Hungarian Galop, Op.97

The Schönbrunn Waltz, Op.200

Like many Viennese composers of the time, Joseph Lanner fancied himself in the Hungarian idiom which, thanks to the proximity of Budapest and the presence of a large Hungarian population in the Imperial capital, was an integral part of the Viennese musical identity. He was also a specialist in the galop, the vigorous forerunner of the Parisian cancan, which achieved the height of its popularity in Viennese ballrooms in the 1830s. Lanner’s Hungarian Galops – which are part of a whole series of Italian, Spanish and English Galops – are unmistakable in their national origin, particularly this one where he celebrated the Rakoczi March ten years before Berlioz did in his now very much more familar Marche hongroise.

    Lanner’s most famous waltz also has a relationship with a later work in that its main theme, with its delicate little grace notes and repeated notes, is ingeniously (though not quite literally) echoed in a waltz episode featuring the Ballerina in Stravinsky’s ballet Petrushka. In its original setting it is just one of several themes arranged, as was the Viennese custom by now, in a sequence of waltz tunes that are briefly developed and recapitulated in a quasi-symphonic construction. Written in 1842 and named after the royal palace to the south-west of the city, The Schönbrunn Waltz is a convincing demonstration that, while Lanner might not have been capable of writing a Blue Danube, the Viennese waltz would still have become an internationally popular dance form even if the Strauss family had never existed.