Voices of Spring (Frühlingsstimmen): Waltz Op.410

Johann Strauss II (1825-1899)

Voices of Spring (Frühlingsstimmen): Waltz Op.410

The Viennese waltz, as Johann Strauss I developed it and his even more talented son Johann Strauss II perfected it, is not just a one-tune affair. Like Voices of Spring, it might consist of many as four distinct waltz-time sections in succession, each one of them based on two different themes. Clearly, as the composer of well over a hundred waltzes (not including those in his operettas), Johann II was a uniquely resourceful melodist. Written originally as a vocal piece for the coloratura soprano Bianca Bianchi, Voices of Spring was dismissed on its first performance in 1883 as “not very melodious” – which would suggest that Mme Bianchi didn’t sing it very well. Certainly, as an orchestral waltz, it is outstanding for the quality of its tunes, not least the sensitively syncopated and delicately scored first theme of the second section. Although, unlike some others among Johann II’s more ambitious waltzes, Voices of Spring has no introduction, it does have a coda to recall the vigorous opening theme and put a brilliant ending to the piece.