Music 101
What is a Waltz?
Fig. 1: Eadweard Muybridge’s Phenakistoscope: A Couple Waltzing
Possibly one of the most famous dance types in the world, the waltz is notoriously a romantic and elegant dance. The steps themselves have been developed over the years, and just as characteristic and important as the dance itself is the music that goes along with it. If you’ve never heard a waltz before, or your only experience is watching celebrities shuffle their way round the Strictly Come Dancing ballroom, here we’ll explore the most basic concepts, to the more extravagant variations and the pioneers of the music.
So… what exactly is a waltz? Evolving from 18th century Europe, a waltz is a type of dance involving people in closed position (meaning they’re in ballroom hold), and they dance to music written in 3/4, with a strong emphasis on the first beat. To break that down, the dance is counting ‘1 2 3’ over and over, with the 1 being more emphasised than the other beats. In Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers” from the Nutcracker Suite, you can hear the strings playing this ‘1 2 3’ rhythm when the main theme comes in. If you want a slightly more contemporary example, you could fairly easily dance a waltz to Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect”.
The dancers flow around the floor, rising and falling with the beat. The steps themselves are said to represent freedom, passion, and expressiveness and at one point, the closeness of the two dancers meant people thought it was too intimate and obscene. This opinion was short lived though as it quickly became more and more popular, eventually being considered a dance of the elite.
If you are more into your waltzes, or just pay attention to Strictly a bit more carefully, you may have heard the term ‘Viennese Waltz’. As the name suggests, they originate from Vienna, Austria, and the main difference, aside from the footwork patterns, is the speed in which they’re played. Viennese waltzes have a much faster tempo, and this means the dancers move around the floor faster and rotate quickly as they do so. A brilliant time to hear examples of these is at Capella Edina’s Autumn Gala Concert (tickets for which can be found here), or as part of our 2025 season, which will be released soon.
Fig. 2: Cover of the Score to The Blue Danube
Such is the popularity of the waltz, there are composers who specialise in them, the most famous being ‘The King of Waltz’, Johann Strauss II, and there’s a whole other article on his life that you can also find on our blog. Strauss famously wrote The Blue Danube which is now one of the most recognisable examples of a waltz. Chopin wrote La Valse du Petit Chien or The Minute Waltz, which has since become a challenge for pianists and the theme for BBC Radio 4’s ‘Just a Minute’. Not only can you find plenty of examples of waltzes in classical music, but they are also prevalent in contemporary and pop music, with the 3/4 rhythm often used to convey the romantic and elegant feeling reflected in the music and the dance alike.
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Bibliography:
“Waltzes“. Brittanica. Accessed August 20, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/art/waltz.
“Waltzes in Classical Music: 8 Iconic Waltzes“. MasterClass. Accessed August 20, 2024. https://www.masterclass.com/articles/waltz-music-guide#icHr86iYlJ9M7lMDlXJiF.
Pictures:
Fig. 1: Muybridge, Eadweard. Phenakistoscope: A Couple Waltzing. 1893. Lithograph. Accessed August 20, 2024. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/Phenakistoscope_3g07690d.gif.
Fig. 2: Strauss, Johann II. The Blue Danube, one of the oldest ed. by Carl Anton Spina. Photograph. Accessed August 20, 2024. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Donauwalzer_Spina_01.jpg.