My orchestration from the piano score of this waltz by Carl Faust.

Some time ago I did a march and a gallop by the “Silesian Waltz King”, Carl Faust, and on the basis of those thought he deserved a little look.

Although he was very famous in his day, his work has fallen pretty much into oblivion, the Defilir March excepted. Google and Wikipedia can’t summon up a picture between them.

This is a pretty good waltz. I have no idea whether it is one of his best as there isn’t much to go on. I wouldn’t say this is a first class waltz but, to paraphrase Richard Strauss, it is a first rate, second class waltz. Many of his more celebrated contemporaries would have struggled to write a waltz as good as this. There are some nice ideas. Just a little too much “tonic/dominant/relative minor” for me and it could be more rhythmically interesting. I’m being picky though. Worth a listen, and worth looking out for another one.