Accelerations

Johann Strauss II

Accelerationen (Accelerations) Waltz, Op.234

Tempo changes are not, by necessity, a prominent feature of the Viennese waltz. It is no doubt for that very reason, and certainly to amuse the engineering students of Vienna University at their St Valentine’s Day Ball in 1860, that Johann II defied the first law of ballroom choreography in his Accelerations Waltz. Following an introduction that is in itself a tease, the first waltz begins slowly and reaches its true tempo only gradually, as if wound up by a well-oiled rotary handle. A neat piece of engineering, it can be admired four times in all, twice near the beginning and, after an abundantly varied sequence of other waltz tunes, twice near the end.