Wein, Weib und Gesang

Wein, Weib und Gesang (Wine, Woman, and Song),

The waltz's admirers include the famous opera composer Richard Wagner and Strauss' good friend Johannes Brahms. There is an arrangement for piano, harmonium and string quartet by Alban Berg.

The waltz's primary home key is in E-flat major, with its introduction interpolating with B-flat major as well as B major. The first waltz melody, with its tapping quality is quintessentially Viennese in nature. Further waltz themes alternate between lush passion and good-humored cheekiness, ending with a swirling finish in the principal home key underlined by a brass fanfare and snare drumroll, as is the usual style of concluding a piece in Strauss' works dating around that period.

The title is also a German expression for having fun.

Waltz 1

References