Rising lines in a Strauss waltz

Still more historical context for D779n13: Exotische Planzen, Op. 109, by Johann Strauss, sr. appeared in 1839. Like most published dance sets after about 1830, it consists of a short introduction, five waltzes, and a long coda. The set is remarkable for its focus on rising melodic gestures, beginning with the introduction, where a perfunctory bit of tonal definition (bars 1-3) promptly gives way to an extended dominant prolongation whose melodic elements keep going up:



The first waltz offers the classic play on ^5 and ^6 in its first strain, carrying the cadence up to ^7 (D#6) before "correcting" the register with an arpeggiated drop to E5. The second strain counters with a strong downward gesture from ^8. The bass in the final cadence is tailor-made for a compensating ascent (so, an overall ^8-^7-^6-^5 || ^5-^6-^7-^8) but Strauss the final notes down instead in an octaves-by-contrary-motion figure that is also a waltz cliché.


Number 2 couldn't make the ascent in the first strain any more obvious. The second strain, however, is clearly focused on G# and the expressive chromatic ascent at the end is a subordinate feature.

Number 3, on the other hand, has perhaps the most strongly emphasized final cadence gesture in the entire set.

The first strain of Number 4 balances ^3 and ^5 nicely, in the manner of many Strauss waltzes. The last phrase of the second strain involves a slightly elaborated rise from ^5.


The final waltz nearly completes the catalogue of Straussian cadence gestures -- here, ^8 is reached a bar early and ^7-^8 repeated over an emphatic V7-I.

The coda, as one would expect, is full of rising gestures because of the cliché coda cadences but also in this case because of the reprises of strains from the waltzes.

The piano edition used here is Belgian (1850?), available on IMSLP.