UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
Date:______
I, ______, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of: in:
It is entitled:
This work and its defense approved by:
Chair: ______
The Life and Death of the Piano Waltz
A document submitted to
The Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Doctor of Musical Arts
In the Keyboard Division of the College-Conservatory of Music
2007
by
Sophia Grobler
B.M., Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, South Africa, 2000 M.M., Youngstown State University, 2002
Committee Chair: Jeongwon Joe, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT
La Valse, composed in 1918 by Maurice Ravel, is generally interpreted as a dark
waltz depicting the death and destruction of World War I. George Benjamin used the terms “birth”, “life”, “decay” and “death/destruction” of the waltz in his analysis of this work, to describe the four structural sections of the piece. By adapting Benjamin’s terminology, I attempt to describe the evolution of the life-cycle of the piano waltz as genre, focusing on both structural and extra-musical issues. This document begins with an overview of the extra-musical elements such as decadence and danger associated with this popular dance since its beginnings. It is followed by discussions and analyses of waltzes by pianist-composers, which represent the different sections of the life-cycle of the piano waltz, beginning with Schubert and von Weber. The section of “decay” is adapted to depict the transformation of the waltz as it was stylized by composers such as
Chopin and Liszt, leading up to Ravel’s La Valse as the work celebrating both the “life” and “death” of the genre.
iii
iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
During my work on this document my advisor, Dr. Jeongwon Joe, was a constant source of encouragement, with a wealth of knowledge and personal commitment to me.
For that I am profoundly grateful. I am equally grateful towards Frank Weinstock, my piano teacher and mentor, who has supported and guided my musical development throughout my studies at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, and who continues to be one of my greatest sources of inspiration in my music making.
Finally, I am eternally grateful for my loving husband, Pierre, who supported me through it all, who suffered and celebrated with me, who always encouraged me, and who provided a much appreciated objective opinion to keep me on the right track.
v TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………...1
CHAPTER I: THE BIRTH OF THE WALTZ……………………………………………4
A. The Evolution of the Piano Waltz
B. Extra-musical Characteristics of the Waltz
CHAPTER II: THE LIFE OF THE WALTZ……………………………………………14
B. Karl Maria von Weber
CHAPTER III: MODIFICATION AND TRANSFORMATION OF THE WALTZ…...22
A. Frédéric Chopin
D. Franz Liszt
CHAPTER IV: CLIMAX: RAVEL’S CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE AND DEATH
OF THE WALTZ……………………………………………...... 48
A. Valses nobles et Sentimentales
B. La Valse – poème chorégraphique
CONCLUSION…………………………………………………………………………..63
BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………..66
vi INTRODUCTION
The Viennese waltz was the most popular ballroom dance of the nineteenth
century. This social dance (originally German) was adopted by almost every European country. It was elevated from the dance hall to the concert stage in the early 1800's by
Weber's piano rondo Aufforderung zum Tanz (1819), and widely popularized by the
Strauss family. It was an exhilarating, decadent dance associated with flirtation, love,
lust, flushed cheeks and fast spinning and whirling for hours. It fascinated major
composers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and was musically developed
to a great extent.
One famous waltz from the early twentieth century is Ravel’s La Valse. This
piece is generally interpreted as a work depicting danger, death and destruction
associated with World War I and the resulting end of the nineteenth-century Viennese
culture, of which the waltz was an important exponent. In an analysis of La Valse,
George Benjamin1 described the four sectional divisions found in this piece as the
“birth,” “life,” “decay,” and finally, the “destruction/death” of this waltz–as will be
discussed in detail in chapter four. In my document, I adapt this concept and these terms
to not only describe a single piece, but the development of the whole genre: the piano
waltz. Many musical genres have life cycles, in which the beginning stages can be seen
as the “birth,” the heyday as its “life,” followed by the modification period that leads to
its “death.” This “death” does not necessarily mean that the genre is no longer in use, but
its original conception and characteristics have changed dramatically.
1 George Benjamin, “Last Dance,” The Musical Times 135 (July 1994), 432-435.
1 In this document I examine the “life cycle” of the piano waltz through detailed musical analyses of representative works in the genre, exploring the historical process of stylistic transformation of the piano waltz from the beginnings of the genre to the twentieth century. I will include discussions of the musical stylistic characteristics of the waltz in its original conception, as well as the moral, social, philosophical, and psychological implications commonly associated with the waltz (i.e. the extra-musical characteristics of the waltz). In contrast to the popularity of this dance, it was also associated with social decadence and physical danger. Through the course of my document, I will contextualize the ironic tension between “life” and “death” in the contradiction between the strong popularity of the waltz as a dance and its negative image associated with decadence and danger.
The “birth” of the piano waltz is depicted in a discussion of the historical background of the waltz as genre and its development from peasant dance to stylized concert piece. I will discuss some of Franz Schubert's waltzes and Karl Maria von
Weber's Aufforderung zum Tanz, as examples of the earliest waltzes composed for the piano. These represent the “life” of the piano waltz - in other words, waltzes exhibiting the original conception and characteristics of the waltz. The original defining elements of the waltz include symmetrical phrase structure, functional tonality, ¾ meter and a fast tempo.
The phase of stylistic modification is represented by discussions of the waltzes of
Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, and Liszt. Here the original characteristics of the waltz are manipulated, transformed and refined in several different ways. These composers were liberated in some way, since in concert waltzes the music does not necessarily have to fit
2 with the steps of the dance. The final stage of the piano waltz's life cycle is represented
by the waltz compositions of Maurice Ravel: his Valses nobles et Sentimentales refers
back to Schubert’s waltzes in its title as well as its harmonic language, and serves as a celebration of the “life” of the piano waltz. La Valse is a large, virtuosic composition
consisting of a suite of short waltz themes, culminating in the musical and structural
transformation of the waltz. La Valse thus serves as a celebration of both the “life” and
“death” of this beloved genre. By examining the extra-musical interpretations associated
with La Valse, I will contextualize these interpretations in the history of extra-musical
associations commonly attached to the waltz in general, as discussed in the beginning of
the document. This will serve as support and answer to why this genre was the perfect
vehicle for Ravel to use in depicting “death.” I hope to clearly show the development of the piano waltz from its “birth” through its heyday, towards its “death” in La Valse.
3 CHAPTER I:
THE BIRTH OF THE WALTZ
A. The Evolution of the Piano Waltz
The minuet, a stately dance enjoyed by the aristocracy and danced in the courts, was the most popular dance before the waltz. Even though the minuet was most popular during the first quarter of the eighteenth century, it did continue to be enjoyed well into the nineteenth century. During this later time, it was mainly used as a dance to display a good education, good background and refined social manners – all elements which were viewed as very important in a person’s self-presentation to the rest of the world. This was something that was very important to the growing middle-class. The minuet is a slower, elegant and stately dance in triple meter, in which every movement - even facial expressions and direction of the dancers’ gaze - is strictly prescribed. It is mainly distinguished from other popular dances in the eighteenth- and nineteenth century, by the fact that the minuet does not require partners to turn.
The evolution of the waltz as dance was rather gradual. Even though the verb walzen (connected with the Latin verb volvere) literally means “to turn,” there were many other dances existing during the late eighteenth century in triple meter, also characterized by turning, for instance the Ländler, Deutscher, and Dreher. What distinguishes the waltz from these other dances in triple meter is its faster tempo. Elizabeth Aldrich explains the differences between these dances in more detail: The Ländler is a dance that includes hand-clapping together with turning dancers. It is a slow, calm and deliberate dance in ¾ meter, with couples dancing around the room in a circle. It also features characteristic
4 accents in the bass on the second and third beats, which probably influenced the waltz.
The Deutscher is a dance in ⅜ or ¾, and the name was used interchangeably with both
the waltz and the Allemande in Vienna during the late 1780’s. The Dreher is the dance
whose steps might have directly influenced that of the waltz, and its name was also used interchangeably with Walzer. It also consists of a sequence of six steps performed to six
beats in the music, with rotation of the dancers as result. This step was considered to be
English in origin.2
The Walzer is a turning dance, with six steps to six beats in the music, and
couples moving in a counterclockwise circle around the room. This results in double
circles: clockwise rotation on the spot while moving in a big counterclockwise circle at
the same time. One full clockwise rotation on the spot thus needs two measures of music
to complete, since the first three steps (first half-circle) are not the same as steps four to
six (second half-circle). Waltz melodies were in ⅜ in England and France, and in ¾ or ⅜
in Germany and Austria. According to Aldrich, new evidence is surfacing which shows
that waltzing was preceded by simple marching steps in order to position the couples in
their starting place.3
Waltzing was a very popular pastime. In Vienna, the opening of large dance halls
in the beginning of the nineteenth century (most importantly the Apollo Hall in 1808), is
one of the testimonies to this. These dance halls were open to everybody, to encourage
the mixing of classes under the reign of Joseph II. At first, the right to sell alcoholic
beverages allowed dozens of taverns and inns to provide music for dancing as well.
However, these two privileges were separated in 1820, since dancing (not alcohol) was
2 Elizabeth Aldrich, “Social Dancing in Schubert’s World,” in Schubert’s Vienna, edited by Raymond Erickson (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997), 131-135. 3 Ibid., 135.
5 viewed as a possible disturbance of the peace and quiet of society. Public and private
balls had to be registered with the authorities ahead of time, but at the same time the
hours for dancing at these balls were extended through the night. Masks and costumes
were prohibited in Vienna, except inside the Redouten Halls.4 Even though dancing was
strictly regulated by the government, the demand for dancing was increasing. With that,
the genre also increasingly attracted the attention of more prominent composers.
Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837) was one of the early piano virtuosos to
compose waltzes. He composed a set of waltzes for the opening of the Apollo Hall.5
Franz Schubert was also one of the first major composers to compose waltzes specifically
for the piano. They were short and intimate, mostly still in the elementary form of two
eight-bar sections, and sometimes longer sections of sixteen or twenty four bars.
Schubert’s ingenuity lay in his melodies, harmonies and modulations. Karl Maria von
Weber’s programmatic piano rondo Aufforderung zum Tanz (1819) showed a major
revolution in the form of the waltz in general. He prolonged the waltz by combining a
sequence of dances and framing them with an introduction and coda which brings back
earlier waltz themes, making it cyclical in form. He thereby elevated the genre from a
mere dance to a concert piece. This foreshadowed the waltz-form later used by the major
dance composers. This also influenced the way pianist-composers later composed piano
waltzes.6
The waltz really started to develop into a more serious genre at the same time as
its popularity as dance started to decline. Joseph Lanner and the elder Johann Strauss
4 Aldrich, 121. 5 Andrew Lamb, “Waltz” Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 12 October 2006)
6 were the rival dance composers mainly responsible for the renaissance of the waltz,
starting around the 1820s. By the 1830s the popularity of their waltzes and their
orchestras enabled the music of the waltz to become acceptable as a musical composition
and not only a dance. Their waltzes showed similarities to Weber’s cyclical waltz form: a
set of five waltzes framed by introduction and coda that recapitulates the main themes of
the waltzes. This became the norm. The waltzes were also longer, with sixteen-bar
sections replacing the earlier eight-bar sections. The general tempo accelerated even
more, to settle at seventy bars per minute. Strauss’ son Johann (junior) later joined in the
popularity contest between waltz orchestras, with his own orchestra playing waltzes he
composed. After Strauss senior’s death, Johann (junior) continued his late father’s legacy
and developed to be an outstanding exponent of the waltz. He was seen as the “most
widely popular composer of light music ever.”7
The origin of the piano waltz as genre lies in transcriptions of orchestral waltzes.
