Liberal Arts Blog — The Covid Waltz Workout: 9 composers, 15 waltzes, 92 minutes
Liberal Arts Blog — Saturday is the Joy of Sports, Dance, Fitness, and All Things Physical Day
Today’s Topic: The Covid Waltz Workout: 9 composers, 15 waltzes, 92 minutes
When it’s too cold and icy I replace a daily walk with a Covid Waltz Workout. It combines all fifteen waltzes discussed in the last three posts. I thought some of you out there might like to try some variation of it. Or perhaps you might share an analogous solution to the vexing problem of getting enough exercise in these trying times. If you only have two or three minutes a day, you can pick the Chopin Waltz in A minor, the Brahms Waltz in A major, Verdi’s “Libiamo,” or Mancini’s “Moon River.” If you have more time, mix and match at your whim. If you are a big waltz connoisseur, what substitutions would you recommend?
THE THREE WALTZ KINGS: Strauss II, Tchaikovsky, Chopin — 64 minutes
1. Strauss II: Emperor’s Waltz (11:55), Blue Danube (9:43), Vienna Woods (11.01)
2. Tchaikovsky: Flower (8:13), Sleeping Beauty (4:25), Swan Lake (7:20)
3. Chopin: A minor (2:37), C# minor (4:30), E flat major (5:30)
WALDTEUFEL, SHOSTAKOVICH, VERDI — 17 minutes
1. Waldteufel — Skater’s Waltz (7:37)
2. Shostakovich — Second Waltz (6:19)
3. Verdi — Libiamo (3:08)
BRAHMS, DVORAK, MANCINI — 11 minutes
1. Brahms — A minor (1:59)
2. Dvorak — Tempo di Valse from Serenade 20 (6:46)
3. Mancini — Moon River (2:53)
ADDENDUM
1. Would you chose a different set of Strauss waltzes — say the “Voices of Spring,” “Wiener Blut,” or “Roses from the South”?
2. If you are not a Mancini fan, what composer would you substitute?
3. Personal anecdote: when I recently asked my 97 year old mother what initially attracted her to my father (who died in 1983, age 63), she replied “He was a good dancer.”
Johann Strauss：Emperor Waltz Op. 437
The Blue Danube (Vienna Philharnonic Orchestra)
Johann Strauss II — Tales from the Vienna Woods Waltz
Tchaikovsky：Waltz of the Flowers－Daniel Barenboim
Tchaikovsky — Sleeping Beauty Waltz
Chopin, Waltz in A minor, B 150, Op. Posth
Chopin — Waltz in C Sharp Minor (Op. 64 №2)
Chopin — Grande Valse Brillante Op.18 (Waltz in E flat major)
Émile Waldteufel — The Skater’s Waltz, Op. 183
Dmitri Shostakovich — The Second Waltz
La Traviata: “Libiamo, ne’ lieti calici”
Brahms A flat major:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy6uV-eMOEs
Dvorak — Tempo di Valse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=disqzLW1QJA
Mancini — Moon River
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MFM5eD5grA
Click here for the last three years of posts arranged by theme:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
YOUR TURN
Please share the coolest thing you learned this week related to sports, dance, fitness. Or the coolest thing you learned about Sports, Dance, of Fitness in your life — whether on the field, on the dance floor or in the gym, whether from a coach, a parent, a friend, or just your own experimentation.
This is your chance to make some one else’s day. Or even change their life. It’s perhaps a chance to put into words something you have never articulated before. Or to cement in your own memory something cool you might otherwise forget. Or to think more deeply than otherwise about something dear to your heart.
