Piano Waltz
tagStarted c. 1820Peak 1830–1910Last big hit still active
Located in 1 route
Piano Waltz is solo keyboard music in triple meter that translates dance rotation into pianistic rubato, left-hand oom-pah-pah support, sparkling right-hand melody, and elegant lift. It can be ballroom-bright, melancholic, aristocratic, virtuosic, nostalgic, or grotesque, but its identity comes from the felt sway of three beats.
History
The waltz rose from social dance into salon and concert repertory as Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Brahms, Grieg, Ravel, Granados, and Godowsky turned dance patterns into character pieces. Chopin made the piano waltz a poetic and virtuosic miniature rather than mere dance music, while later composers used it for memory, decadence, parody, and stylized nostalgia.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Chopin: Waltz in D-flat Major, Minute Waltz — Arthur RubinsteinSpotifyYouTube
- Chopin: Waltz in E-flat Major, Grande valse brillante — Vladimir AshkenazySpotifyYouTube
- Brahms: Waltz in A-flat Major, Op. 39 No. 15 — Julius KatchenSpotifyYouTube
- Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales, I. Modéré — Pascal RogéSpotifyYouTube
- Granados: Valses poéticos — Alicia de LarrochaSpotifyYouTube
- Godowsky: Alt Wien — Earl WildSpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Grove Music Online
- David Dubal, The Art of the Piano
- Oxford Music Online
- AllMusic