A Raff-inspired galop

[cypressdome]

As I have been posting quite a bit of American-produced dance music from the 1870s and 1880s to IMSLP lately I ran across the following work: Galopp Raffinirt - a galop on motives of J. Raff.  Lots of dance music based on the then-popular operas and operettas (Sullivan, J. Strauss Jr., Audran, Lecocq, Suppé, and Millöcker being well represented) was produced but this seems to be rather unique among the scores I've seen.  There are just no dances based on works like Beethoven's Symphonies or Mendelssohn's Songs without Words.  There is the remote possibility the J. Raff in question is Joachim's brother Joseph Kasper Raff who was still an active composer in New York state at the time.  From what I've seen all of J.K. Raff's works were registered for copyright protection so Wiegand's publisher (Carl Fischer) would have required permission (and typically there would be a notice to that effect on the score--there isn't any).  If someone could identify the themes that would certainly solve the question of which J. Raff.  Not the weighty symphonies and concertos that typically get discussed here but for your listening enjoyment here is Wiegand's Galopp Raffinirt.  Thanks!

[eschiss1]

Goodness knows much of Joseph Joachim Raff's output   was lighter (this is not a value judgment) than his larger works.  Assuming the original theme was in F major and 2/4, maybe it's in one of his collections, and since Schäfer's book is unusually comprehensive about the contents of collection works... will have a look...

[Justin]

Very light-hearted piece which sounds American to me. Something you would hear played in a parlor in the 19th century.

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks cypressdome. Fascinating stuff. The quoted themes are definitely Joachim Raff's, not brother Kasper's, and from memory they are all from the finale of the Piano Concerto which was published in 1874, was a great hit, and I guess would have been all the rage a couple of years later when this jolly potpourri was published. What an interesting find.

[Revilod]

It's Joachim O.K. The first tune apart, they're all from the finale of Raff's piano concerto.