Gold And Silver Waltz

The Austro-Hungarian composer Franz Lehár (1870–1948) was the bandmaster of the 26th regiment in Vienna when he was asked by the Princess Metternich to compose "something especially fine" for her "Gold und Silber" gala ball given on January 27, 1902, in the Sophiensäle. This commission continued an old Viennese tradition, dating back to Lanner and Johann Strauss the Elder, of the so-called "name waltz," which received its title from the important occasion at which it was premiered. The "name waltz" would be given as the first piece of the evening, an instrumental concert work to set the mood before the dancing began.