Waltz

• A Waltz is always in triple metre. The time signature is usually 3/4. 
• Viennese Waltzes go pretty fast - about 70 bars a minute (a bit faster than a bar a second). 
• The 'oom cha cha' rhythm is emphasised in the accompanying chords. 
• The 'oom' is stronger than the 'cha cha', so the rhythm feels more like one beat in a bar than three. 
• One note of the chord is played on the 'oom'. On the 'cha cha' the rest of the notes are played together, or the whole chord is played. 
• In performance the second beat of each bar is played slightly early. Pulling the beat about like this is called rubato - the effect in a waltz is to make it sound even livelier. 
• A Waltz has a strong clear tune, closely backed by the chords. This is called a homophonic texture. 
• The chords are pretty simple - mostly they're the primary chords I, IV and V. 
• The same chord is used for at least one bar, and sometimes two or four bars. 
• The speed of chord changes is called the harmonic rhythm. Waltz chords change slowly, so Waltzes have slow harmonic rhythm. 
• This slow, simple chord pattern can get a bit repetitive, so composers use appoggiaturas and chromatic notes to spice up their tunes. 
• The first Waltzes were written in binary form with two 8-bar repeated sections. 
• Pairs of Waltzes were grouped together to make ternary form pieces.

• Joseph Lanner
• Johann Strauss the Elder - added various bits and bob to make Waltzes longer and more complex .
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Viennese Waltzes were played by the large orchestras that were standard in the Romantic period. There is a lot of brass and woodwind, including more unusual instruments like piccolos. The percussion sections have a big variety of instruments, e.g. timpani, tambourine, triangle and snare drum. 

Waltzes got to be so popular during the nineteenth century that they spread into other types of music:

1. Waltzes crop up as dances and songs in operettas. Some of the more famous ones are by Johann Strauss the Younger (e.g. Die Fledermaus) and Gilbert and Sullivan 
2. Waltzes were so popular in the 19th century that people liked to play them at home on the piano. Chopin, Schumann, Brahms and Weber all wrote tons of Waltzes for playing at home, as well as harder virtuoso Waltzes for concert pianists. 
3. Some 19th century composers included Waltzes in their orchestral works, e.g. Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique, Tchaikovsky's 4th and 5th Symphony, and Ravel's La Valse. 
4. Tchaikovsky put Waltzes in his ballets too - Swan Lake and Sleeping beauty both include Waltz tunes.
5. In the 20th century the Waltz was used in a few musicals. There are Waltzes in Cole Porter's 'High Society' and Rogers and Hammerstein's 'The Sound Of Music'.

Listen out for:

• The 3/4 metre, fast tempo and use of rubato.
• The ‘oom-cha-cha’ accompaniment which accents the first beat of the bar.
• The scoring for symphony orchestra.
• The 4-bar balanced phrases.
• The flowing melodies.

Listen out for:

• The 3/4 metre, fast tempo and use of rubato.
• The ‘oom-cha-cha’ accompaniment which accents the first beat of the bar.
• The scoring for symphony orchestra.
• The 4-bar balanced phrases.
• The flowing melodies.