| Sixteen Waltzes | |
|---|---|
| Piano music by Johannes Brahms | |
 The composer c. 1872 | |
| Native name | Sechzehn Walzer |
| Opus | 39 |
| Composed | 1865 |
| Dedication | Eduard Hanslick |
| Published | 1866 |
| Scoring |
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Sixteen Waltzes (German; Sechzehn Walzer), Op. 39, is a set of 16 short waltzes for piano written by Johannes Brahms. They were composed in 1865, and published in 1866, dedicated to the music critic Eduard Hanslick. [1]
These waltzes were written for piano four hands, and were also arranged for piano solo by the composer, in two different versions – difficult and simplified. The three versions were published at the same time, and sold well, contrary to the composer's expectations.
The waltzes were written while the composer lived in Vienna, a city where he would permanently settle in 1872. [2] They were intended as a tribute to the waltz dance form which had become especially fashionable in his adopted city. [2]
In the solo versions, some of the keys were altered from the original duet version (the last four in the difficult version and No. 6 in the easy version). Waltz Number 15 in A major (or A♭) has acquired a life of its own, as likely the most popular piece in the collection. An arrangement of five of the waltzes (Nos. 1, 2, 11, 14, and 15) for two pianos, four hands was published after the composer's death.
Almost all of the waltzes are in a recapitulating binary form. For each waltz, the first half moves to the dominant, the relative major, or a substitute key. Then, the second half begins with a developmental passage that leads back to the main theme and the tonic. [2]
In 1984, critic Edward Rothstein said that Joseph Smith "made a compelling case for taking them seriously as a unified cycle." [3]
The 16 waltzes listed here are played by Martha Goldstein:
| No. 1 in B major Tempo giusto (1:02) | |
| No. 2 in E major (1:32) | |
| No. 3 in G♯ minor (1:02) | |
| No. 4 in E minor Poco sostenuto (1:35) | |
| No. 5 in E major Grazioso (1:10) | |
| No. 6 in C♯ major Vivace (C major in the easy solo version) (1:07) | |
| No. 7 in C♯ minor Poco più Andante (2:12) | |
| No. 8 in B♭ major (1:40) | |
| No. 9 in D minor (1:26) | |
| No. 10 in G major (0:32) | |
| No. 11 in B minor (1:28) | |
| No. 12 in E major (1:20) | |
| No. 13 in C major (B major in the more difficult solo version) (0:48) | |
| No. 14 in A minor (G♯ minor in the more difficult solo version and the two-piano version) (1:34) | |
| No. 15 in A major (A♭ major in the more difficult solo version and the two-piano version) (1:28) | |
| No. 16 in D minor (C♯ minor in the more difficult solo version) (1:01) |
Johannes Brahms was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the "Three Bs" of music, a comment originally made by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow.
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Eduard Hanslick was an Austrian music critic, aesthetician and historian. Among the leading critics of his time, he was the chief music critic of the Neue Freie Presse from 1864 until the end of his life. His best known work, the 1854 treatise Vom Musikalisch-Schönen, was a landmark in the aesthetics of music and outlines much of his artistic and philosophical beliefs on music.
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Karl Tausig was a Polish virtuoso pianist, arranger and composer. He is generally regarded as Franz Liszt's most distinguished pupil and one of the greatest pianists of all time.
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Liebeslieder op. 114 is a waltz by Johann Strauss II written in 1852. At the time it was conceived, the waltz was titled 'Liebesgedichte' or "Love Poems" and during its first performance, it was even announced as 'Liebesständchen' or "Love Serenade". The first performance was at the famed Vienna Volksgarten on 18 June 1852 under the composer's direction.
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Heinrich Picot de Peccaduc, Freiherr von Herzogenberg was an Austrian composer and conductor descended from a French aristocratic family.
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"Gartenlaube Waltz", Op. 461, German: "Gartenlaube-Walzer", is a waltz by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II. The waltz was dedicated to readers of the magazine Die Gartenlaube, a German weekly for the middle class, which became the most-read magazine in 1890s Germany.
Liebeslieder may refer to love songs in general, or to these specific works:
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