Chopin revolutionized the etude – but he ennobled the waltz. He spent much time on this genre throughout his life and created a wide spectrum of forms, from virtuosic showpieces – the Grandes Valses Brillantes – to deeply melancholic atmospheric pictures. All these works have one thing in common: one cannot and should not dance to them! Our volume contains all of the waltzes that were published during Chopin’s lifetime, or posthumously, including popular masterpieces such as the so-called “Minute Waltz” (op. 64 no. 1). In cases where two authentic versions of the same waltz have been transmitted, we naturally give the Urtext of both versions.
G. Henle Publishers stands for Urtext sheet music of the highest quality. The Urtext editions not only provide the undistorted and authoritative musical text but are also aesthetically pleasing, optimised for practical use and extremely durable. And then there is the strong, distinctive blue profile: (almost) all of the Urtext editions are bound in the characteristic blue cardboard.
Musicians trust Henle's blue Urtext editions because they:
- provide an undistorted, reliable and authoritative musical text
- offer superb, aesthetically appealing music engraving
- are optimised for practical use (page turns, fingerings)
- are of high quality and durable (cover, paper, binding)
- contain a short preface that introduces the work (particularly useful for AMEB exams) in German, English and French, as well as explanatory footnotes for particularly interesting passages in the score
- contain a description of the sources, an evaluation of the sources, readings and a documentation of the corrections made (= "Critical Report") in German and English, and often also in French
