Stiefmütterchen

Josef Strauss

Stiefmütterchen (Pansies) Polka mazur Op.183

Josef’s speciality was the Polka-mazur (or polka-mazurka), which so ingeniously and so gracefully combines the polka step with the uneven triple-time of the mazurka. Inspired like many of his dances by a natural object, Stiefmütterchen is a characteristically attractive example, above all in its melodious anticipation of the Parisian valse lente and not least in its lingering, pastoral ending.