robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) (05/02/84)
References: The Waltz took Europe by storm pretty early in the 19th Century. For awhile it was not danced in respectable houses because of its licentiousness; that is, because the partners actually held each other while dancing. (This was certainly true in England; might be different for other countries. See the novels of Georgette Heyer for further illumination.) The Waltz is usually fast. It does not have the halfnote-sequence rhythms characteristic of the Minuet. Sometime in the 19th Century (Certainly by 1880, perhaps much earlier), the Waltz came to be played with a rhythm that is not notated but must be understood by the performers. The "oom pa pa" accompaniment on beats 1-2-3 should be played so that the chord notated on the second beat precedes the beat, and the chord notated on the third beat follows the beat. In effect, the accompaniment looks like it is written in 3/4 time, but is actually played approximately in 2/4 time (eigthnote, quarternote, eighth note; think about it). Only the accompaniment is affected; the melody is played in meter. One can find old recordings on which this "lilt" is evident. Old performers who know how to do this are getting hard to find. The lilt was probably Viennese in origin. Playing a Viennese Waltz without the lilt is like playing Jazz exactly as notated. - Toby Robison (not Robinson!) allegra!eosp1!robison decvax!ittvax!eosp1!robison princeton!eosp1!robison