Popular orchestral waltzes were often transcribed for piano solo and piano duet, and then sold as musical souvenirs to be played by amateur musicians in the middle-class home–a rapidly growing practice in this time.8 Only later did it develop into a genre of its own,
when more serious composers started to write original piano waltzes. I will discuss some
of these in more detail in the following chapters. The waltz even attracted the attention of
some major composers not only of the nineteenth century, but also of the twentieth
century. The waltz as dance started to wane by the turn of the 20th century, but as
composition remained popular. At this time, tonality started to give way to atonality, and
an explosion of musical languages emerged. The waltz thus underwent many changes,
7 Ibid. 8 Eric McKee, “Dance and the Music of Chopin: The Waltz,” in The Age of Chopin – Interdisciplinary Inquiries, ed. Halina Goldberg, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004), 111.
7 and mutated into all kinds of distinct, sometimes exotic varieties. Composers such as
John Corigliano (Gazebo Dances), William Bolcom (Recuerdos), Milton Babbit (Minute
Waltz-or ¾ +/- 1/8), Philip Glass (Modern Love Waltz), John Cage (49 Waltzes for the
Five Boroughs) and many others, still use the waltz when composing dances. Some of
these waltzes are only identified as such by their titles, but some others nostalgically
evoke the 19th century waltz by retaining most of the original defining elements of the
waltz.9
Musically, the original defining elements of the waltz are the symmetrical phrase
structure and overall symmetrical construction, functional tonality with simple harmonies
changing only once per measure, strong emphasis on the downbeat, and a quick triple meter. According to Sevin Yaraman, the music fits the dance steps in terms of rhythm, circularity and repetition, with the half-rotation (one measure of music) constituting the motive of the dance. The circularity of the dance is primarily supported by the “um-pah- pah” rhythm of the bass, with this centrifugal accent on the downbeat causing one to feel only one beat per measure. On a secondary level, the melody can also support the circularity of the dance in different ways: A swinging turn in the melody, for instance, is one that springs energetically away from the first beat, supporting the idea of the
centrifugal accent.10 The music of the waltz is usually described by scholars as light or
popular. The simplicity and repetitiveness inherent to the music is what makes it so popular - according to Sigmund Freud: “…repetition, the re-experiencing of something
identical, is clearly in itself a source of pleasure.”11
9 Sevin Yaraman, Revolving Embrace - The Waltz as Sex, Steps, and Sound (Hillsdale: Pendragon Press, 2002), 91. 10 Ibid., 19-36. 11 Sigmund Freud, Beyond the Pleasure Principle, trans. James Strachey (New York: Liveright, 1924),
8 B. Extra-musical Characteristics of the Waltz
“Dancing is the most enchanting of all human amusements, it is the parent of joy,
and the soul and support of cheerfulness; it banishes grief, cheers the evening hours of
those who have studied or labored in the day, and brings with it a mixture of delightful
sensations which enraptures the senses.” This is a quotation from T. Wilson’s book An
Analysis of Country Dancing (1808), as quoted by Elizabeth Aldrich in her book From
Ballroom to Hell: Grace and Folly in Nineteenth-century Dance.12 These positive connotations with dancing in general explain partly why the waltz was such a popular dance in its time as well. The popularity of the waltz ironically also brought with it objections based on moral and medical grounds, with negative extra-musical interpretations connected with waltzing as result.
Andrew Lamb illuminates these extra-musical characteristics of the waltz in his
New Grove article, where he discusses the decadence and danger associated with the waltz.13 The waltz represented a major revolution in the nineteenth-century social dance scene, since it was the first dance in which couples faced each other and held each other
closely in an embrace. Waltzing was associated with flirtation, love, lust and seduction.
The physical intimacy between the partners caused a great uproar because of its erotic
connotation. Lamb also quotes Ernst Moritz Arndt, who wrote in 1799 of this ‘erotic’
nature of the waltz, as danced in parts of Germany, Hungary, Italy and France in the late eighteenth century:
The male dancers grasped the long dresses of their partners so that they would not drag and be trodden upon, and lifted them high, holding them in this
42; quoted in Yaraman, 37. 12 Elizabeth Aldrich, From Ballroom to Hell: Grace and Folly in Nineteenth-century Dance, (Evanston: North-Western University Press, 1991), 39. 13 Lamb, “Waltz.”
9 cloak which brought both bodies under one cover, as closely as possible against each other, and in this way the whirling continued in the most indecent positions; the supporting hand lay firmly on the breasts, at each movement making little lustful pressures; the girls went wild and looked as if they would drop. When waltzing on the darker side of the room there were bolder embraces and kisses. The custom of the country; not as bad as it looks, they exclaim: but now I understand very well why here and there in parts of Swabia and Switzerland the waltz has been prohibited. (Arndt)14
In England similar objections and concerns were voiced, with references made to
“hands which may freely range in public sight where ne’er before.”15 Because of these
moral criticisms, unmarried women were advised to refrain from waltzing.
Waltzing brought with it objections on medical grounds. Women were warned against dancing the waltz because of physical injuries which could be caused by the turning motion of the dance, as well as the speed of the dance. The waltz’s final tempo was as fast as seventy bars per minute. In 1797, Salomo Wolf published a pamphlet with the title Beweis dass das Walzen eine Hauptquelle der Schwäche des Körpers und des
Geistes unserer Generation sei (Proof that waltzing is a main source of the weakness of the body and mind of our generation).16 Elizabeth Aldrich wrote about more of these
criticisms in her book From Ballroom to Hell: Grace and Folly in Nineteenth-century
Dance. She quoted the author of The Mirror of Graces, who stated “There is something
in the close approximation of persons, in the attitudes, and in the motion, which ill agrees
with the delicacy of women…” Similarly, women of “delicate constitution” were warned
by Dio Lewis against round dances like the waltz, since the rotary motion could be
“…injurious to the brain and spinal marrow.”17 Donald Walker warned delicate women
against dancing the waltz in his 1836 book entitled Exercises for Ladies: “There are,
14 Quoted in Lamb, “Waltz.” 15 Lamb, “Waltz.” 16 Ibid. 17 Aldrich, From Ballroom to Hell: Grace and Folly in nineteenth-century dance, 18.
10 however, several dances that should be abandoned by very delicate women, on account of
their causing too violent emotions or an agitation which produces vertigo and nervous
symptoms.” He further discussed the effect of vertigo on women: “Vertigo is one of the
great inconveniences of the waltz; and the character of this dance, its rapid turnings, the
clasping of the dancers, their exciting contact and the too quick and too long continued succession of lively and agreeable emotions, produce sometimes, in women of a very irritable constitution, syncope, spasms and other accidents which should induce them to renounce it.”18
The waltz was part of a major social revolution in the nineteenth-century. The
waltz was a simple, unsophisticated folk-like dance, danced and enjoyed by all classes of
people - the “rebellious” bourgeoisies included. This partly distinguished the waltz from
its predecessor, the minuet, which was a stately dance limited to the aristocracy. The
waltz was not only viewed as socially decadent, but as socially dangerous as well because
of this “rebellious” element and mixing of classes. Dancing at balls moved away from the
idea of pre-orchestrated group dances with specified sequences of movements and events,
to dancing in which couples acted freely and independently from the rest of the company.
This movement away from the “formal, hierarchical, trained court dance, toward
individual self-expression”, simplicity and joy, represented the new social
democratization in Europe at the end of the eighteenth century.19
The tempo of the genre accelerated over time, as mentioned earlier. Acceleration
and repetitive rhythmic patterns being common elements of the waltz inspired
philosophers to associate the obsessively faster and faster repetitive spinning waltz with
18 Ibid., 18-21. 19 Yaraman, 3.
11 psychological danger as well. The philosopher Vladimir Jankélévitch saw the waltz as the natural choice of genre to depict insanity. According to him, there is an element of frustration inherent to the dance, which naturally results in destruction: “Dance, that is to say stagnation, movement on the same spot, the violent whirling action which, instead of being unleashed into the world, surges back into itself, finds its finality within itself, tramples and turns around, stationary agitation, movement in immobility.”20
Many twentieth-century composers were able to use the waltz as idiom to communicate with audiences, because of all these extra-musical associations connected with the waltz. According to Yaraman, the musical characteristics of the waltz (rhythm and meter, melody and harmony) are easily recognizable by the audience who is familiar with the genre, and for whom the genre has pleasurable associations. They recognize its associations with romance, women, love, joy and seduction.21
These positive associations can be used to either evoke a romantic atmosphere of love and seduction, or ironically to evoke an atmosphere of danger. Richard Strauss used the waltz in his opera Salome, referring to the element of seduction associated with the waltz, in a section of the “Dance of the Seven Veils.” In his later opera Der
Rosenkavalier he used a variant of Josef Strauss’s waltz Geheime Anziehungskräfte
(Dynamiden) as the favorite waltz of the character Baron Ochs. Here the waltz is used somewhat anachronistically to depict the character’s dark desires to forcefully seduce a woman. In Alban Berg’s opera Wozzeck, the waltz is used ironically in the Lullaby scene: the warped rhythm of the waltz effectively depicts the psychological tension and underlying danger of Marie’s imminent murder. After the murder, this theme is heard
20 Vladimir Jankélévitch, Ravel (New York: Grove Press, 1959), 132. 21 Yaraman, 45.
12 again, thereby emphasizing this connotation with the waltz. In the tavern scene, the
romantic tonal language of the Viennese waltz is distorted into Berg’s atonal language,
and it is used to depict Marie’s treachery. Ravel’s use of the waltz as idiom for decadence, destruction and danger in La Valse came before Berg’s Wozzeck, but was
thus not unique. Even though it might not have been his intention, this piece is generally
interpreted as a work depicting the death and destruction of World War I, and its effects
on Viennese culture. It is somewhat more abstract than the other examples mentioned,
since it’s not an opera. This will be discussed in more detail in chapter IV.
13 CHAPTER II:
THE LIFE OF THE WALTZ
Franz Schubert's waltzes and Karl Maria von Weber's waltz Aufforderung zum
Tanz (1819) represent the “life” of the piano waltz; in other words, the original
conception and characteristics of the waltz. I focus on these two composers, because it seems that they best represent two different types of the early piano waltz: the short
intimate Schubertian waltz, versus the large-scale virtuosic type a la von Weber. These
two types inspired composers afterward, whose styles can be traced back to these.
A. Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert was one of the most prolific composers of dance music. His
dances constitute approximately forty percent of his output. He literally composed
hundreds of exquisite dances specifically for social dancing, often in sets of up to thirty
six dances. Not all of his dances were published, since Schubert often improvised them
on the spot without ever writing them down. He had many friends (including some
important families, writers and musicians), who often arranged private and public
performances for him. Here he focused on his songs and small instrumental works like
his dances.
