Franz Schubert

Waltzes and German Dances

Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven mostly wrote dance music as a commission for the court and nobility. Schubert was at the social level of the emerging bourgeoisie. His dance music was not commissioned for financial gain, at most to give occasional pleasure to his friends and society. It stems from a time when art music and light music were not yet seen as opposites; and just as many of his songs, for all their high art, became popular, none of his dances deny genuine Viennese and Austrian folklore. These two volumes (Waltzes and German Dances UT 50063 / Ländler, Ecossaises, Minuets UT 50064) contain the most beautiful and popular dances, selected from the more than twice as extensive complete oeuvre of this endearing Schubertian genre. The dances published at Schubert's time or shortly thereafter (such as the First Waltz, Last Waltz, Viennese Ladies' Country Dance or 20 Minuets etc.) have been left in their context, while the most beautiful of the smaller groups and individual pieces have been included in these two volumes. Both volumes contain a preface and critical notes. The source report published in Sämtliche Tänze für Klavier (UT 50021 /22) provides a complete overview of scholarly issues and bibliographical problems, which also include the numerous arrangements.