One curiosity is that he was a student of Simon Sechter, organist, composer, and professor in the Vienna Conservatory who established what is known as Viennese fundamental bass theory, the foundation of Schenker's view of harmony (Schenker's harmonic model is a radicalization of Sechter's own radicalization of Rameau). Sechter's best known student was Anton Bruckner.
The piano solo version of Der Himmel voll von Geig'n, op. 34 [Heaven is full of fiddles] -- sorry, I couldn't resist that -- is an 1878 French reprint of a waltz set published ~20 years earlier. (I don't have easy access to any of the original editions.) Its title here is Les Cieux sont pleins de Mélodies, slightly different: "The Heavens are full of Melodies" ["Songs" might be more accurate, since "mélodie" in 19th century France was roughly equivalent to "Lied" in German].
This set is one of those very rare waltz sets that follows through on the implications of its title, and in so doing is also one of those relatively rare compositions that expand on rising figures to embrace whole strains and whole waltzes. We're not done yet: it is unique in my experience in that every section, including introduction and coda, exploits ascending cadence gestures or ^8-^7-^8 figures. Not even Lanner's Steirische Tänze, op. 165, manages that. (My discussion of op. 165 can be reached through this link: link.)
The introduction is much simpler than the typical ones in the waltzes of Johann Strauss, jr. A 16-bar waltz strain, a double period, is followed by a short modulation. Unfoldings (circled) are the basic figure, and a line descends from them in the antecedent. In the consequent, the cadence is more complicated. I've added a "close-up" below.
One could write a long post on these four measures of intricate meshing of gestures (motives) and voice leading. Suffice to say that each of the three triad notes in the first bar is easily traced throughout. A4 gradually ascends, with notable steps along the way: the very expressive B5 in bar 2, and the cadence melody itself. F#5, which has dominated the preceding melody, descends into inner voices in bar 2. With its companion D5, it eventually "exchanges" to the final sixth, F#4-D5. All this, of course, assumes that the piano version in its reduction is faithfully following the orchestral score.
The first waltz in its first strain hints at a "mirror Urlinie" that we will see (almost) fulfilled when it is reprised in the set's coda. Note that unfoldings dominate again and that the waltz, first strain and as a whole ("pour Finir"), ends on ^3. The overall design of this waltz, incidentally, is ABA (note again the "pour Finir" accounting for the ending of the reprise).
The second waltz uses the same unfolding, ^8-^3, here as Bb5-D5, and the balance also favors the upper note, but this time the linear ascent is obvious -- and it is repeated in the second strain. This waltz is played alternativo, or ABAB (note that "pour Finir" is now positioned at the end of the second strain).
The examples and comment will continue in Part 2 tomorrow.
