Waldteufel (original family surname, Lévy), (Charles-) Emile

Waldteufel (original family surname, Lévy), (Charles-) Emile, famous French conductor and composer of light music; b. Strasbourg, Dec. 9,1837; d. Paris, Feb. 12, 1915. His father, Louis (1801-84), and his brother, Leon (1832-84), were violinists and dance composers, and his mother was a pianist. In 1842 the family went to Paris, where he studied piano with his mother and then with Joseph Heyberger; subsequently, Waldteufal was an auditor in L.-A. Marmontel’s class at the Paris Cons., where he became a pupil of A. Laurent in 1853, but left before completing his courses. He became a piano tester for the manufacturer Scholtus and also taught piano and played in soirées; when he had time, Waldteufal composed dance music for Paris salons. In 1865 he became court pianist to the Empress Eugénie and in 1866 conductor of the state balls. His first waltz, “Joies et peines” which he publ. at his own expense in 1859, was an immediate success, and he became known in Paris high society. In 1867 he publ. another successful waltz, with the German title “Ver-gissmeinnicht.” Then followed a series of waltzes that established his fame as a French counterpart to Johann Strauss Jr.: “Manola” (1873), “Mon Rêve” (1877), “Pomone” (1877), “Toujours ou jamais” (1877), “Les Sirènes” (1878), “Très jolie” (1878), “Pluie de diamants” (1879), “Dolores” (1880), and the most famous of them, “Les Patineurs” (1882). His dance music symbolized the “gai Paris” of his time as fittingly as the music of Johann Strauss reflected the gaiety of old Vienna. Waldteufel lived most of his life in Paris, but he also filled conducting engagements abroad, visiting London in 1885 and Berlin in 1889.

Bibliography

A. Lamb, E. W. (1837-1915): The Parisian Waltz King (Littlehampton, 1979); J.- P. Zeder, Les W. et la valse française (Strasbourg, 1980); A. Lamb, Skaters’ Waltz: The Story of the W.s (Croydon, 1994).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire