Michael Turner’s waltz

This is the version I usually play in sessions.

This tune was in fact composed in 1788 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (KV 536, No. 2, ‘Six German Dances’)Waltz in G. It is not clear how it came to be ascribed to Michael Turner (1796-1885) of Warnham, Sussex. He was a fiddler, shoemaker, parish clerk and sexton. As well as playing for dances, he led the Warnham church band until 1847, when the it was replaced by an organ.

Church bands were common in England up to the middle of the 19th century. The musicians regularly played for dances, and their playing in church bands for choirs gave them a solid grounding in music theory and harmony, which is reflected in a lot of English dance music.

I’m indebted for much of the above information to Pete Cooper’s web page http://www.petecooper.com/eftnotes.htm#19, which contains extensive notes on the 99 English Fiddle Tunes that Pete plays solo on his CD of the same name.

There is another version of the tune on Pete Cooper’s CD as follows:

GA | B2 BD cD | d2 d2 gf | e2 e2 ge | d2 d2 GA |
B2 BD cD | d2 d2 cA | G2 G2 AB | G4 :|
|: AB | c2 cd Bc | A2 A2 Bc |d2 de cd | B2 B2 gf |
e2 e2 ge | d2 d2 GA | B2 Bc AB | G4 :|

I’ve been looking at Mozart’s original score. The tune is in fact the Trio to number 2 of the set of German dances. The scoring is for,

flautino (piccolo?), which doubles the tune played on the fiddle
2 flutes playing harmonic accompaniment
2 bassoons, ditto
1st violin (playing the tune)
2nd violin (playing an attractive running accompaniment)
cello & bass
Note that there is no viola part.

The first violin part as written by Mozart differs slightly from the version I play and the version in Pete Cooper’s book, and is,

GA | B2 B2 cA | d2 d2 gf | e2 e2 ge | d2 d2 GA |
B2 B2 cA | d2 d2 cA | G2 G2 AB | G2 z2 :|
|: AB | c2 cd Bc | A2 A2 Bc | d2 de cd | B2 B2 gf |
e2 e2 ge | d2 d2 GA | B2 bc AB | G2 z2 :||

The second violin part is well worth learning for playing along with the tune, and is,

GF | GFGDAF | BGDCB,D | CG,CDEC | B,G,B,CDF |
GFGDAF | BGDBFC | B,DBDCD | B,2 z2 :|
|: FG | AFD D DE | FGEFGA | BGD D EF | GDDC,B,D |
CG,CDEC | B,DGG,B,C | D D DE CD | B,2 z2 :||

The bowing/phrasing Mozart gives for the second violin part is mostly one bow per bar, which gives a fluid effect to the accompaniment. The way I’ve laid out spacing of the notes in the second violin part, particularly in the B-part, is intended to reflect this.

The source for the original score is,
http://dme.mozarteum.at/DME/nma/nmapub_srch.php?l=1 (an Austrian website, in German)
Key 536 in the box to the right of the one that says "KV", and follow on from there. Our tune is on a page 50.

At our tune-learning workshop the other evening our teacher taught us the second violin part by ear (this waltz is a regular item in her band’s repertoire, and she was delighted that I was able to supply that second fiddle accompaniment).
A couple of people arrived a little late and no-one thought to tell them what was being taught, so we had two fiddle players who were more than a little puzzled by this strange "tune" 🙂. However, all became clear and made sense when we finally played through the second violin part together with Michael Turner’s tune (played by our teacher). It all worked out very well and made a grand sound.
BTW, I can’t imagine many classical orchestras learning an entire piece BY EAR, with two instrumental lines playing entirely different parts, as we did, although I do know of a professional chamber ensemble which regularly plays entire concerts from memory (not the same as learning by ear, of course).

Michael Turner, 1796 - 1885, was clerk and sexton of the Parish of Warnham from 1830 to 1880. He compiled his tune books (which contained some religious music) between 1842 and 1852. In the 1982 edition of "A Sussex Tune Book" by Anne Loughran & Vic Gammon, which is Micheal Turner’s collection of secular music (and which is the main source for the information in this posting), the Waltz here is number 105 and is untitled. It is the version on Pete Cooper’s CD, referred to above.

Here are the Memorial Verses on Michael Turner’s gravestone:

His Duty done, beneath this Stone
Old Michael lies at rest,
His rustic Rig, his Song, his Jig
Were ever of the best.

With nodding Head the Choir he led,
That none should start too soon,
The Second too, he sang full true,
His Viol played the tune.

And when at last his Age had passed
One hundred less eleven,
With faithful Cling to Fiddle String,
He sang himself to Heaven.

Since playing the tune in various seshes around fests during the summer, its been pointed out to me how much the melody resembles a traditional Japanese folk song called ‘Furusato’ or ‘My Hometown’

A nice instrumental interpretation here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y-3fQ8uCVg

play video

http://vimeo.com/1998891

http://www.mjra.net/WillFly/Michael%20Turner’s%20Waltz.pdf

This ‘waltz’, German dance in 3/4 time, is a feature at a local session here in Lancashire…

http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/turner.htm

A little waltz by Bach, why not.

Isn’t this Mozart, via Michael Turner?