Schubert’s waltzes form cycles made up of a series of brief dances without the
structural division of introduction, transitions and coda. His waltzes often border popular
music and were not really concert pieces yet. They are “intimate” with a non-virtuosic
14 and understated elegant character. Schubert focused on harmonic colorings and melody
rather than virtuoso display.22
Schubert’s musical style in his short waltzes contains mixtures of traditional,
conservative elements with progressive, forward looking ones. He used the original,
elementary form of eight bars per section, with two sections per dance. The form is thus
binary, with each part to be repeated. In form and structure, Schubert was not very
experimental: he made use of symmetrical, balanced phrase structure and functional
tonality. Some of his waltzes are longer, with each section made up of sixteen or even
twenty-four bars, in ternary form, or even with a trio added. The new evidence that
proves that waltzing was preceded by simple marching steps, to place couples in their
starting position,23 explains why many of Schubert’s dances in his “Sixteen Deutsches
and Two Ecossaisen for piano” op. 33, are paired, with some having a march-like quality.
Schubert’s inventiveness is exhibited in his more experimental use of harmonic
subtleties and interesting modulations, choice of key (he notably made use of minor keys
for waltzes, and often changed from major to minor), and melodies. Traditionally, simple
harmonies that rarely moved beyond tonic and dominant were used. His waltzes are thus short and intimate, yet exquisitely charming works with beautiful melodies and harmonic invention. The mixture of traditional and progressive elements in his waltzes seems to stem from the formality of training as composer combined with the spontaneity and freedom of improvising background- and dance music.24
22 William Andrew Kindermann, “Schubert’s Piano Music: Probing the Human Condition,” in The Cambridge Companion to Schubert, ed. by Christopher H. Gibbs (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997), 155. 23Aldrich, “Social Dancing in Schubert’s World,” 135. 24 Stewart Gordon, A History of Keyboard Literature – Music for the Piano and its Forerunners (New York: Prentice Hall, 1996), 214.
15 The conservative use of form, but inventive use of harmonies, is a characteristic
of Schubert’s style in general, and the source for much discussion among music critics
and musicologists. The English music critic Hubert Parry criticized Schubert’s music for
being “…diffuse in form, slipshod in craftsmanship and unequal in content.” According
to Eva Badura-Skoda25, this was the general opinion of Schubert’s music at the beginning
of the twentieth century, but one that changed later on. In his essay “Tonality” (1928), Sir
Donald Tovey suggested that Schubert’s intellectual drive was not similar to that of
Beethoven, but was to be found in the juxtaposition and combination of tonal colors implied by the key in which Schubert was composing.26 His colorful harmonic
progressions and carefully constructed motives and melodies hereby regained importance
in the eyes of the critics.
Between 1812 and 1827, Schubert composed approximately a hundred-and-thirty waltzes for piano, as part of his output of dance music. Schubert’s Valses Sentimentales
D.779 were composed in 1823. This was the same year in which he composed his
Wanderer Fantasie and Sonata in A minor D784. This was also a period during which
Schubert was plagued with illness and depression, which makes it odd that this was the same time during which he composed these sweet, delightful waltzes–a set of thirty-four.
Where the Valses Nobles D. 969 of 1827, a set of twelve dances, was probably written to accompany dancing at domestic balls, these were intended as concert pieces.27 In 1827,
Schubert also composed twelve Grazer Walzer D. 924, after he spent weeks in Graz in
25 Eva Badura-Skoda, “The Piano works of Schubert,” in Nineteenth Century Piano Music, 2nd edition, ed. by R. Larry Todd (New York: Routledge, 2004), 97. 26 Quoted in Badura-Skoda, 97. 27 Charles Osborne, Schubert and His Vienna (New York: Knopf, 1985), 99.
16 September of that year. These were Schubert’s last waltzes - possibly due to the fact that
his illness got increasingly more serious after this.
Dance-inspired music was very important for Schubert: he not only composed
many dances, but thematic material and motives based on dances continuously appear in
his large-scale works. The second section of Valses Nobles no. 7 exhibits the seriousness
and “gravitas” of a sonata movement and Brian Newbould likens this to the minuet of the
G major sonata28, as shown in example 1. Compare measures nine through fourteen of
example 1.1 with measures nineteen through twenty-two of example 1.2: The rhythmic
pattern over two measures is strikingly similar, as well as the use of grace notes in the
inner voices. Both are heavy and mainly fortissimo (waltz) and forte (minuet).
Example 1.1: Waltz D. 969 (Valses nobles) No. 7 in E Major.29
28 Brian Newbould, Schubert – The Music and the Man (Los Angeles: University of Berkeley Press, 1997.) 340. 29 Franz Schubert, Dances for Piano (New York: Schirmer), 28.
17 Example 1.2: Minuet in D major, from Sonata in G major D894, mm.16-30.30
The set of dances D.790 were composed in 1823. Number six of this set formed
the basis for the scherzo of his “Death and the Maiden” string quartet, composed the
following year. This shows that, even though Schubert’s waltzes were composed as dance
music, as background music, and as social music, he raised it to the highest artistic level,
bridging the gap between “light” and “serious” music. 31
In some way, Schubert thus started to stylize the waltz. The stylized dance is one that is meant for performance, and not one that is to be danced to. Some of Schubert’s waltzes (e.g. D128 No.4; D41 No.15; D335) consist of odd-numbered measures. Since it takes two measures for one dance-step to be finished, all waltzes should have an even number of measures if it is intended for the dance floor. Schubert thus sometimes lost touch with the actual dance, as he got lost in the music.
B. Karl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria con Weber was one of the most popular and fashionable composers during his time. In 1824, two years before his death, the German critic A.B. Marx wrote
30 Franz Schubert, Piano Sonatas Volume II, ed. Paul Mies, fingering Hans-Martin Theopold (Germany: Henle), 180. 31 Newbould, 340.
18 in the Berliner allgemeine musikalsche Zeitung: “… [Weber’s music] is next to
Beethoven’s indisputably the most important and valuable of the current day, indeed
often surpassing [Beethoven’s] in grandeur and elaboration…”32 Where Schubert’s great
achievements were acknowledged rather late, Weber’s popularity decreased to the point
where his importance as composer is currently often overlooked.
In contrast with Schubert’s short, intimate waltzes, Weber’s waltz Aufforderung
zum Tanz op.65 (1819) is a large-scale programmatic waltz in rondo-form, which uses the
waltz as a platform for pianistic virtuoso display. Weber exploits “glittery brilliance” in
the passagework for the right hand, a characteristic also found in his other piano works of
this time. The key of D flat major is a very pianistic key, and lends itself well to scales
and arpeggiated broken chords. The tempo indication is Allegro vivace, a very quick
tempo, which was faster than the moderate tempo of the Walzer, Ländler and Deutscher of the time. This was the first important attempt to transform the waltz, a social dance, into a concert piece for piano.33 This is also the most important solo piano work by this
composer.
The most important innovation in this waltz is probably its formal structure.
Weber adds a slow introduction in the beginning, and a coda which recapitulates all the themes of the waltzes in the body of the work. The body of the work consists of a suite of four different waltzes of two sections in each waltz, all connected. The first section of the first waltz returns throughout the work, and serves as the refrain of this rondo-like composition. Weber combines this rondo-structure with an overall ternary form, with the
first two waltzes repeated in the last major section. This large, coherent formal structure
32 Michael Tusa, “In Defense of Weber,” in Nineteenth Century Piano Music, 2nd edition, ed. by R. Larry Todd (New York: Routledge, 2004), 169. 33 Ibid., 170.
19 of Weber’s waltz successfully suggests the impression of a ball, and contrasts greatly
with Schubert’s short, separate waltzes which are grouped together, but not connected.
This structure of a suite of connected waltzes, with introduction and coda, was adopted
by the popular orchestral waltz-composers in the nineteenth century, and so it became the norm. By using this rondo-like form, the traditional characteristics of repetition and circularity of the waltz are thus emphasized through elevation to a structural level.
Another innovation of Aufforderung zum Tanz is the inclusion of a poetic program
for the piece. The work suggests a “miniature courtship” at a ball, with the male asking
the female to dance with him. She initially rejects him, after which he repeats his request,
a bit more forcefully. She accepts and they converse a bit before starting to dance. This is
depicted by the introduction, and Weber himself included this program, indicated by
annotations under the notes, when he first played the work for his bride, Caroline Brandt.
In the music (see example 2), the conversation is represented by two distinctive registers:
baritone-tenor left hand, and soprano right hand. The rising and falling contours of the
melodic lines respectively reflect the questions and answers. As the introduction nears its
end and the dance section approaches, the two opposing lines start to move in parallel
tenths (see measure thirty), as the two dancers move together to the dance floor in
preparation for the dance.
20 Example 2: Aufforderung zum Tanz mm. 23-34, Weber.34
↓ ↓
The first arrow (m.24) indicates the male’s question. The 2nd arrow (m.26) indicates the female’s answer.
The body of the piece reflects the two characters as they dance, but there are also
other programmatic interpretations of this section. According to Michael Tusa, the
waltzes here seem to refer to the introduction: the contours of the first section of the first waltz are a “brilliant” transformation of the question-and-answer session from the introduction. Also, the second section of the third waltz employs similar registers to the dialogue of the introduction. It is as if the dancers are now conversing in a more intimate fashion. The fast tempo of the waltz could also be interpreted to symbolize the sexual tension and passionate attraction between the dancers. The Coda returns to the use of the specific registers as metaphor for dialogue. Here, the male thanks the female, she replies and the work ends quietly. 35
With the extra-musical characteristics associated with the waltz as genre in mind,
it seems only natural that a composer would choose this subject matter as program for a
waltz: flirtation, passion and love are inherently associated with waltzing.
34 Karl Maria von Weber, Aufforderung zum Tanz, op. 65, arr. Godowski (New York: Peters), 2. 35 Tusa, 172-173.
21 CHAPTER III:
MODIFICATION AND TRANSFORMATION OF THE WALTZ
During the nineteenth century the waltz was a favorite genre of many pianist
composers. The dance was stylized and performed as concert pieces. With stylization, a
certain level of modification sets in: the original defining characteristics of the waltz are
refined, and in some instances even modified and transformed. Examples of modification
include, but are not limited to, the use of hemiola to disturb the characteristic ¾ meter,
and the use of dissonances to stretch the tonality. There are even examples of actual
5 meter change from ¾ to /4, as in Tchaikovsky’s Valse à cinq temps, op. 72 no. 16. The types of concert waltzes can be traced back to those of Schubert and Weber, and in some instances even a combination of both types. I will examine several piano waltzes by
Chopin, Schumann, Brahms and Liszt to illuminate how these composers interpreted the waltz. Their interpretations all resulted in different forms of stylization and modification.
