Estudiantina (Band of Students): Waltz Op.191

The Waldteufel family, which originated in Strasbourg (hence the Germanic name), occupied much the same place in Paris as the Strauss family in Vienna. Emil, by far the most accomplished composer in the family, was fashionable also in London in which city, thanks to royal patronage, he enjoyed considerable success. Estudiantina – one of the most popular of his compositions next to Les Patineurs (The Skaters’ Waltz) – follows a French convention of paying tribute to admired music by other composers. In this case Estudiantina by Waldteufel’s Parisian contemporary Paul Lacome is the brilliant main theme of a concert waltz featuring three more tunes in the then voguish Spanish idiom made to fit into waltz time.