Composed in 1824, the Six German Dances are among hundreds of such short pieces written by Schubert. Webern undertook the arranging of the Six Dances as a commission from Universal Editions. Webern¹s arrangement—unlike his arrangement of a Bach fugue that was to follow the Schubert dances—is not an interpretive one; rather, the dances remain decidedly Schubertian as Webern¹s orchestrations are an exact transcription, except that it is scored for small orchestra. Webern¹s orchestra is divided into tutti and soloists, though the tutti is used predominantly throughout the dances. Careful attention is paid to Schubert¹s melodies, but of course, Webern¹s interest is in the intervallic relationships that they consist of. He attempts to articulate Schubert¹s melodies as musical ideas, emphasizing their intervallic content and motives while retaining the integrity of the tunes. Webern described his arrangement as a work of ³unity and variety,² and Schoenberg observed that the dances are, ³astonishingly simple, stylistically uniform, and delicate like a genuine Webern.²

© All Music Guide