My transcription of a set of manuscript parts from the Vienna Library in the Rathaus. They are not in Lanner’s hand but are contemporary and from the characteristic writing for middle strings and woodwind I judge they are from Lanner’s score.

The piece is written for small orchestra (flute, oboe, two clarinets, two horns, two trumpets, trombone, strings without cellos and a single percussionist). The parts can’t possibly have been played from. There is no sign of any “marking up”, lots of inconsistencies between parts and even the odd missing bar.

However, it is a very good waltz. It was written to celebrate the birth of Franz Josef’s daughter Sofia Dorothea and has an appropriate programme. The opening depicts the crying baby and the arrival of the Very Royal Mother. There follows the waltz which ends quietly, almost, as the baby finally goes to sleep. However, it must have taken some time as the very end shows one of the problems of trying to raise a baby in a palace.