Unsung composers of dance music

[Wheesht]

I have recently come across music by the first ever (for me) composer from Luxembourg, Lou Koster. She was born in 1889 and died in 1973, but her music most certainly fits in here, IMHO. A CD with her Suite dramatique, Ouverture légère and five Waltz Suites (one from 1914, the others from the 1920s) was released by Naxos earlier this year. While the music may not be utterly memorable, it is very tuneful light music with a certain Gallic charm, and I have listened to the disc a couple of times now with ever growing pleasure.

[eschiss1]

Re Luxembourgish composers btw - see Wikipedia

[Wheesht]

Thanks - that's quite a list for such a small country...

[pcc]

Two composers who were more famous in other fields than dance music that wrote a considerable amount of it of high quality were the overture-machine Kéler Béla (1822-82) and Paul Lincke (1866-1946). Quite a few of Kéler's waltzes have recently been uploaded to IMSLP in the original Bote & Bock orchestral parts, though strangely not his most famous one, "Am schönen Rhein gedenk ich dein", op. 83; he was a catchy melodist, an excellent orchestrator, and the dances have real zip. Their occasional weakness (especially in the early ones) is tonal variety, but some of the codas are both surprising and effective. Lincke's best concert waltzes, like "Verschmähte Liebe" ("Spurned Love"), "Hochzeitsreigen" ("Wedding-Dance"), and "O Frühling, wie bist Du so schön" ("Spring, Beautiful Spring") are as good as Lehár's, and were repeatedly recorded all over the world up to the 1930s. The support and awards given Lincke by the Nazis have no doubt contributed to the relative obscurity of his compositions outside Germany to-day.

Another much more obscure Viennese theatrical composer who was a contemporary of Lehár and Lincke, Heinrich Reinhardt (1865-1922) also wrote some lovely dance music; the waltz he made from his operetta "Die Sprudelfee" ("The Spring Maid", 1909) has luscious melodies and a wonderful coda. I have the American orchestra parts and would love to hear a modern recording; Frederick Ecke conducted the Edison house orchestra in an enchanting performance in 1910 on an Amberol cylinder which is very hard to find copies of in decent condition.

And this doesn't even touch the accomplished American waltz composers like Abe Holzmann and John T. Hall, the latter having the dubious distinction of serving two years in a Federal penitentiary for mail fraud!

[TerraEpon]

Of course, Americans leaned toward marches -- you could easily put Sousa in this category (obviously not unsung) -- he in fact wrote a couple waltz suties -- and a huge heap of other composers, especially in the early 20th century.
Many of them also of course wrote rags and other more 'popular' sounding type pieces. but talking about waltzes there's even Joplin and co. (something like Harmony Club Waltz is very much in the Viennese style). Many such pieces are represented throughout the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra's discography (Holzmann included). I'll grant this might be learning away from the site's "remit" here but I do think a lot of them fit...