Eduard Strauss
Freie Lieder, Walzer, Op. 188
Arr. by CPE Strauss
My orchestration from a piano score of this waltz by Eduard Strauss.
No doubt it will attract the usual comments like “Another wonderful waltz by the great Edi, the forgotten Strauss brother who was as talented as Johann and Josef”.
I was so bored I nearly didn’t finish it, but I knew if I didn’t it would sit there in my “in progress” glaring at me until I did.
It’s not a bad waltz: it’s just predictable and forgettable. Johann’s comment that “Edi’s waltzes aren’t bad …” is telling. He didn’t say “Edi’s waltzes are very good”, although I admit Johann wasn’t the most supportive of brothers.
Predicatable :- There were only two bars I had to look at carefully to see if I’d got them right. There’s a “missing” bar in Gaudeamus Igitur in the opening and I had to make sure I hadn’t missed it out by mistake and there’s an interesting progression in a bar in the finale.
Forgettable :- I am not getting much time these days and there was a gap when I couldn’t work on this. I started where I left off, or so I thought. After a few minutes I thought it was a bit familiar. I had orchestrated that bit the previous week. Try it yourselves. Listen to it a time or two then see if you can remember any of the tunes two days later.