Hope you get it. It should be 3 syllables, with the emphasis on the 2nd syllable. Make it sound 'smooth' and try to make the sound in the front part of your mouth (so not throaty) for a real french sound!

Ingrid

Qua-DREE-uh?

to me that sounds better than QUA-drill.

Thanks for the advice. I'll have to practice saying it this way now.

The English pronunciation is kwa-drill with the accent on the second syllable.

It does come from a French word, but I really can't stand changing accents in the middle of a sentence. If I use a french word in an English sentence, I'll use the English pronunciation. If I use an English word in a French sentence, I'll use a French pronunciation.

To do otherwise is confusing to the listener and awkward for the speaker, and never really succeeds at getting the right sound anyway. If you really wanted to use the French pronunciation you'd have to get the gutteral rolled "r". IMO Qua-DREE-uh sounds neither like French nor like English.

the French would sound nice..

Of course, we could always defer to the dictionary (American Heritage), which shows Kwa-drill with the accent on the second syllable. As for pronouncing it in the French, I'm ready to do that when the French pronounce the American words in the American (without a French accent).

Hop

Yeah! Crayola. Qua-DREE-uh, that's it! have fun!!

Ingrid

Can't resist:

Camille Saint-Saens
Was wracked with pains,
When people addressed him,
As Saint-Saens.
He held the human race to blame,
Because it could not pronounce his name,
So, he turned with metronome and fife,
To glorify other kinds of life,
Be quiet please - for here begins
His salute to feathers, fur and fins

Sancte bovinus, Tim, that is cute.

Feathers, fur and fins ! Excellent!

Quadrille is also an English word, so there's no reason to assume a French pronunciation.

Meantime, I have no issue with pronouncing words taken from another language the correct (original language) way when they are interpolated into an english sentence, unless they are so commonly used that they are de facto english words.

Couldn't resist this one:-

Using a French word or expression during conversation can be very suave except when one hasn't really a clue......
Excerpt from one of the BBC's best loved comedy shows

And in Europe other languages can be problematic too......

Care of Mr Lear:

There was an Old Man of Whitehaven,
Who danced a quadrille with a raven;
But they said, 'It's absurd
To encourage this bird!'
So they smashed that Old Man of Whitehaven.

Hooray for Ogden Nash!

I pronounce it as a spondee, with almost equal stress on both syllables.

While you are working out the pronunciation, you might enjoy reading about the Lobster-Quadrille.

http://www.authorama.com/alice-in-wonderland-10.html

I pronounce it kwa-DRILL. If it were a French composer I might consider the French pronunciation (kwa-DREE-e - the ending "e" being a schwa in French which is not an open "uh" but more like the closed "u" in the word "put"). But if it's Haydn or something, I just stick with the Anglicized pronunciation.

If you behold a panther crouch,
Be prepared to holler "Ouch."
Better yet, when called by a panther,
Don't anther.

This should help for the original French pronunciation:
http://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais-anglais/quadrille

There was once a fine fragrance of that name, by Balenciaga, I think. Friend in college wore it all the time. Alas, discontinued, I believe ....like my beloved "My Sin". Yes, ladies, I've tried the smellalikes - not even close.

She pronounced it kwa -DREEL, as I recall.

Bravo!! Very fitting. Loved the poem and the Qu-Dree-uh pronunciation. Well Done!

Listen to "Carmen", the opera. The word "quadrille" comes up in several arias or choruses. Specifically the children chorus in the last (?) act, when they greet the "quadrille", which in this instance refers to the matador and his group, rather than to a dance. (opera singing is perhaps not the best reference for correct pronunciation.. I just happened to have seen this opera recently and this chorus is an earworm..)