Tritsch-Tratsch Polka

If waltzes have the catchy tunes, polkas have the catchy titles - like Tritsch-Tratsch, which could well be translated as “Tittle-Tattle.” Gossip - if it is entertaining as this little item seems to be - gets round the ballroom at a tremendous speed and, nonsense though it might be, it interests a group of Hungarians in the middle no less than the Viennese in the outer sections.

Johann Strauss II

Tritsch-Tratsch (Chit-Chat): Polka, Op.214

Although the polka was almost as popular as the waltz in the 1850s and 60s, it didn’t stay in fashion for anything like as long. It was an exhilharating ballroom exercise but neither as sexy for the dancer nor as interesting for the composer. Its high-energy requirement meant that it rarely lasted longer than two or three minutes while its high-speed rhythmic activity gave the composer little opportunity to do more than put a cheerful tune to it and dress it up in colourful orchestration. Tritsch-Tratsch, which was written at the height of the polka craze in 1858, is an outstandingly brilliant example. Named after a contemporary Viennese gossip magazine, it demonstrates just how quickly and how irresistibly chit-chat or tittle-tattle can get round a crowded ballroom.