Les étoiles d'or, No. 1 Valse

Description

Louis Gobbaerts was a nineteenth-century Belgian composer who published a great many approachable piano pieces for learners, under names including Streabbog, his surname spelt backwards. Les étoiles d'or is a set of such pieces, and this waltz is its first number. It is a typical example of salon music for playing at home.

It is in C major and 3/4. The left hand keeps up the waltz accompaniment, alternating a bass note with chords, while the right hand carries the melody above. In the data the key signature moves to G major partway through and returns to C major at the end, suggesting a middle section in the dominant. The left hand has nearly twice as many notes as the right, showing an accompaniment that marks the beat without a break. It lasts about one minute forty.

It is rated intermediate. The task is to give it a waltz feel: weight on the bass note of the first beat, lighter chords on the second and third. Use the hand colours to see the left-hand leaps, and practise the left hand alone at a reduced speed before putting the hands together. The range, G2 to E6, fits on a 61-key keyboard.

Waltzes in elegant triple time, including Chopin's concert waltzes alongside works by a range of other composers.