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What era do these pieces belong to? Links are to orchestral recordings by André Rieu.

The Second Waltz

Bolero

Amazing Grace

They are neither classic nor baroque, but are they romance ?

sarah
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  • This is the link for Amazing Grace, (http://www.last.fm/music/Andr%C3%A9+Rieu/_/Amazing+Grace) I couldn't update my question because they said I'm a new fish and I can't post more than two links. –  Jan 27 '16 at 13:52
  • Have you tried googling the names and composers to see when they were written? Also, the question would be better if you include the pieces' full names and composers in the question so people can understand it without going through links. – Karen Jan 27 '16 at 14:01
  • @Karen yes I did a google search, but the thing is not if you are a composer in 1855 then you are a romance one, it is about type(kind) of music, not a specific year where in the next day, bom no romance anymore –  Jan 27 '16 at 14:09
  • Musical period is mostly objective but musical style or genre is very subjective, so it is not always possible to answer these kinds of questions. For example, regarding the second piece: "[Maurice Ravel] is often associated with impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term." Source So what style is Bolero written in? Who can say? And in the end, does it even matter? –  Jan 27 '16 at 14:30

2 Answers2

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The "Second Waltz" is an arrangement of "Waltz No. 2" (from the Jazz-Suite), composed by Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975). It is a very non-typical piece (light in tone) of him. He was a 20th century composer but this piece may be considered a pastiche on the works of Johan Strauss Jr. (1825-1899) (not to be confused with Johann Strauss (1804-1849)!) who mostly composed light classical dance music (as opposed to more serious music meant to listen to). The genre/era of these kind of waltzes is romantic.

dev1001
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    dev1001, thank you for this clarification and identification of the track. I was not able to find any liner notes from the André Rieu albums reproduced online which listed the names of composers for any of the tracks. I have edited my own answer to reflect your correction. –  Jan 28 '16 at 13:04
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The André Rieu recording entitled "Second Waltz" that you have linked to is from an album called Forever Vienna. It is a waltz, composed by Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975). It may be considered a pastiche on the works of the famous Austrian composer Johan Strauss II (1825-1899), so you could consider this a more recent piece meant to sound like something from the Romantic style period. However, as with the other pieces you are asking about, André Rieu has created his own contemporary orchestral arrangements in his own style.

"Amazing Grace" is a sacred Christian hymn which is sung by the congregation in church. It was written in 1779 by John Newton, who was English. It has become tremendously popular all over the world ever since the that time. There have been so many different arrangements and recordings in so many different musical styles that it would be impossible to list them.

A bolero, generally speaking, is a particular type of dance, and dance music. It first appeared in the late 1700s in Spain, and was also popular in Cuba. In 1928, French composer Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) wrote a long, slow orchestral piece called Bolero to accompany a ballet. The original version is about 15 minutes long. This would be considered to be in the style period referred to by some as "Post-Romantic" or "Modern" or simply "early 20th-century". On the link you have provided, André Rieu performs a much shorter arrangement of Ravel's original.