Liberal Arts Blog — The Waltz, Part One: Strauss II, Tchaikovsky, Chopin
Liberal Arts Blog — Saturday is the Joy of Sports, Dance, Fitness, and All Things Physical Day
Today’s Topic: Dance (III) The Waltz, Part One: Strauss II (1825–1899), Tchaikovsky (1840–1893), Chopin (1810–1849)
Two weeks ago the Rhumba, Mambo, and the Bamba. Last week, the Macarena, the Twist, and Salsa. This week, the first in a series on the waltz. The sequencing is very deliberate. Today, the three biggest names. In my opinion, they earned their status. For each of the waltz kings, I have selected the ones which I find most compelling — in order of my preference, which as best I can judge, pretty much coincides with general popularity. If you have never heard them, open your mind, your heart, and your ears. And start dancing. if you don’t know how, well watch the how to video which is the last link below. Doing so could change your life for the better. If not now, during the midst of the pandemic, when? Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
JOHANN STRAUSS II (1825–1899) — Blue Danube, Emperor’s, Vienna Woods
1. If you listen to only one, listen to the “Blue Danube”(1866). And dance to it. “When Strauss’s stepdaughter, Alice von Meyszner-Strauss, asked the composer Johannes Brahms to sign her autograph-fan, he wrote down the first bars of “The Blue Danube”, but adding “Leider nicht von Johannes Brahms” (“Unfortunately not by Johannes Brahms”). You may recognize the tune from Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
2. If you listen to only two, add the “Emperor’s Waltz” (1889). Which Emperor? Actually written on the occasion of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria’s meeting with Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany in Berlin. The original title was “Hand in Hand.” In retrospect, ironic. But, look on the bright side — a gesture of friendship and camaraderie.
3. If three, add “Vienna Woods.” A longer introduction than the first two. Worth the wait. All three have a magical blend of strings, brass, woodwind, and percussion.
NB: His father, a musician, wanted his son to become a banker and avoid the agony of the life of a professional musician. When he found his son secretly practicing the violin, he beat him. Only when his father abandoned his family for a mistress, was young Strauss able to practice in peace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6t318FgFdc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAVvBF7m260
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Og3joyCntrI
PYOTR ILYCH TCHAIKOVSKY (1840–1893) — Flowers (Nutcracker), Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake
1. The “Waltz of the Flowers” from the “Nutcracker” comes first because of the association with Christmas. Tchaikovsky would write “It’s awfully fun to write a march for tin soldiers, a waltz for flowers…” Disney included it in Fantasia (1940).
2. “Sleeping Beauty” was the basis for an animated Disney film (1959).
3. “Swan Lake” was initially a flop before becoming one of the greatest ballet hits of all time.
NB: Heart-stopping, pulse quickening, breath stealing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NWdj8PCdYE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUF9g9V-Ang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CShopT9QUzw
FREDERIC CHOPIN (1810–1849) — A minor, C# minor, E flat Major (“Grande Valse Brillante”)
1. A minor (1843–8): one of easiest to play, not correctly attributed to Chopin until 1955.
2. C# minor (1847): dedicated to his piano student, Charlotte de Rothschild, a wealthy patroness of music and the arts.
3. E flat major: Chopin’s first published waltz (1834). Orchestral arrangement by Igor Stravinsky for Diaghilev’s ballet, Les Sylphides (1909).
NB: Chopin’s waltzes were written as concert pieces for solo piano. But to me this is dance music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=algM0c_u99k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOcryGEw1NY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJP0GtpgPrU
BACKGROUND
Waltz in C-sharp minor, Op. 64, №2 (Chopin)
Grande valse brillante in E-flat major (Chopin)
HOW TO WALTZ VIDEO — if you know of a better one, let me know
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBKTN6c_MEQ
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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. And 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.
