Waldteufel: Famous Waltzes

This album has features 7 of Waldteufel's most famous waltzes. This is a digital recording, and it was released on Philips in 1983, and originally released in 1981.

## Details

Emil Waldteufel (1837-1915)

1. **"España" op. 236** (after E. Chabrier) - 6:18
2. **"Très jolie" op. 159** (Ganz allerliebst) - 8:26
3. **"Estudiantina" op. 191** (after P. Lacome) - 6:34
4. **"Les Sirènes" op. 154** (Sirenenzauber) - 7:24
5. **"Les Patineurs" op. 183** (The Skaters' Waltz; Die Schlittschuhläufer) - 8:32
6. **"Dolorès" op. 170** - 8:34
7. **"Pluie de Diamants" op. 160** (Pluie d'or; Goldregen) - 9:47

Total length: 55 minutes

* Orchestra: Orchestra of the Vienna Volksoper
* Conductor: Franz Bauer-Theussl

Recorded: Vienna, 4/1981

Photo: Helmut Koller, Vienna

Catalogue Numbers:

* CD: 400 012-2
* LP: 6514 069
* Cassette: 7337 069

## Liner Notes

Of all the waltz composers who flourished in the shadow of the Strausses, perhaps none achieved such widespread and lasting popularity as the French composer Emil Waldteufel. Unlike most major waltz composers, he was not an orchestral musician but a pianist. Like many other waltz composers, however, he came from a family of dance musicians. His father Louis (1801-1884) and elder brother Léon (1832-1884) were both violinists, dance-band leaders, and composers.

During the fun loving years of the French Second Empire the family provided dance music for society occasions in Paris, as well as in Biarritz where the imperial family took their summer vacation. The Waldteufel orchestra played at court balls in the Tuileries before the revolution of 1870, and Emil himself was appointed court pianist to the Empress Eugénie, playing at receptions and providing dance music for the fashionable autumn house parties at the Palace of Compiègne. Waldteufel's big break as a composer came in 1874, when the Prince of Wales heard him play his waltz *Manolo* at a Parisian soiree and agreed to introduce it in London. With the prince's patronage, Waldteufel secured a long-term publishing contract from a London publisher, and in the next few years he produced a succession of worldwide successes.

*Les Sirènes* (The Sirens) of 1878 has an introduction that depicts lapping water, followed by a main theme representing the call of the women of Greek mythology whose enchanting music lured unwary sailors to destruction. Of *Très Jolie* (Very Pretty), also from 1878, one need say no more than that it admirably lives up to its title. From 1879 comes *Pluie de diamants* (Diamond Rain), which is also known as *Pluie d'or* (Golden Rain). Either title may be represented in the sparkling torrents of the brilliant introduction in polonaise tempo. *Dolorès* (1880) has a Spanish flavour and provides an example of the waltzes that Waldteufel wrote in honour of ladies of Parisian society who were often his piano pupils also. Most famous of all his waltzes is Les patineurs (The Skaters) of 1882, in which the gilding main theme and the use of sleigh bells cleverly create a picture of winter fun.

The five waltzes discussed above all show Waldteufel's easygoing, poetic style. They also show how he composed using a formula - a point most obviously demonstrated by the stylistic similarity of the principal themes of these waltzes. He inevitably departed from the formula, though, when commissioned to arrange waltzes on currently popular themes by other composers. This he did most successfully that again have a pronounced Spanish flavour. *Estudiantina* (1883) is based on a Spanish duet of that title by Paul Lacome (1838-1920), to which are added other Spanish airs. Likewise *España* ( 1886) is based on themes from the celebrated rhapsody by Chabrier, although Waldteufel also cleverly works in some themes from Chabrier's operetta *Une éducation manquée.*

When Waldteufel died in 1915 the First World War was still in progress. When it was over the boundaries of Europe has been re-drawn and the society that fostered the waltz destroyed. But if the society itself proved to have a finite life, the waltz compositions of the 18th century that ruled the dance floors have a timeless quality and provide a lasting souvenir of those glamorous days.

*Andrew Lamb*

## Links

For the playlist of the album, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpMtwJkR-5U&list=OLAK5uy\_kCbPoprKewSt2VJgCJeZmBv7k0dqGDQSo&index=1

On Decca Classics, they don't have any more info on this album

For the official Decca Classics website, click here: https://www.deccaclassics.com/en