My transcription of the autograph score from the Wien Bibliothek, the first fruit of my first visit to Vienna since the Covid restrictions of 2020. It was first performed in January 1842.

It is always a pleasure and a learning experience working from these scores. The are always little touches in the orchestration that it would have been impossible for me to guess if I were orchestrating it myself.

However, I am reassured that the balance of the Lanner orchestra would sound odd today. Having four trumpets in a thirty piece orchestra is interesting in itself. Occasionally marking the trumpets fortissimo in unison when the rest of the orchestra is forte is more or less masochistic.

He hasn’t let me down with the ending. Lots of waltzes end with the same tonic/dominant thumps. If you listen to the last eight bars of any mature Lanner waltzes I don’t think you’ll find two the same. There is always something different. Typical of the composer, I think.

Unanswered questions –

What’s wrong with the oboe? Really boring part again.

Why sometimes, in a passage with four trumpets, does he sometimes miss one out for a bit, for no obvious reason?

Answered question –

Definitely valve horns by this time. Not really playable on natural horns