A. Frédéric Chopin
Chopin was a pioneer in the area of keyboard concert waltzes. His waltzes were preceded by Weber’s Aufforderung zum Tanz in 1819, and Johann Strauss’s (senior) op.1 for orchestra, written in 1826. He composed seventeen waltzes, of which nine were published posthumously. The other eight were published in the years 1831-1847. Op. 18 and op. 42 were published standing alone, but op. 34 and op. 64 both contain three waltzes each. Chopin generally used an overall ABA structure for his shorter waltzes, with the longer ones more rondo-like. His more brilliant waltzes often have an
22 introduction and coda, not as separate sections, but just as the opening eight bars and
expanded final section, to bring the work to an exciting close.36 Chopin’s short introductions serve as a “call” to the dance floor. The virtuosic approach to the pianism in his waltzes, and expanded form, can be clearly linked to Weber’s waltz type–the opposite
of the short and intimate type preferred by Schubert and Brahms.
The waltz was introduced to Warsaw during the Prussian occupation (1794-1806),
and its popularity surpassed that of the polonaise in the years 1815-1825. After 1820, the
waltz was as popular in Warsaw as in the rest of Europe, and was even part of the curriculum in public schools. The city where Chopin grew up was thus well connected with the social trends booming in Paris and Vienna. Chopin’s knowledge of the waltz was developed through his experience with dancing both as dancer and as dance musician. He at first improvised dances at the piano then wrote them down. After Chopin left Warsaw in 1830, he started to consistently introduce non-dance elements into his waltzes. He thus started to shift the function of his waltzes from mere dances to concert pieces.
According to Eric McKee these elements of stylization include musical devices that disrupt the meter (e.g. hemiola), and an increasing emphasis given to overall musical closure. Other alterations to the traditional features of the Viennese waltz include
Chopin’s adaptation of the um-pah-pah accompaniment figure and interruption of this with silent measures, as well as his use of tempi: Many of Chopin’s waltzes are either too fast (molto vivace) or too slow (lento) to dance to, and he often uses many different
36 Gordon, 301.
23 tempo indications and changes of tempo within one waltz, such as accelerando,
sostenuto, piu mosso and piu lento.
Because of Chopin’s intimate knowledge of the waltz as a dance, his stylized
waltzes are perfect musical realizations of the dancers on the dance floor. According to
Liszt, Chopin was one composer who was completely able to “merge with the merriment” of the dancers.37 Of all the traditional characteristics of the waltz, it is
Chopin’s interpretation of the circularity of the physical movement in the music, where
the highest level of his artistic stylization of the waltz can be found.
A successful waltz is one in which the musical characteristics double the physical
movements. This includes a motive being two measures in length (which is how long it
takes to finish a full waltz turn), and the um-pah-pah accompaniment and melodic arch
which both suggest the circular movements of the dance. A melodic arch visually reflects
the movement of the dancers by beginning and ending on the same pitch, with the pitches
moving evenly around a fixed axis.38 Chopin’s melodic and motivic constructions in his
waltzes are generally perfect examples of these musical arches and circles. He further
refined this musical characteristic of the waltz by expanding the arch-element to a
structural level: he implemented it in the accompaniment figure, the structure of longer phrases, as well as the overall structure of the waltz.
Where the characteristic left-hand accompaniment has a bass note on the down- beat, with two consecutive chords on the second and third beats in the tenor register (um- pah-pah), Chopin often returns to the bass on the third beat. This constitutes a visual
37 McKee, 121. 38 Ibid., 126.
24 arch. An example of this can be seen in his E minor waltz (Opus Posthumous)39, mm. 9-
16 (see example 3). This waltz’s opening motive, indicated by [A] in example 3, is also a
perfect example of a melodic arch.
On a somewhat larger scale, Chopin further implements the arch-element in the
structure of his phrases: the zenith of the melodic contour in the eight-bar phrase occurs
somewhere in the middle of the phrase. This is something that Chopin did not implement to the same degree in his other genres. An example of this is again mm. 9-16 of Chopin’s waltz in E minor (example 3): the melody is launched in ascent in the first four measures of this melodic phrase, with an overall descent in the last four measures.
Example 3: Op. Posthumous, E minor, mm.0-20.40
┌ A ┐
A similar example of the implementation of the arch-element on both the motivic
and phrase structural levels, can be found in measures 57-64 of the same waltz, where an
39 Ibid., 126. 40 Frédéric Chopin, Complete Preludes, Nocturnes and Waltzes, ed. Rafael Joseffy (New York: Schirmer), 231.
25 arch-like motive in the left hand accompanies a melody with an arch-like phrase-structure
in the right hand. Similar examples can be found in all the large-scale waltzes Chopin
chose to publish (op.18, op.34 no.3, op.42, op.64 no.1, op.64 no.3, and op.70 no.3).41
Example 4: Op. Posthumous, E minor, mm. 57-64, Chopin.42
Chopin tended to use an overall ABA form for his waltzes – arch-structure on a
macro level. He further stylized his waltz by modifying the ending of the second A-
section, so as to provide better overall closure to the work. In the waltz in E minor, for
example, the last statement of the opening eight-bar phrase is expanded to fifteen
measures, including an expanded cadential progression in which the dance motive spins
out of control into a fully diminished chord. This provides musical tension, which brings
the waltz to a climactic end on a metrically strong measure – which increases the sense of
closure.43
The overall circular structure is often expanded to a rondo-like structure, a la
Weber. Chopin’s waltz Op. 42 is a very interesting example of this: In a regular rondo,
the first phrase (A) is used as the returning refrain throughout the work, and is then also stated at the end to bring the piece to a close. In Op. 42, however, Chopin repeats the
second phrase (B) as the refrain. He then states the opening phrase at the end, to still
41 McKee, 128. 42 Chopin, 232. 43 McKee, 133.
26 bring the waltz to a close with the overall structure representing a circular form. The form
of Op. 42 is thus
Intro A B C B D B E B A B D B’ A’.
The B-section of this waltz exemplifies the use of circular motives as well as
repetitiveness of the waltz: The four-bar ascending-descending motive (mm.40-44) is
repeated (non-exact) four times.
Example 5: Op. 42 in A flat Major, mm.37-46, Chopin.44
m.40┌
m.44 ┘
Chopin also employed hemiola in sections where the musical tension builds up towards a structural climax. The resulting disruption of the triple meter causes the build up of tension and drama, as the listener eagerly awaits the return of the characteristic triple meter which gives the dance its circular swing. This is a method later perfected by
Brahms. The most famous example of Chopin’s use of hemiola can be found in the
44 Chopin, 189.
27 opening measures of op. 64 no. 1: Minute Waltz (see example 6.) The ¾ meter is
established in the first two measures, after which the meter is modified through the use of
hemiola, as indicated by the arrows. This is used to undermine the characteristic circular
movement of the dance music.45 This, in combination with the crescendo, results in a
build up of tension toward the registral high point of the opening melody in measure nine.
The effect is that of winding-up melodically, which creates a sense of acceleration.
Example 6: Minute Waltz, op. 64 no. 1, mm. 1-10, Chopin.46
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
↑ ↑ ↑ m.9
Chopin wrote a similar passage of eighth-notes in the right hand rising in register
in a crescendo, building tension towards the entrance of the waltz melody in m.17 of op.
47 6 34 no. 3. Here the meter is obscured, since this phrase can be interpreted as one in /8
meter, not ¾. It is also made up of a three-note ascending motive (as indicated by the
6 brackets in example 7), which does not fit with either the /8 or ¾ meter. This motive is
reversed when the waltz starts in m.17. Here a fourth note is added, with a resulting
hemiola in the right-hand melody, over the ¾ um-pah-pah accompaniment (see b. in
45 Yaraman, 34. 46 Chopin, 198. 47Yaraman, 77-78.
28 example 7). This hemiola continues for thirty-two measures, and only excludes the cadence at the end.
Example 7: Op. 34 No. 3, mm.9-20, Chopin.48
a.┌ ┌ ┌ ┌ ┌ ┌ etc.
b.↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑
Another form of rhythmic ambiguity is manifested in Chopin’s Op. 42, where he
6 implies two against three (right hand versus left hand): The right hand melody is in /8,
with the left hand a ¾ um-pah-pah accompaniment, as can be seen in mm.9-10 of
example 8.49
Example 8: Op. 42 in A flat Major, mm. 9-16, Chopin.50
48 Chopin, 184. 49 Yaraman, 79. 50 Chopin, 188.
29 Chopin’s sophisticated use of neighbor tones can also be seen as manifestation of circularity on a motivic level. According to McKee, Chopin’s waltz in A minor op. 34 no.
2 (example 9) can be seen as such a sophisticated study in neighbor notes: the opening period of sixteen bars is made up almost in its entirety of neighbor notes, with the tenor- melody mainly elaborated by neighbor notes. These constitute small circular movements.
Chopin continues the waltz melody by elaborating on the idea of neighboring motions.
Example 9: Op. 34 No.2 in A minor, Chopin.51
Other waltzes, in which neighbor tones are prominent, are op. 34 no. 1 and op. 64 no. 1 in the opening 20 measures. The waltz in A minor op. 34 no. 2 is also one of six waltzes with a more melancholic, lyrical and reflective character, as opposed to the grandeur and brilliance of Chopin’s faster waltzes.52
B. Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann is not usually a featured composer in a discussion of piano waltzes, since he did not compose sets of dances so entitled. He did, however, compose waltzes and other dances for piano as part of his sets of character pieces for which he is
51 Ibid., 179. 52 Gordon, 301.
30 most famous. His “modification” of the waltz is primarily in its use as a character piece.
Schumann was at his best in these brief forms: they are short and expressive, exploring a
single mood or character, capturing the essence of emotional expression with immense
attention to detail and subtle harmonies.53 The brevity of form thus shows a clear
similarity to the waltzes of Schubert.
Schumann was one of the first composers to give poetic titles rather than generic
titles to his character pieces. These extra-musical connections with poetry and literature
reach much deeper, and influenced the conception and even the structure of his music as
well. Schumann was fascinated by the blend of reality and fantasy found in E.T.A.
Hoffmann and Jean Paul’s literature. He described this style as a“…psychologically
unusual connection of ideas” which was something he similarly admired passionately in
Schubert’s music.54 This was also connected to the idea of the split self (Doppelgänger),
and the creation of Florestan and Eusebius – two completely contrasting and opposing
personalities of the same person. Schumann later used these characters as narrators in his
musical criticisms in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. This fascination with schizophrenia could explain why Schumann was such a master of the short, brief character piece: the
character is overwhelming in each piece and not at all inhibited by the brevity of the
form, and switches drastically from one short piece to the next, each new one as
convincing as the other. Schumann intended to write a novel (Die Wunderkinder), in
which he planned to employ various different characters: Clara Wieck, her father,
Paganini, and even his fictitious characters Florestan and Eusebius. His interested in child
53 Stewart Gordon, A History of Keyboard Literature: Music for the Piano and Its Forerunner, (New York: Schirmer, 1996), 250. 54 John Daverio, “Schumann, Robert,” Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed [11/11/2006]),
31 prodigies included Chopin as one of his musical idols. All these characters later featured
in his musical compositions as well.
