solo-mertz-rundschau1-en

In Mertz’s time it was fashionable to arrange folk songs for guitar. Giuliani picked up a couple from Scotland (Sei Arie Nazionali Scozzesi), Sor made an arrangement on Ye Banks and Braes of Bonny Doon and Mertz put a number of arrangements in his Musikalische Rundschau. This arrangement of the Irish folk song The Last […]

One of Mertz’ folk song arrangements is the Russian song Krasnyĭ sarafan, which translates as the The Red Sarafan. The composer is known as a certain Warlamoff, also known as Alexander Egorovich Varlamov (1801-1848). A Sarafan is a summer dress that was in use on the Russian countryside. The melody of the song is rather

Matraca is a folk-dance arrangement from Mertz’ collection. A Matraca is a rattle, a beloved toy for children. Obviously, it is a Spanish dance form too. The piece consists of a number of repeated lively fragments with an interesting Trio in which the rhythm takes another course.

Steyrer Heimweh is a melancholous Austrian folk melody from Styria with an atmosphere like Abschied von der Sennerin. A quiet melody that does not present a lot of technical difficulty. I guess it is a nice memory for those that went to winter sports in Austria!

Guarache is a folk-dance arrangement from Mertz’ collection. According to the subtitle, a Guarache is a Spanish dance that was also known in Naples in Italy. According to history this can be true, because Neapolitan mercenaries were active in Spain in the past, witness Sanz’ composition La Cavalleria de Napoles. Playing this dance requires some

A Polka originally comes from Poland, but this piece apparently originates from Bohemia. A joyful tempo adds swing to this piece with its repeated fragments. The notation in the last line is weird. If you are able to, you can play two same notes with fingers and thumb, but I guess in this tempo it

Abschied von der Sennerin is a folk song arrangement from Mertz’s collection. With this song I have some doubt if the arrangement is made by Mertz himself, because on the Internet I only find versions of this song after 1850, and Mertz died in 1856. One version that became popular for instance was The Switzer’s

A Zapateado is a Spanish folk dance from Andalusia, a form that is known in Flamenco as well. This version, however has a slightly different background because by the theme the piece seems to originate from the ballet La Gipsy by Thomas Ambroise (1811 -1896). The three-act ballet is based on a libretto after the