Philipp Fahrbach I
Nachtrosen, Walzer, Op. 160
Arr. CPE Strauss
My orchestration from the Spina piano score of this waltz by Philipp Fahrbach I. It dates from 1854. It’s a very good waltz. Section 4B is particularly good, although when I looked at it at first it looked repetitive and boring. Wrong again!
Fahrbach’s music is always interesting. He also puts more performance information into the score than most. There are some tempo changes in sections 2 and 3 that I would never have put in, especially since the music works perfectly well without them. Either Fahrbach is doing something unique, or everybody else did those kinds of tempo changes but did them in performance and rehearsal without writing them down. I suspect everybody did it. I’d feel very uncomfortable putting them in if the composer didn’t specifically ask for them. A bit of rubato is ok, but I think you have to know the music and style much better than I do to guess ones like those Fahrbach puts in here. It must have been interesting to dance to.