Papillons, Op. 2 appeared in print in 1831. According to Schumann, these were inspired by the penultimate chapter of Fliegeljahre, a novel by Jean Paul. Here the writer
describes a ballroom scene, and Schumann described his work as an actual
transformation of this masked ball into notes.55 It consists of twelve short pieces, mostly
dances, several waltzes and a polonaise, set with an introduction and occasional scene
music. There are definite references to specific characters and events. The work is
cyclical, with the first waltz referred to in the final piece to bring the circle to a close.
Even though these pieces are not all waltzes (number two is in duple meter and number
eleven is a polonaise), this cycle reminds of Weber’s Aufforderung zum Tanz in the
connection with a programmatic ball, as well as the unity created by returning previous
material in the last movement. Even though Schumann’s waltzes are short and not
connected as one large-scale piece the way Weber’s waltzes are, they are connected to
form one long cycle of dances, to be performed as one piece. A further connection with
Weber’s waltz is the tenth dance, which is a parody on Weber’s Aufforderung zum Tanz.
The interdependency in the cycles of miniatures (op.2, 6, 9 and Kreisleriana) is
somewhat similar to that found in song cycles like Dichterliebe, where each song is a
miniature, but part of a bigger whole. Schumann also exhibits virtuosic pianism in these
works in combination with subtle intimacy–it is thus a combination of Weber’s and
Schubert’s waltz-forms. A strong connection with Schubert lies in the main theme of the
finale of Papillons: a popular German song of the seventeenth century, Grossvaterlied, is
used–the same song Schubert used in his trio of opus 127 no.5. Schumann also modeled
55 Ibid.
32 his eighth movement of Papillons on Schubert’s style–so much so that he was able to
convince his friend Töpkin that Schubert was the actual composer of that movement.
Schumann composed six waltzes in the years 1829-1830 which were never published. Some of this musical material was later used in Papillons. The title translates
to “Butterflies”, which conveys a feeling of fluttering, lightness and gaiety. According to
John Daverio, Jean Paul implies in this chapter of Fliegeljahre that “…life is a
constellation of fragments awaiting the transfigurative touch of the poet,” 56 and that this
is where the connection with Schumann’s composition lies: his pieces are very brief and
many are tonally open-ended, demonstrating his interest in the fragment as literary
phenomenon in works by writers such as Schlegel and Novalis. The tonal open-
endedness also lends to these pieces a feeling of fantasy and dream.
Schumann completed Carnaval: scène mignonnes sur quatre notes op. 9 in 1835.
It is very similar to Papillons in that it is a cycle of character pieces, this time describing
the party atmosphere before the beginning of Lent. Numbers four and sixteen are waltzes,
entitled Valse noble and Valse allemande. These titles are obvious references to the
waltzes of Schubert. A variety of characters are featured, ranging from his alter-egos
Florestan and Eusebius to Clara, Chopin and Paganini as well as characters from the
theater tradition (Pierrot, Arlequin, Pantalon and Colombine). These can be traced back
to the characters of his earlier planned novel. Schumann’s relationship with Ernestine von
Fricken generated the conception of this work: not only is she a featured character, but
the musical motifs also derive from ASCH – the name of her town. This motif forms a
sublime link between the twenty-one pieces as a “sphinx,” which is a silent segment
between numbers eight and nine. Another clear link to Papillons is the segment contained
56 Ibid.
33 in number six of Carnaval which is also the opening theme of Papillons. This work is
also cyclical in structure.
C. Johannes Brahms
The serious Johannes Brahms was a great admirer of Johann Strauss, but adopted
Schubert’s style in his series of small, individual waltzes without introduction or coda.57
His most important waltzes are represented by op.39, op.52 and op.65. The
Liebesliederwaltzer op. 52 and Neue Liebesliederwaltzer op. 65, are both sets for piano four-hands and four voices. Brahms also arranged these for piano duet (op. 52a and op.
65a) without the voices. Op. 39 was originally composed for piano duet, and later arranged for piano solo. Brahms edited Schubert’s 12 Ländler, op. post. 171 (D. 790) in
1864, and described them as “delightful.” This was just one year before he composed his first set of waltzes, op. 39, after spending time in Vienna himself. In 1866 the Leipziger allgemeine musikalische Zeitung published a notice of newly released compositions for piano duet. It includes a brief review of Brahms’ op. 39 waltzes, and describes them well:
First to be considered is a volume of waltzes (16 in number) by Joh. Brahms Op. 39 (published by Rieter-Biedermann), which we would like to recommend most warmly to all friends of music. Even in this form, our admirable young master’s excellent inventive talent is so conspicuous that one completely forgets the lowly rank of the genre. The various waltzes are of various characters, sometimes wild like gypsy music – but always original and, in spite of the brevity of the form (the majority of the waltzes occupy only one of a player’s pages), rising up stirringly and somehow momentously. We reserve all else concerning them for a review, which, because of their abundance of beautiful ideas, these “waltzes” unquestionably deserve.58
57 Andrew Lamb, “Brahms and Johann Strauss,” The Musical Times 116 (Oct. 1975): 869. 58 David Brodbeck, “Primo Schubert, Secondo Schumann: Brahms’s Four-Hand Waltzes, op.39,” The Journal of Musicology, Vol. 7 No. 1 (Winter, 1989): 58.
34 The influence of Schubert on Brahms’ waltzes is not only speculated on because of the similar brevity of form, intimate character and attention to harmonic interest, but
was stated by the composer himself in a letter to Eduard Hanslick in 1866: “…they are
two books of little innocent waltzes in Schubertian form.”59 According to David
Brodbeck the opening waltz of Op. 39 bears a striking resemblance to Schubert’s waltz
Op. 18 No. 2: they share the same key of B major, and both tonicize D sharp minor
(relation of a major third to tonic key) at the end of the first phrase (mm.7-8). Both
waltzes open with the progression I-ii-V7-I over a tonic pedal point, both share a
strikingly similar 9-8 appogiatura in the fourth measure, and both recapitulates in the
subdominant–a true Schubertian trademark. Brahms hereby notably refers to Schubert in
the opening measures of this waltz–the first waltz in his first set of dances in this genre.60
Example 10.1: Waltz Op. 18 No. 2, mm.1-14, Schubert.61
59 Quoted in Brodbeck, 61. 60 Brodbeck, 62-63. 61 Schubert, Dances, 15.
35 Example 10.2: Waltz Op. 39 No. 1, mm.0-8, Brahms.62
Even though the influence of Schubert is so clear, Brahms’ waltzes are further refined examples of this genre, and could not be mistaken with purely improvised, popular pieces to be danced to, as was the case with Schubert’s waltzes. Most critical
studies of Brahms’ output dismiss his waltzes, but Brahms himself destroyed the works
he deemed substandard late in his life, together with fragments and unfinished works. He
himself thus thought of his waltzes as great enough to survive. Brahms’ superb
compositional technique is not hidden by the use of a simple dance form. In fact, these
dances can be seen as prophetic of his achievements in the small forms of his later years,
since they present a similar level of harmonic interest, thematic manipulation and even
contrapuntal writing in some instances.
Brahms’ use of repetition in other compositions have been subject to scholarly
analysis and described as “developing variation.”63 Both Yaraman and David Brodbeck
discuss how Brahms similarly used developing variation in almost all of the waltzes
when he heightened and elaborated repetition of motives in the right hand melody,
thereby aesthetically refining and modifying the characteristic element of repetition in the
62 Johannes Brahms, Complete Piano Works for Four Hands, Ed. Eusebius Mandyczewski (New York: Dover), 26-27. 63 Walter Frisch, Brahms and the Principle of Developing Variation (Berkeley: University of California, 1984).
36 waltz.64 This technique of developing variation also contributes to the modification of his waltzes through motivic fragmentation and harmonic as well as rhythmic alteration. In op. 39 no.2 (example 12), Brahms based the melody on a single rhythmic cell (dotted quarter-eighth note-quarter), presenting several related versions of this motive. He also did this in various other waltzes, such as op. 39 no.3 (dotted quarter–3 eighths), which is the same rhythmic pattern also used in the well-known op. 39 no.15 (example 13). This rhythmic motive that starts with a dotted quarter creates gravity towards each next down- beat, and this further supports the circular effect of the motive.
Example 12: Waltz Op. 39 No. 2, mm.0-8, primo part.65
┌ a.┐= rhythmic cell
Example 13: Waltz Op. 39 No. 15, mm. 1-8, primo part.66
┌ a. ┐= rhythmic cell
The waltz op. 39 no. 9 is another very good example of how Brahms based the complete waltz on one short motive–in this case a two-note slur from the upbeat to the downbeat (example 14). This motive is slightly manipulated in the B-section, where he at
64 Yaraman, 78; David Brodbeck, 58-80. 65 Brahms, 27. 66 Ibid., 47.
37 first elongates the first notes to form syncopations before he resolves to the second notes.
This creates tension, supported by the crescendo. It is followed by the two-note slur being echoed in the alto, this time starting on the downbeat. It is interesting to note that this waltz starts in D minor, but ends on the dominant A major chord. The key is kept uncertain in the last four bars, by at first using the G sharp and then immediately negating it again.
Example 14: Waltz Op. 39 No. 9.67
In Op. 39 No.16, Brahms based the opening melody on two short motives, which are then transposed and inverted. In this dance, Brahms also wrote complex counterpoint, and even invertible counterpoint: the melody in measures 1-8 in the secondo part appears exactly in the soprano and alto (primo part) in measures 9-16, with the countermelody of measures 1-8 in the soprano (primo part) appearing exactly in the tenor in measures 9-16 (secondo part). Invertible counterpoint is a distinguished
67 Brahms, 37.
38 compositional method not usually associated with waltzing. Also note the visual arch in the bass accompaniment in measures 1-4 –supporting the circular motion of the waltz on a structural level, as was seen in the waltzes of Chopin.
Example 15.1: Op. 39 No. 16, mm. 0-16, secondo part.68
Example 15.2: Op. 39 No. 16, mm.0-16, primo part.69
In the majority of Brahms’ waltzes, he made use of the rhythmic device hemiola to modify and disguise the waltz-rhythm. In all cases, this causes a period of tension, which is resolved when the familiar triple meter returns. It is thus logical that Brahms mostly made use of this technique to prepare a structurally important moment in the waltz. The preparation of the final cadence of the dance is the most common place where hemiola is used. In op.65a, for instance, this occurs in numbers seven out of thirteen
68 Ibid., 46. 69 Ibid., 47.
39 waltzes. The return of the opening motive and the musical climax in the second half of the waltz are other moments where Brahms used hemiola. In some instances he even used this in the opening measures of his waltzes, to create a long upbeat to the waltz–a period of tension that resolves as the “real” waltz starts. An excellent example of Brahms’ use of hemiola is in his Liebeslieder op.52a no.2: the complete waltz melody forms a hemiola
(indicated by arrows in example 16) against the accompaniment figure, except for the cadence.
