Grossvater Tanz
Encyclopedia
The Grossvater Tanz is a German
dance tune from the 17th century. It is generally considered a traditional folk tune. Its real author has been claimed to be Karl Gottlieb Hering (1765–1853), but this attribution seems not to be generally supported.
It is a tripartite tune:
The first part was sung to the words:
For many years, it was regularly played and danced at the end of wedding celebrations, and became known as the Kehraus (sweep-out).
It became so associated with marriage that when Louis Spohr
wrote a Festival March for the wedding of Princess Marie of Hesse to the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen in 1825, he was required to quote
the Grossvater Tanz in it.
Robert Schumann
quoted the Grossvater Tanz in two works:
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
also quotes the tune in Act I of his ballet The Nutcracker
(1892). It appears at the end of the Christmas party. Tchaikovsky was a great admirer of Schumann's music, but it is not clear whether this was meant as some sort of tribute to Schumann or simply as an appropriate tune to use in music depicting the winding up of a happy family event.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
dance tune from the 17th century. It is generally considered a traditional folk tune. Its real author has been claimed to be Karl Gottlieb Hering (1765–1853), but this attribution seems not to be generally supported.
It is a tripartite tune:
- 8 bars in 3/8 time, Andante
- 5 bars of a different theme in 2/4 time, Allegro (repeated)
- 5 bars of a further theme, in 2/4 time, Allegro (repeated).
The first part was sung to the words:
- Und als der Grossvater die Grossmutter nahm,
- Da war der Grossvater ein Bräutigam.
For many years, it was regularly played and danced at the end of wedding celebrations, and became known as the Kehraus (sweep-out).
It became so associated with marriage that when Louis Spohr
Louis Spohr
Louis Spohr was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Born Ludewig Spohr, he is usually known by the French form of his name. Described by Dorothy Mayer as "The Forgotten Master", Spohr was once as famous as Beethoven. As a violinist, his virtuoso playing was admired by Queen Victoria...
wrote a Festival March for the wedding of Princess Marie of Hesse to the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen in 1825, he was required to quote
Musical quotation
Musical quotation is the practice of directly quoting another work in a new composition. The quotation may be from the same composer's work , or from a different composer's work ....
the Grossvater Tanz in it.
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
quoted the Grossvater Tanz in two works:
- the final section of PapillonsPapillonsPapillons, Op. 2, is a suite of piano pieces written in 1831 by Robert Schumann. Meaning 'butterflies', Papillons is meant to represent a masked ball and was inspired by the novel Flegeljahre by Jean Paul....
, Op. 2 (1831) - the final section ("Marche des Davidsbündler contre les Philistins") of CarnavalCarnaval (Schumann)Carnaval, Op. 9, is a work by Robert Schumann for piano solo, written in 1834-1835, and subtitled Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes . It consists of a collection of short pieces representing masked revelers at Carnival, a festival before Lent...
, Op. 9 (1834-35), where he labels the theme "Thème du XVIIème siècle" (Theme from the 17th century).
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
also quotes the tune in Act I of his ballet The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker
The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto is adapted from E.T.A. Hoffmann's story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King". It was given its première at the Mariinsky Theatre in St...
(1892). It appears at the end of the Christmas party. Tchaikovsky was a great admirer of Schumann's music, but it is not clear whether this was meant as some sort of tribute to Schumann or simply as an appropriate tune to use in music depicting the winding up of a happy family event.