Karl Michael Ziehrer, Der Himmel voll von Geig'n, part 1

Karl Michael Ziehrer was a contemporary and musical rival of Johann Strauss, jr. Indeed, he was first publicly promoted in the 1860s by Strauss's publisher, Carl Haslinger. The two had had a falling out, and Haslinger was looking for a new protégé. Ziehrer was known primarily as a composer and conductor of military bands and concert/dance orchestras. Late in life he focused on operettas.

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.

Essay published on rising lines in waltzes by Johann Strauss, sr.

I have just published an essay titled Ascending Cadence Gestures in Waltzes by Johann Strauss, sr. on the Texas Scholar Works platform: link.  Here is the abstract:

Rising melodic figures have a long history in cadences in European music of all genres. This essay documents examples from an especially influential repertoire of social dance music, the Viennese waltz in the first half of the 19th century. The two most important figures were both violinists, orchestra leaders, and composers: Josef Lanner (d. 1843) and Johann Strauss, sr. (d. 1849). Strauss is the focus here, through twenty five waltz sets published between 1827 and 1848.

Rising lines in an 18th century contredanse collection

As a follow-up to the recent post on a menuet from the Bacquoy-Guedon treatise (early 1780s), here is a [link to a PDF file] that lists and provides scores for multiple examples of rising lines in contredanses from collections preserved in the Royal Danish library. It is assumed that the dances come from published sources and were gathered into these volumes for court use. The collections are associated with Johan Bülow, court musician in Copenhagen in the late 18th century.

Here is one of the dances. Note that four figures are specified, which means the music will minimally be played twice in alternativo fashion, or ABAB. It's also quite possible that the first strain would be repeated at the end, in coda fashion. Since three couples (not four) are specified, it is possible that the instructions are meant for a long dance rather than a quadrille, meaning that the strains would be repeated multiple times (as often as necessary for all the dancers to complete the figures).