The joy of music or 3 / 4 time

by Petar PLAMENOV

4 June (Saturday), 19:00
Studio 5
42 Sofia Music Weeks
Address: Sofia, 1, Bulgaria bld, entrance A3 NPC
Working time: 10:00–02:00
Phone: 02 963 12 54

Cast: Iliana Selimski [soprano], Desiree Shtereva [piano]
• In the program: Johann Strauss, Luigi Arditi, Chopin, Luigi and Federico Ricci, Offenbach, Liszt

The waltz most often refers to a dance, usually performed in 3/4 time, that features three steps per measure, has partners in a closed stance holding onto each other, and has beautiful turns and swirls. It is considered in present day as an elegant dance that evokes an old-fashioned past. This is much in contrast to the way the dance was first perceived when it was introduced in Vienna, Austria in the seventeenth century.

It’s important to understand that the waltz, when first introduced, wasn’t danced in the closed hold. Dancing masters still hated it; the steps were too easy to learn and the swirls and turns thought indecent. Nevertheless, and as history has often proven, popularity of the dance grew, perhaps from the controversy. It morphed from a simple country dance to a dance performed in the upper class circles of not only Austria, but then also in France and England. When the closed hold was introduced in the 1700s, clerics, dancing masters and others raged about the indecency of couples embracing each other on the dance floor, and in some cases, only married women were allowed to perform the dance. This did not check those who loved the steps, the 3/4 time, and the turns and whirls of the lilting music.

As popularity of the dance grew, many composers began to write music specifically for the dance. Some very popular and classic waltz pieces include the "Minute Waltz" by Frederic Chopin, and "The Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss. Among the composers'names written in the form of pisesi waltz or included waltz in their larger works - operas, ballets and symphonies we find the names of authors such as Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Berlioz, Liszt, Offenbach and many others.

 

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