I was sent a piano score of a waltz by Albert Parlow by a correspondent. I had never heard of him. The covering email said he was famous for his Amboss Polka. I had never heard of that either.

A quick search on youtube produced a huge number of results and I have spent some time in German beer halls so I must have heard it somewhere.

I listened to as many as I could stand and I have now had counselling. It surely couldn’t be that bad!

I found an early piano score and, surprise surprise, it is mostly piano instead of the fairly uniform mf on most recordings. There are dynamic changes. There are signs that the anvil does not play throughout as on most recordings and the final few bars suggest string writing.

At the risk of the Bavarian equivalent of a fatwa, here is my version.