KN16 [Ein] Walzer für Kinder

KN16 Valse pour les enfants [1917]

Improvisée au figaro par Igor Strawinsky. Une Valse pour les petits lecteurs du “Figaro” — Walzer für Kinder für Klavier — A Waltz for children

Remarks: The Waltz was composed in Morges in 1917 and published on 21st May 1922 as a supplement included in the Parisian newspaper Figaro. Although Strawinsky’s handwritten facsimile title, Une Valse / pour les petits lecteurs du „Figaro”, appearing with central alignement between the printed title and the musical text, suggests that he had written on the piece especially for the readers of the newspaper, it had in fact been composed five years previously, presumably in connection with the studies for Les Cinq Doigts. The piece, which is 56 bars long, takes place inside a range of five notes. The treble melody is very light. In the bass is a standard Waltz ostinato. The performance duration of the work comes to 52 seconds according to Strawinsky. In his handwritten copy, he rejected the idea that the piece had in fact been improvised by him and not meticulously composed: Pas du tout improvisée, tout ce qu’il y a de plus composée! I. Str.. The publishers, Boosey & Hawkes, made a reprinting of the work in 1997 after Strawinsky’s death, featuring it as the second piece on p. 4–5 in their 11-page collection Strawinsky for piano. A collection of miniatures and arrangements for piano solo and duet (plate number: 10631). Eric Walther White had previously included a facsimile of the first printing on p. 210 of his biography of Strawinsky written in 1966. The manuscript is today located in the Paul Sacher Stiftung in Basel.

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K Cat­a­log: Anno­tated Cat­a­log of Works and Work Edi­tions of Igor Straw­in­sky till 1971, revised version 2014 and ongoing, by Hel­mut Kirch­meyer.
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