Welcome folks! Welcome back to a new episode of Mandolin Deep Cuts. Today we're going to explore Mozart’s Favorite Waltz. There’s just one problem: Mozart never wrote waltzes. But this tune really is by Mozart as it started life as one of his rustic German dances, But the “waltz” title and packaging came later, courtesy of 19th-century editors who were selling Mozart to a waltz-obsessed world. Let’s explore that story and this tune.
First off, here's the sheet music and such.
I haven’t yet mentioned him on the channel before, but Mozart is one of the most extraordinary composers in history. Born in Austria in 1756, he began composing at age five and then performed internationally shortly thereafter. Over the next three decades, he produced more than 600 works, including symphonies, operas, concertos, and chamber music that still define the Classical era.
Despite his genius, he was famously terrible with money and died young at 35 under somewhat mysterious circumstances. In his lifetime, it wasn’t the waltz but the minuet that ruled the ballroom. The smoother, spinning waltz style wouldn’t take over Vienna until after Mozart was gone.
Speaking of waltzes, this piece is titled Valse Favorite, so let’s explore a little more about them. I found a lot of conflicting information while researching this, but here’s the gist: the waltz is a dance in 3/4 time, and its name comes from the German word walzen, meaning “to spin” or “to roll.” That’s pretty fitting, because spinning is exactly what dancers do. When dancing a waltz, partners hold each other close, which at the time was scandalous. Early waltzes were considered lowbrow or even indecent; something for peasants rather than polite society. But when waltzes finally swept across Europe, they completely changed dance culture. I'm also not a musicologist so please excuse me if I get any details incorrect.
Mozart himself wrote many German and Country dances, intended to be popular music. While German Dances are in 3/4 time it’s not a waltz. His German Dances specifically had a lighter, more formal feel, a kind of early cousin to the waltz. This specific tune is the first dance in his 6 German Dances, listed as K 606. While this tune is not listed as a waltz originally, it was relabeled as one after Mozart’s death I believe by Charles Grobe. He also added a number of variations on the melody. Since It is often peformed as a waltz nowadays, we'll do the same. What we’re learning today is essentially a mandolin arrangement of a waltzififation of a Mozart tune. Wild. It's an incredibly common beginner tune on piano. I’ve included a few links to examples to watch and listen to in the show notes.
This piece is in the key of G, 3/4 time, although I’ve found a version in Bb major and C major. The Slurs on mandolin are often more confusing than they are worth, so I tend to remove them, and I’ve done so here. There’s a natural groove that happens with the waltz if you take it in 1, and about halfway there’s a picking pattern and pedal note that crops up completely changing the feel. If you notice that that’s the variations kicking in. I love this juxtaposition that eventually reverses itself to bring it all home though. There is a difficult measure towards the middle, at least for me anyways, with the G and D jump, but I believe in you.