Example 16: Waltz Op. 52a No. 2.70
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
It is also interesting to note that Brahms drastically diminished the importance of the characteristic um-pah-pah accompaniment-figure, employing it in only five of the sixteen waltzes of op. 39. It is equally rare in his other sets. Since this accompaniment figure is such an intrinsic part of the waltz rhythm, this, together with his affinity for the use of hemiola, contributes to Brahms’s modification and disguise of the waltz rhythm.
70 Ibid., 51.
40 Brahms ends his Neue Liebeslieder op.65a with a waltz entitled Zum Schluß, a
9 slow piece in /4, with the indication Ruhig. This is more of a lullaby than a waltz, with
the time signature already indicating this. It is very intimate and quiet, with intricate
polyphony, in the primo part. It is clear that Brahms had a choir in mind when writing
this movement and it is not very pianistic. Musically, however, it is elevated from the
light character associated with waltzing, and is more in line with his other miniatures.
D. Franz Liszt
Liszt wrote many waltzes for piano solo, including a Fantasia about a Waltz by
Franz Schubert, Grande Valse di Bravura, Valse mélancolique, Valse-Impromptu, Four
Valse-oubliées, and the four Mephisto Waltzes. In 1852, Liszt also wrote nine Soirées de
Vienne which were based on various Viennese waltzes by Schubert (primarily his Valses
nobles and Valse sentimentales), turning them into salon compositions. In all these works
Liszt made cyclic use of thematic material. My discussion of Liszt’s contribution to
waltzes will focus on his first Mephisto Waltz.
Liszt’s four Mephisto Waltzes serve as examples of piano waltzes where both
tonality and virtuosity are taken to its extremes, verging on a breaking point. Liszt made
use of dissonances, tritones and tone clusters to disrupt tonality. These waltzes also
exhibit programmatic elements of decadence and danger, associated with the devilish
virtuosity, as its title denotes. Surprisingly, only a few of Liszt’s piano works (Mephisto
Waltzes and Mephisto Polka) actually fall into this diabolical category of pieces with
41 angry, dark and violent moods conjuring up satanic imagery, even though this diabolical
character was attributed to Liszt throughout his life.71
Mephistopheles is an evil but very clever, humorous, sophisticated and witty
character featured in the Faust legend. He also possesses very important magical powers, which gives him the ability to transform himself and others, and to perform astonishing
trickery. This aspect of Mephistopheles was carried through into the music of Liszt. Here
he was greatly influenced by the violinist Niccolò Paganini, whose showmanship and
virtuosity inspired Liszt to develop piano technique to its limits. Paganini was seen as a
truly Mephistophelian figure–unearthly in appearance and superhuman in his music-
making. Liszt shared the diabolical element in showmanship and virtuosity, which
mesmerized audiences: Both were said to have “demoniacal” powers over audiences,
supported by the effective bravura elements in their compositions. Late in Liszt’s life his
contemporaries even described his appearance as Mephistophelian as well.72
The four Mephisto Waltzes are four separate, distinct works that come from different times in Liszt’s life. This indicates Liszt’s life-long fascination with the
Mephistopheles-theme, an interest he shared with many other writers and composers from the nineteenth century. He was probably influenced by Berlioz’s Damnation of
Faust and Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust-all works he was familiar with.
Goethe’s Faust was the source of inspiration for most of the nineteenth-century composers (such as Berlioz, Schumann, Schubert and Wagner), but it was the Hungarian- born poet Nikolaus Lenau’s Faust that served as inspiration for Liszt’s first Mephisto
71 Dolores Pesce, “Expressive Resonance in Liszt’s Piano Music,” in Nineteenth-Century Piano Music, 2nd ed., ed. Larry Todd (London: Routledge, 2004), 445. 72 Mary Angela Hunt, “Franz Liszt: The Mephisto Waltzes” (D.M.A. thesis, University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1979), 14.
42 Waltz. This poet’s version of the legend is darker than Goethe’s version, with Faust committing suicide in the end, and Mephistopheles portrayed as a more somber, malevolent character.
The First Mephisto Waltz is entitled Der Tanz in der Dorfschenke–Mephisto Waltz and is the only one of the four that is performed often and viewed as part of the standard piano repertoire. It is a virtuoso show-piece from Liszt’s Weimar period (1848-1861), and is derived from Zwei Episoden aus Lenau’s Faust for orchestra–the second part only.
The orchestral and piano solo versions were composed at the same time (1859-1860), and it is not sure which version came first. This is also the only one of the four Mephisto
Waltzes that takes its inspiration directly form the programmatic text: Faust and
Mephistopheles comes upon a wedding celebration in a village inn; Mephistopheles joins in the music-making playing violin, while Faust seduces a beautiful young maiden; the couple joins in the dancing as it grows more wild and frenzied, after which they retreat into the forest where they ecstatically make love with a singing nightingale in the background. This program is thus rich in sensuality and dramatic excitement. When also taken into consideration that the church fathers had outlawed the waltz years before, due to it being an “invention of the devil,” and “an incitement to sinful passions,” the waltz was thus the perfect vehicle for Liszt to depict this devilish dance.
The first Mephisto Waltz can be divided into four parts: an introductory section
(mm. 1-110) marked Allegro vivace, quasi presto; Theme A and its development (mm.
111-340) which constitutes the wedding dance; Theme B and its development (mm.341-
650), where Mary Angela Hunt describes the change of musical character as depiction of
Mephisto’s role change from “leader of the band of musicians” to “seducer of souls,”
43 marked Un poco meno mosso (ma poco), espressivo amoroso; and the final section
(mm.651 to end). The final section brings back Theme A and the dance spirit, and is
marked più mosso. Here the dance starts out pianissimo, growing louder and more
brilliant as it builds up to a climax that “explodes into a cadenza-like passage”73 that
spans the entire range of the keyboard. During the build-up motives from the sensual
Theme B are used, but they are transformed (in keeping with the characteristics of
Mephisopheles…) by the increasing tension and frenzy of the dance. Measure 814 brings
a dramatic pause after the cadenza, in the form of a short recitative-like section marked
dolce espressivo. The ending brings back the high-speed activity, with a whirlwind
flourish of repeated chords, arpeggios and interlocking octaves.
Stylistically, this work is characterized by orchestral writing for the piano,
probably due to the fact that it was conceived of as orchestral and pianistic at the same
time. It is thus very colorful, with instrumental brilliance and pianistic effects such as rapid chromatic passagework, broken octaves, double glissandi, fast arpeggiated figures, thick chords, and triple forte climaxes (see examples 17-20). It is also very rhythmic, with relentless propulsion and overpowering ostinato-effects. According to Mary Angela
Hunt,74 these elements and the frenzied stringendo spirit of the final section all contribute
to the demonic character of the piece. It is also interesting to note that, even though the
time signature is ⅜, a one-beat per measure pulse is felt because of the fast tempo of the piece overall. Liszt also marked this in a note to the conductor in the orchestral version,
4 with the measures grouped into a /4 division. This is thus an example of how the tempo
and resulting meter is modified from the original lilting waltz tempo in triple meter.
73 Ibid., 30. 74 Ibid., 35.
44 Example 17: mm. 82-98 – Double octaves and thick cords.75
Example 18: mm.165-170 – Fast chromatic passagework.76
Example 19: m.202 – Double glissando.77
Example 20: mm. 803-804 – Fast arpeggiated passagework.78
75 Franz Liszt, Mephisto Waltz no. 1: Dance in the inn from Lenau’s “Faust,” ed. Emil von Sauer (New York: Peters), 3. 76 Ibid., 6. 77 Ibid., 7. 78 Ibid., 21
45 The strong programmatic element in the piece is another form of stylization–one that was very popular in the nineteenth century. Some of the programmatic elements in this waltz includes the opening bars of the piece (mm.1-19) portraying Mephistopheles playing open-string fifths as he tunes the violin (see example 21); the rhythmic momentum of the final section portraying the build-up of excitement of the dance and dancers as the music becomes a whirlwind which “engulfs all living souls within the inn”; the dying away of the music as the dancers leave the inn (mm.814-845), and the recitative in mm.858-863 (see example 22), just before the end, portraying the singing nightingale.79
Example 21: Mephisto Waltz No. 1, mm.1-19, Liszt.80
Example 22: mm. 858-863.81
79 Hunt, 43. 80 Liszt, 2. 81 Ibid., 24
46 Liszt served as great influence on Ravel, the next composer to be discussed. This general influence is mainly visible in the virtuosic, orchestrally conceived pianistic style, but also in similarities in titles and sonorities (such as Liszt’s Les Jeux d’eau a la Villa d’Este and Ravel’s Jeux d’eau). The harmonic innovations by Liszt in his late years also paved the way for Ravel and all other twentieth century diversity of styles. Elements of the Mephisto Waltz that are also present in La Valse include the dark, destructive program associated with the waltz, the way both waltzes build tension through acceleration to a point of climactic explosion, the use of tritones and clusters to support the dark character of the work, the fast tempo and orchestral virtuosic pianism (double glissandi, thick chords, triple fortes, chromatic passagework, arpeggiated passagework, etc.)
47 CHAPTER IV:
CLIMAX: RAVEL’S CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE AND DEATH OF
THE PIANO WALTZ
In this chapter I examine the final stage of the piano waltz's life cycle. The two different types of waltzes represented by Schubert and Weber reached their climax in
Maurice Ravel’s waltz-compositions: his Valses nobles et Sentimentales refers back to
Schubert’s waltzes in its title as well as its harmonic language, and serves as a celebration of the “life” of the piano waltz. La Valse, a large, virtuosic composition consisting of a suite of short waltz themes, represents both Schubert and Weber’s waltz forms and also culminates in the musical and structural transformation of the waltz. La Valse thus serves as a celebration of both the “life” and “death” of this beloved genre.
A. Valses nobles et Sentimentales
Valses nobles et sentimentales was composed for solo piano in 1911, and orchestrated in 1912 to serve as music for the ballet Adelaїde, ou le langage des fleurs
(Adelaide, or the language of flowers). The ballet-version was first performed at the
Théâtre du Châtelet on 22 April 1912 by Natasha Trouhanova’s group, with the composer conducting.
Ravel himself stated that the title Valses nobles et sentimentales indicated his intention of composing a series of waltzes in imitation of Schubert’s waltzes–thereby celebrating the “life” of the waltz. This reference to these waltzes by Schubert was preceded by Liszt with his Soirées de Vienne. The texture in Valses nobles et
48 sentimentales turns away from the virtuosic pianism of Gaspard de la nuit, and is
replaced by a more simple, clear kind of writing, which “crystallizes the harmony and
sharpens the profile of the music.”82 According to Ravel, the seventh waltz seems most
characteristic. This is also the waltz that is the most virtuosic in the set.
