Waldteufel Waltzes and Polkas

 Day 106

Waldteufel Waltzes and Polkas

Grand Vitessse

Valse de Patineurs

Bella Bocca

Les Siècles

François-Xavier Roth

España nach Chabrier

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Marris Jansons

The last few weeks have included some very heavyweight works and so, particularly as I am going to be busy over the next week, I will be looking at some lighter, and shorter, music.  I’ve always enjoyed the lighter music within the classical repertoire and there is a huge amount of it to go at. I’m starting today with Waldteufel, who owns his immortality to the Skaters’ Waltz, or more to the point the first dozen or so bars of the main theme. Quite why it is this one piece which has stuck is a bit of mystery - it is certainly attractive but nothing particular to write home about - so it is probably just a matter of luck or perhaps pushing by the publisher. On the other hand hearing the whole piece in context does give it a bit more shape - the introduction works very nicely and the contrasting sections are full of interest. 

All of these piece were enjoyable but didn’t strike me as at quite the level of the best of the Strauss family, of whom more this week. The most fascinating was the waltz based on Chabrier’s España. There was a tradition of writing (or perhaps better so say arranging) waltzes and quadrilles on popular pieces of the day - mainly operatic selections but also orchestral and vocal pieces. The Strausses did a lot of this. I suppose that it served a function at its time, allowing people to hear digested fragments of pieces in popular form. This waltz is very curious - it takes the main themes of the piece but neatens them into regular 4 bar phrases - thus eliminating all of the verve and excitement of the original. A riotous piece becomes a respectable dance!  I can’t imagine anybody wanting to hear it now, other than as a curiosity, when recordings of the original are so easily available. But the fact that this arrangement was written in 1886, only three years after the first performance of the original, does show just how popular España had become in only a few years.