Valses 1

Works in dance forms, especially waltzes, must have formed an important part of the young Granados’ repertoire during the period when he worked as a café-pianist in Barcelona. Given his well-documented skill in improvisation, Granados probably improvised all or most of the music he played in these cafés, rather than performing finished compositions. If he did in fact play his own composed works, he would have been more likely to have played waltzes such as La sirena (The mermaid) or Carezza rather than sophisticated and complex compositions such as Cartas de amor (Love letters) or Valses poéticos (Poetic Waltzes). In these works Granados achieved a stylisation of the waltz-form which is imbued with his own highly personal musical idiom.

Granados’ waltzes reveal many facets of his connection to the Romantic period since they are closely related to the 19th Century Romantic ideal of the waltz as exemplified by those of Schubert and Chopin, rather than being inspired by Spanish popular themes.

It is impossible to know the specific dates of composition of Granados’ waltzes since, with the exception of Cuatro Notas (Four Notes), dated 1888, and Valse de concert (Concert Waltz), published in 1914, none of the sources are dated. However, it is virtually certain that all the waltzes were composed prior to 1900.