According to Alexander Goehr83 Valses nobles et sentimentales can be used as a
model for current composers: where the “outward mold” is a given, the “middle” has to
be filled in an original, subtle way in order for it to be “new.” Ravel took something that
was outwardly very familiar, in this case specifically Schubert’s waltzes. These not only
bring with them triple meter and a specific bass pattern associated with all waltzes, but
also Schubert’s characteristic combination of lilting rhythms, rubato, balanced phrases, straightforward form and unexpected harmonic subtleties. The similarities of Ravel’s set to the waltzes of Schubert are clear, but there are also some adaptations: Ravel’s waltzes
are somewhat longer than Schubert’s eight bars, but they are still very short and would be
considered “miniatures.” Each short waltz has its own, distinct personality, and most are in (sometimes modified) ABA form. Ravel’s waltzes interestingly lack the traditional
“um-pah-pah” accompaniment figure almost completely. Instead, his accompaniment figures mostly outline the harmony in one way or another–broken chords, chords, or single bass lines. The harmonies are complex, and utilize 7th, 9th and 11th chords, with
added seconds and sixths. Rhythmically, Ravel also made ample use of hemiola
throughout the waltzes. These elements are all evident in example 23: the texture is very thin, with the accompaniment made up of a single-note bass-line. Rhythmic ambiguity
results because of the right-hand dotted-quarters forming a duple meter against the triple
82 Deborah Mawer and Roger Nichols, “Early reception of Ravel’s music (1899-1939),” in The Cambridge Companion to Ravel, ed. D. Mawer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 260. 83 Quoted in Mawer and Nichols, 259.
49 meter in the bass-line. Most interesting, though, is the harmonic ambiguity that seems
very similar to bi-tonality, with C-naturals against C-sharps as indicated by the arrows in the second, fourth, sixth and eighth measures of this example.
Example 23: Waltz VII from Valses nobles et Sentimentales, mm.67-76.84 ↓ ↓---↓
↑ ↑---↑
The overall structure is somewhat similar to Schubert’s idea of short waltzes
grouped together, but Ravel actually intended for this group of separate waltzes to be
performed together, thus forming a larger work–a suite of waltzes. The unity is further
emphasized by the cyclical structure of the set: waltz motives from earlier waltzes are
recapitulated in the last waltz (the Épilogue), which ends the work in a reflective, quiet
manner with the theme of Waltz II. This method of unification can be drawn back to
Weber’s Aufforderung zum Tanz, where waltz themes were recapitulated in the coda,
giving the work a cyclic structure. This Épilogue also shows similarities to Schumann’s
Papillons in several respects, of which the most prominent apart from the cyclicality is
the use of a pedal-point figure. In Schumann’s work this dominant pedal-point is
84 Maurice Ravel, Valses nobles et Sentimentales, in “Le Tombeau de Couperin” and Other Works for Solo Piano (New York: Dover Publications, 1997), 40.
50 accompanied by the composer’s inscription that translates to “The noise of the carnival
grows silent. The tower clock strikes six.” In Valses nobles et sentimentales the pedal- point features throughout this movement, with the tonic G pedal sustained for most of the last thirty-three measures. The recapitulated material is heard over the pedal-points, and in both works the sound dies away into silence.
According to Elizabeth McCrae, the unity in the set goes even beyond these surface similarities of rhythmic and motivic elements, to formalizing and unifying compositional techniques on a deeper level: the tritone, augmented chord and whole-tone scale permeates the work on a motivic and harmonic level, as well as the overall tonal scheme. The roots of Waltzes IV, V and VI are, for instance, respectively Ab, E and C – thus forming an augmented triad on the lowered second in relation to G, which is the root
of the first and last Waltzes. The neighbor motion, for instance, not only features strongly
in the melodic material, but the neighbor chord also plays an important role. As
illustrated above, the neighbor tone even permeates the overall tonal structure, with Ab
(root of Waltz IV) being the neighbor of G (root of Waltzes I and VIII). Neighbor keys
are also used to create a “bi-tonal” atmosphere in a single waltz, as seen in example 23.85
Another signature of Ravel’s waltzes is the fact that he omited the upbeat
preparation–not only in Valses nobles et Sentimentales, but also in La Valse. Beginning
Waltz I with big chords on the first beat shows a strong and immediate similarity with
Schubert, as well as with Schumann’s Papillons op.2 #8. Although there are many
influences, Ravel’s musical language is distinctly his own, combining elements of impressionism with neo-classicism. These are the subtleties with which he filled the
85 Elizabeth McCrae, “Ravel’s Valses nobles et Sentimentales: Analysis, stylistic considerations, performance problems” (M.Mus Document, Indiana University, 1957), 87-97.
51 given outward framework, to make it into a work which is distinctly his own–as implied by Goehr. At the work’s premiere in Paris, the audience was able to name the composer of the work without knowing who it was.
B. La Valse – poème chorégraphique
La Valse gestated in Ravel’s mind over a period of fourteen years and was originally planned as a sort of homage to Johann Strauss, in the form of a “symphonic poem.” La Valse (1918) views the waltz as a thing of the past (similar to Valses nobles et
Sentimentales) and looks back to an imperial ball of 1855, but this time colored by a dark undercurrent.86 What was originally to be titled Wien, became a “choreographic poem” named La Valse when it was ultimately finished in 1919 as a commission from
Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes.87 The solo- and two-piano versions appeared first, and were later orchestrated.
Ravel described La Valse as a “sort of apotheosis of the Viennese waltz,” intermingled with “the impression of a fantastic and fatal whirling.” This description has proposed a link between Ravel and Edgar Allen Poe, specifically Poe’s short story “The
Masque of the Red Death” (1842) which contains the following description: “masked ball of the most unusual magnificence…a magnificent revel…[that] went whirlingly on.” In the history of the piano waltz, there have been other waltzes associated with an external program involving a (masked) ball. The link can thus be drawn back to Weber’s
Aufforderung zum Tanz and Schumann’s Papillons.
86 Lamb, “Waltz.” 87 Arbie Orenstein, Ravel: Man and Musician (New York: Columbia University Press, 1990), 188.
52 Ravel’s own scenario prefaces the score:
…Through breaks in the swirling clouds, waltzing couples may be glimpsed. Little by little they disperse: one makes out an immense hall filled with a whirling crowd. The stage is illuminated gradually. The light of the chandeliers peaks at the fortissimo. An Imperial Court, about 1855…
This sets the scene, but does not explain what Ravel himself recognized as the
fantastic and fatal element in the score, the explosive catastrophe which, according to
Orenstein, ultimately sets La Valse apart as “one of the most frightening of all artistic
products of World War I.”88 This was not the first waltz composed by Ravel, but it was
the first and only one to exhibit these elements of destruction.
Even though Ravel disliked political interpretations of this work, several
programmatic interpretations have been connected with this great and tragic waltz, such
as the expression of a tragic affair; a waltz representing postwar Vienna, the demise of
high European culture beyond World War I and the end of the Habsburg Empire;89 the
explosion of a civilized scene; a dance of death or a struggle between life and death. It has been described as two paintings, one impressionist and one expressionist, in a single frame. Roland-Manuel, a student of Ravel, referred to La Valse as a “danse macabre,” hearing in it “a shudder of death’s horror.”90 Critics of the time also interpreted it in this
way, opposed to Ravel’s conscious intent. According to Ravel, La Valse only painted the
picture: “Dancing, whirling, almost hallucinatory ecstasy, an increasingly passionate and
exhausting whirlwind of dancers, who are overcome and exhilarated by nothing but the
waltz.”91 Ravel did consider La Valse to be tragic, but in the Greek sense of the word: “It
88 Ibid., 174. 89 Deborah Mawer, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Ravel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 52. 90 Benjamin Ivry, Maurice Ravel: A Life (New York: Welcome Rain Publishers, 2000), 116. 91 Arbie Orenstein, ed., A Ravel Reader: Correspondence, Articles, Interviews (New York: Columbia
53 is a fatal spinning around, the expression of vertigo and voluptuousness of the dance, to
the point of paroxysm.”92
Diaghilev rejected La Valse as unsuitable for a ballet, declaring that it is not a
ballet, only the impression of a ballet. The work thus only received its orchestral
premiere on 12 December 1920.93 In La Valse, a new, fresh dimension was added to
Ravel’s art, namely tension bordering on the breaking point.94 Ravel not only elevated
Viennese dance-band music to orchestral high-art music, but also amateur dancing to
professional ballet. Most importantly, he also elevated musical materials to their breaking
point. It is apparent that, on a subconscious level, the disorientation of World War I, poor
health and Ravel’s personal grief following his mother’s death clearly impact this post-
war ballet.95 Ravel thus used the waltz as medium to depict psychological and social
breakdown, whether consciously or subconsciously, by composing a waltz that eventually spins into chaos.
But why use the Waltz to portray demise? By destroying the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, World War I also destroyed the community in which the waltz had held sway, as well as the waltz itself. Ravel thus interpreted the Waltz as a metaphor for the
Viennese culture. Since the beginnings of this genre, the waltz was associated with moral decadence and decay because of the closeness with which the partners held each other, and physical danger because of the fast tempo of this dance. The dark and negative extra- musical elements associated with the waltz as discussed in chapter one were thus not new
when it occurred at the end of the genre in La Valse. This can prophetically explain why
University Press, 1990), 423. 92 Ibid., 434. 93 Mawer, ed., Cambridge Companion, 151. 94 Orenstein, Ravel: Man and Musician, 189. 95 Mawer, Cambridge Companion, 151.
54 this genre was later the perfect vehicle for Ravel to use in depicting “death.” This genre
was, on the other hand, also the most popular dance of its time. This ironic tension
between “life” and “death” is mirrored in the contradiction between the strong popularity of the waltz as a dance and its negative image associated with decadence and danger.
Ravel's La Valse is thus a complex work which in itself also celebrates the “life” and
“death” of the waltz.
Ravel loved to get his impetus from the rhythm of the waltz, which he considered to be joyous.96 The inherent quality of the waltz, however, lies in the repetitiveness of this
rhythm. This focus on one rhythm also exemplifies an element of obsession. There is a
limit to the amount of time a composer can keep on composing in one dance rhythm,
which Ravel seems to have reached in La Valse. The obsessively faster and faster
repetitive spinning waltz is thus the natural choice of genre to depict insanity.
Jankélévitch connects the frustration inherent to the repetitive rotation of the dance with
destruction, as mentioned in Chapter I.
Relentless repeated rhythmic patterns, as in the waltz, exhibit a striking parallel to
industrial ostinatos. This industrial element might further explain Ravel’s attraction to
these rhythms, since he was always fascinated by machines. He referred to the clicking
and roaring of machines in combination with Spanish folk songs sung to him by his
mother, as his first instruction in music.97 According to his brother, Ravel was always
struck and obsessed by the automation of machines.98 As early as 1905, Ravel marveled
at the music locked up in the sounds of the factories, to which he was introduced because
96 Roger Delage, “Ravel and Chabrier,” trans. Frayda Lindemann, Musical Quarterly 61, no.4 (1975), 550. 97 Mawer, Cambridge Companion, 59. 98 Lamer, Maurice Ravel, 86.
55 of his father’s occupation as engineer: “I don’t know how to describe the impression made by these castles of smelting, these incandescent cathedrals, this marvelous symphony of conveyor belts, whistles, and massive hammer blows that envelop you…How musical all that is! I certainly intend to make use of it.”99 The destructive
element is intrinsic to the machine, since there is always the risk that the machine will get
out of hand.
