Schubert's Piano Dances

The early 19th century was a period when the aristocratic minuet, popular in the 18th century, gave way to the more popular and dynamic German dances and Ländler, eventually transitioning to the flamboyant waltz. Schubert's piano dances, numbering approximately 650 pieces for both two and four hands, are also preserved, primarily focusing on these triple-meter genres. Schubert also loved the waltz rhythm, which saw a boom after the Congress of Vienna (1814–15), but judging from the surviving scores, the composer used the name "Waltz" only once. From this fact, it can be inferred that the characteristics of each dance were not so clearly distinguished.

For Schubert, piano dances primarily served as background music for gatherings of close friends, creating a convivial social atmosphere. As his skill became more widely known, he increasingly had opportunities to be invited to large public dance halls to play the piano. It seems he would later transcribe into scores the pieces he particularly liked from those he improvised to suit the atmosphere of the occasion. The dances thus accumulated became, alongside his Lieder, central to his early publishing activities.

Schubert's playing of piano dances was one of the most frequently and vividly recalled scenes among the numerous testimonies of his friends. It is an interesting fact that these testimonies are concentrated from December to February. Even though it's in the south, Vienna's winters are harsh. They would gather on cold evenings to warm their bodies and spirits. There even remains a poem depicting how Schubert's improvisation on one such night healed a close friend weary of life. Such scenes form the original landscape of Schubert's music, and the dances born there sometimes developed into tightly knit cycles (collected works) imbued with spiritual drama. Robert Schumann was well aware of this characteristic. Some of Schubert's dance cycles became such tightly knit collections that they eventually led to works like the Davidsbündlertänze (1837).

Gently traversing these three domains—friendship, social interaction, and spiritual journey—Schubert's piano dances warm the hearts and bodies of people.