Ludwig Morelly, Lustig zum Tanze, Walzer, Arr. CPE Strauss

From www.cpestrauss.com
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My orchestration from the Witzendorf piano score of this waltz by Ludwig Morelly. It dates from the early 1860’s. It’s a perfectly pleasant, pretty, professionally written waltz of the period but it’s a bit run of the mill. There’s not much chance that you’ll remember the tunes for long after you’ve heard it. I’m struggling to do it and I have just lived with it for a week.
I did have a cynical moment, though. Morelly started his career in the 1830’s and there are a few pieces published by Diabelli then. There is a huge gap till about 1860 where he doesn’t seem to have found a publisher for his work, although he continued to write and perform successfully. Then there’s a flurry of pieces published by Witzendorf. Morelly’s brother Franz was very successful in the 1830’s and his work was published regularly until he went to Bombay to work for the British East India Company. He was a success there and wrote over two hundred works but they were not published. Franz died in 1859 and it crossed my mind that a box of good music made it’s way from Bombay to Vienna and was published under Ludwig’s name. A bit of Googling shows that Witzendorf began to publish Ludwig’s work starting in 1858 so I was doing him a disservice. Ludwig was sufficiently respected that all three Strauss brothers attended his funeral.

[@leancove9662]

Thanks for this post and the history. First time I heard something from Morelly. This waltz seems quite nice with good cord progression. To me it`s not at all run of the mill. With full orchestration ,I am sure( to my ears) it is keeping up with the likes of Labitzky and Bela Keler. Keep up the good work.

[@cpestrauss8740]

Thanks for your comment. I think it just depends on what you define as “run of the mill”. I’ve given the treatment to one waltz by each of Keler and Labitzky and neither has inspired me to seek out more.
I have got into trouble with this before by saying that I didn’t think Eduard Strauss was a great waltz composer, so here, done in about 10 minutes flat, is my categorisation of waltz composers. I’ve restricted myself to 19th century composers who, for most of their careers at least, wrote for and led dance orchestras. I also must have spent some time with at least one of their scores. Apologies if I’ve left any important ones out or if I have insulted your favourite composer. The positions are entirely subjective and boundaries are blurred.
Class 1 - People capable of writing consistently top class waltzes. If I pick up a (mature) score by any of them I would expect to see something a bit out of the ordinary. If I haven’t heard something by one of these composers recently I will play some. - Joseph Lanner, Josef Strauss, Johann Strauss II, Philipp Fahrbach I, August Lanner.
Class 2 - People who write consistently good waltzes and who occasionally pull something very good out of the bag. If a piece turns up on shuffle I will listen to it but I probably would start skipping after the second or third piece. - Johann Strauss I (but maybe due a promotion), Eduard Strauss, Ziehrer, Komzak II, Waldteufel (grudgingly!).
Class 3 - “Run of the mill”. Pretty, professionally written waltzes by someone who knows their business but just a bit samey. Probably skipped on the shuffle, unless I’m in the mood - Franz Morelly, Leopold Morelly, Gung’l, Labitzky, Keler, Faust, Johann Strauss III, Fetras, Philipp Fahrbach II.
Class 4 - The rest. If you look at the waltz category on imslp you will find 7972 waltzes, at time of writing. These are just the ones that got published and someone thought were worth uploading to imslp. Maybe we’re missing a genius but somehow I doubt it. Sturgeon’s Law states that “All things-cars, books, cheeses, hairstyles, people and pins are, to the expert and discerning eye, crud, except for the acceptable tithe which we each happen to like.” (From Theodore Sturgeon’s “On Hand: A Book”, Venture Science Fiction, September 1957, Vol. 1, No. 5, pp. 49-50). I think it’s probably an underestimate here. Just like it seems everybody today is “in a band”, in the 19th century anyone could write a waltz. Maybe.