Arm in Arm polka-mazurka Op.215

Josef Strauss (1827-1870)

Arm in Arm polka-mazurka Op.215

If Josef Strauss had not been plagued by illness, which resulted in his death at the age of forty-three, and if he had been as ambitious as his brothers, he might well have turned out the greatest composer of the three. He might even have graduated from the ballroom to a prominent position in the concert hall. Anyway, he was a brilliant exponent of the polka, including the hybrid polka-mazurka, which ingeniously combines the polka step with the triple-time of the mazurka. Arm in Arm, which was first performed in 1867at the Sofiensaal, where Josef shared the conducting duties with his younger brother Eduard, is a fascinating example of its kind. Beginning with brief but robust echo of the last movement of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, which recurs at regular intervals throughout, it is symmetrically constructed out of four engaging tunes, including one that glides into the middle section almost in the manner of a slow waltz.