George Benjamin described the four sectional divisions as the “birth,” “life,”
“decay,” and finally, the “death” of the waltz in his analysis of La Valse.100 Ravel
systematically broke down and thereby modified the original defining elements of the
waltz, making use of asymmetrical phrase structure and fragmentation, tone clusters and dissonances, and disruption of the meter through hemiola. He ultimately destroyed the meter by ending in 4/4. He also explored the element of acceleration to support this
climactic ending. These techniques of “destruction” used by Ravel can all be traced back
to the techniques of “refinement”, “modification” and “transformation” employed by
earlier composers, as they stylized the piano waltz. Ravel not only copied these methods,
but further explored and developed them. Where they previously were used one at a time,
Ravel now combined all these methods simultaneously, to effectively transform and
ultimately destroy the waltz.
The introduction serves as the section depicting the “birth” of the waltz. This section is musically unstable, and exhibits tonal and rhythmic ambiguity. La Valse opens
with a dark tremolo in the bass, so low that the distinct pitches are barely audable. A
“heartbeat” evolves from this, after which glimpses of waltz themes are irregularly
99 Ibid., 87. 100 Benjamin, 432-435.
56 inserted in this mysterious section. The phrase structure is here disturbed and irregular,
since fragmentary binary units are interspersed with triple groupings and single bars.101
The tonal instability is further established by the pedal point on scale-degree two (E), which is continued throughout the introduction.
The section depicting “life” is characterized by melodic, harmonic and rhythmic stability. Ravel made use of fully formed melodic material as opposed to the fragments during the “birth” of the waltz. This section also announces the arrival of the main tonality for the piece, and is thus for the first time tonally stable after the unstable “birth.”
The “life” of La Valse consists of a suite of nine waltzes102 flowing uninterrupted from
one into the other. Here Ravel further imposed stability in the phrase structure, by the use
of regular binary units lasting for 373 measures. It is also this part of La Valse that
exhibits the most similarities with Valses nobles et Sentimentales and the Schubertian
waltz. For La Valse, this constitutes the first rotation or exposition.
The second rotation/recapitulation literally interrupts the flow of thought, and re-
introduces the opening material. This section can be viewed as the “post-war” section,
where convention explodes. The recapitulation is much shorter and thus more compact
than the exposition, but with heightened activity. Overall, there is much more tension in
this rotation, which constitutes the decay and ultimate destruction of the waltz. The
climax also occurs in the second rotation. Ravel made use of melodic fragmentation,
rhythmic alteration as well as meter changes, together with a general accelerando to
support the decay of the waltz and build tension toward the point of destruction. Ravel
101 Ibid. 102 Waltz #1: m. 67-146; Waltz #2: m. 147-210; Waltz #3: m. 211-242; Waltz #4: m. 243-274; Waltz #5: m. 275-290; Waltz #6: m. 291-330; Waltz #7: m. 331-370; Waltz #8: m. 371-402; Waltz #9: m. 403- 431.
57 freely restated themes from the waltz-suite of the exposition, with the order switched around and the regular binary phrase structure disrupted. The restated waltzes are manipulated, and already show signs of decay.
Ravel used fragments of the fifth waltz to build tension to the first great climax of the work in m.556 (indicated with an arrow in example 24.2). He energized these fragments by changing the articulation from legato to staccato, and by intensifying the density of thematic material: The only genuine moment of counterpoint occurs after m.540 where more fragments of the fifth waltz are stated in combination with thematic material from the introduction, in imitation. To all of this is added a crescendo, to fully prepare the climax: an accented, fortissimo explosion of the fourth waltz. This climactic version is quite the opposite of the previous statement of the fourth waltz in the exposition, which was soft, expressive and with a touch of flirtation. In the recapitulation, it is modified into an intense, harsh and more violent waltz.
Example 24.1: Waltz #4 in the exposition of La Valse, mm.243-250.103
103 Maurice Ravel, La Valse: Poème chorégraphique, in “Le Tombeau de Couperin” and Other Works for Solo Piano (New York: Dover Publications, 1997), 100.
58
Example 24.2: Waltz #4 in the recapitulation of La Valse, mm.552-565.104
↓
Ravel used the seventh waltz as basis for his long crescendo and accelerando which leads to the second and penultimate climax of the work in m.644. Where the original statement of this waltz was soft, relaxed and with a laidback, jazz-like character, the fragments now are loud and have uncontainable energy. The accelerando accompanying this build-up, causes the waltz rhythm to lose its characteristic swing. This
leads to a shift in meter from triple to duple, which is highlighted by the use of accents.
The arrows in example 25.2 indicate how Ravel combines fragmentation with hemiola.
This, together with the crescendo, accelerando, and biting dissonances, build tension
towards the first big climax of this waltz. This serves as an example of how Ravel further
expanded upon a similar technique previously used by Chopin (as seen in example 6),
and how he combined this technique with others.
104 Ibid., 110.
59 Example 25.1: Waltz #7 in the exposition of La Valse, mm.329-334.105
↓
Example 25.2: Waltz #7 in the recapitulation of La Valse, mm.633-644.106
↓ ↓ ↓
↓ ↓ ↓
The waltz does not fully recover from this first destruction of its rhythm.
This second great climax (example 26.2) is the only fff in the piece, and is ironically the
restatement of the last complete melody prior to the recapitulation (waltz #8, example
26.1), initially an expressive, tender waltz. The fff, thick chords and double glissandi used in this second and penultimate climax of La Valse also exemplifies Ravel’s orchestral writing for piano. This is very similar to Liszt’s virtuosic, orchestral pianism (which
105 Ibid., 102. 106 Ibid., 113.
60 greatly influenced Ravel), as used in his Mephisto Waltz #1. Compare with examples 17-
20.
Example 26.1: Waltz #8 in the exposition of La Valse, mm.370-374.107
Example 26.2: Waltz #8 in the recapitulation of La Valse, mm.645-649.108
Immediately following this climactic point, the build-up towards the final climax- the finale of this work- starts. Material from the first waltz is used, thus bringing it full circle. In m.633 a rhythmic motive on one note, from the first waltz, is stated over a tritone movement in the bass (see example 27.1). This is repeated in ascending motion, building up to m.693, where the climactic part of the first waltz is restated. The repeated- note motive (the only remaining theme until the end) follows again, undergoing remarkable harmonic and dynamic changes, ranging from piano to fortissimo in one single measure (see example 27.2). The dynamic indication of p on the downbeat of the second measure of this two-bar motive, and omission of a chord in the right-hand on this downbeat, further disturbs the rhythm and circular flow of the motive, creating tension
107 Ibid., 104. 108 Ibid., 113.
61 and the effect of chaos. According to Benjamin, this indicates that lyricism is now also destroyed.109 Following this, the decay turns into destruction. The work speeds up and spins out of control from this point, to end with the destruction of the last remaining characteristic of the waltz–the triple meter. In the orchestral version, the final rhythmic motive is a hemiola of four quarters in ¾ time.
Example 27.1: La Valse, mm.684-685.110
Example 27.2: La Valse, mm.704-709.111
┌ ┐┌ ┐
109 Benjamin, 434. 110 Ravel, 114. 111 Ibid., 115.
62 CONCLUSION
My interest in the waltz as genre was sparked by Ravel’s La Valse. I was
fascinated by the extra-musical interpretations associated with this work: those of
destruction, death, danger and decadence, and by the effective way these elements are
portrayed in the music. This was the starting point of my research, and I soon realized
that La Valse was not unique: in late-romantic and early twentieth-century operas the
waltz was often used with a sexual implication– and often in combination with danger
and moral decadence. It struck me as interesting, since the original extra-musical
elements associated with waltzing were less dark and more focused on flirtation, love,
laughter, joy and seduction. How did the innocent decadence that goes hand-in-hand with these, evolve into death and destruction?
Any composer is influenced by what came before, so it was just logical to look at piano waltzes preceding La Valse, to investigate the stylistic changes that lead up to this work. In La Valse all original defining elements of the genre were annihilated: triple
meter, balanced phrase structure, functional tonality and even the extra-musical
associations. These basic stylistic elements supported the physical movement of the dance, which was based on repetition of circles. Through stylization of the dance,
composers started to modify these basic elements bit by bit. Chopin implemented the
circular movement on all structural levels, by writing arch-like motives in the melody as
well as left-hand accompaniment, arch-like phrases and overall ABA or rondo-like form.
He also modified the rhythm and often made use of hemiola to disrupt the meter and
build tension. Brahms perfected the use of hemiola in his waltzes by using it in the
63 majority of his dances. He also modified the element of repetition by implementing it on a motivic level, which is referred to by scholars as developing variation. He rarely made use of the original um-pah-pah accompaniment figure, which together with the regular use of hemiola influenced the effect of the waltz-rhythm and meter. Brahms also modified the simple harmonies and melodies associated with waltzing. He even made use of invertible counterpoint.
Schumann mainly developed and modified the use of an extra-musical program associated with waltzing. He elevated the connection between music and poetry and literature to a level where the latter influenced and permeated the conception and structure of his music. An extra-musical program associated with waltzing was first introduced by Weber and regularly used when composing waltzes afterward. Where at first the program was innocent, it developed into dark, devilish, violent and destructive programs. Liszt introduced a devilish program with his Mephisto Waltzes. To support this, he made use of tritones, diminished chords and dissonances, thereby modifying the element of functional tonality and simple harmonies somewhat. He also took virtuosity to the next level, developing an orchestral style of pianism focused on colors and effects, with melodic writing taking a back-seat.
Ravel made use of all these elements developed by these composers, combining them and developing them even further, to effectively destroy his waltz. He combined the use of hemiola with motivic fragmentation and contrapuntal writing within an accelerando and crescendo to build tension towards climaxes. In the climaxes, he modified the waltz themes from innocent, soft and relaxed melodies, into harsh, loud, dissonant and aggressive motives. Here the influence of Liszt’s virtuosic, orchestral
64 pianism is most evident, as well as the modification of the harmonic language to include
tritones and dissonances. Liszt also modified the meter of the waltz by writing a waltz so
fast that the triple meter per measure was overshadowed by the overall four-bar meter
created. Ravel also annihilated the triple meter by actually ending the orchestral version
of La Valse with a four-beat hemiola. The extra-musical program changed into darkness
and decadence with Liszt’s waltz, which makes the physical and mental destruction and
death associated with La Valse not so shocking or surprising.
La Valse in itself serves as a microcosm of the life-cycle of the genre. The two rotations present at first the waltz as it was during the heyday of the genre, thereby celebrating the “life” of the waltz. These waltzes are all also similar to the waltzes in
Valses nobles et sentimentales – a work known to celebrate Schubert’s waltzes, and thus the “life” of the waltz. In the second rotation of La Valse, the waltzes are all modified into darker, more violent and harsh dances, using techniques developed by composers during the period of stylization (or modification) of the waltz as genre. The second rotation builds up to the climactic end, which constitute the death of this waltz. The life- cycle of the piano waltz thus culminates in Ravel’s La Valse: By destroying his waltz,
Ravel represented the “death” of the genre as a whole–the end of an era.
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