Twenty‐Four Schubert Dances,

                     arranged for Piano Four Hands

These  well‐loved  pieces are offered here in new arrangements for Piano
Four Hands, for teaching or social piano  playing.   The  originals  for
piano  (two  hands)  are available from Dover, who in 1989 reprinted the
editions by Breitkopf & Härtel of 1889 and 1897.

Two dances have been chosen in each of the twelve key signatures, one in
triple  time  (a Waltz, Ländler or Deutscher) and one in duple time (an
Ãcossaise).  For four hands, most of  these  pieces  become  technically
very  easy,  in fact some of the Ãcossaises could serve as first pieces.
Musically they remain extremely rewarding, and in a  teaching  situation
offer  a  solid rhythm, a variety of moods and key‐signatures, and a joy
of music‐making which are hard to match.

With the Ãcossaises  it  was  possible  to  preserve  several  sequences
intended  by Schubert, but the order of these Waltzes is very arbitrary,
determined largely by the desire to fit two dances onto each page.

Schubert writes the Ãcossaises in  two  different  ways;  some  move  in
crochets and quavers and have eight bars per line, others in quavers and
semiquavers and have four bars per line.   The  former  should  move  at
doppio  movimiento, taking the same time overall; a good Ãcossaise tempo
would be about 108 or 112 beats (minims or chrochets) per minute.  As to
the  nuances  in  tempo  and  expression  between  Waltzes, Ländler and
Deutscher,  I  would  welcome  feedback  from  people  who  know   these
things . . .

                             Peter J Billam

                             www.pjb.com.au