[Tango-L] types of valses?

[Ilene Marder]

A friend was doing some research  and sent me this which happens to 
explain the 'boston style" vals you mentioned...
I had  not been aware of such a designation...but it is explained in the 
5th section below, from planet tango...
(what I am amzed at is Senorita Rosita Melo wrote the music for this 
classic  queen of vals when she was 14 years old!)
I.



The making of Desde El Alma
1159 	4 	  	 
1159 	5 	  	by Alberto Paz
1159 	6 	  	Edited by Valorie Hart
1159 	7 	  	 
1159 	8 	  	Rosita Melo was born in Uruguay in 1903 but she lived in 
Argentina since 1906. She wrote the music for Desde El Alma, a 
Boston-style vals, at age 14 in 1917. In 1922 she married poet Victor 
Piuma Velez who wrote the first set of lyrics for Desde El Alma.
1159 	9 	  	It was a theme dedicated to the love of a mother. In 1948, 
Homero Manzi called to tell them that he was interested in including the 
song in his movie Pobre mi madre querida, but with different lyrics as 
demanded by the movie script.
1159 	10 	  	This would not affect the copyright ownership of the song. 
Piuma Velez and Rosita Melo opposed the idea, and requested that if 
Manzi wrote new lyrics, Piuma Velez's name should be included as co-author.
1159 	11 	  	Manzi agreed, the lyrics became famous and the vals, 
already a classic became universally famous.
1159 	12 	  	The Boston-vals is a style originated in the city of that 
name in the United States. It is associated with the piano and its 
characteristic is that the player does not mark the rhythm with the left 
hand as it is customary with that instrument.
1159 	13 	  	The rhythm is marked witht he right hand along with the 
melody. The left hand only marks the first note of the beat, the bass.



anfractuoso anfractuoso wrote:

>Thank you for your reply, very interesting.
>
>However I see now that maybe I should have made it clear that I don't
>really have a problem identifying vals rhythm patterns. What I label
>as a 'vals'  commonly is written in 3/4 and has an accent only on the
>first quarter note in each measure.
>
>My question was about the actual features of a vals musical form that
>are different between the different designations of vals. Time
>signature is the most basic, as is rhythm pattern and tempo (these
>three would likely be the same for all vals subclasses); others could
>be characteristic legati or staccati of a particular instrument, or a
>particular shape and time flow of a musical phrase, or a
>characteristic beginning and/or ending, etc. etc. My other question
>was how many different vals designations do you guys know or have
>heard of?
>
>It might have been better to start with an example. The superstar of a
>tango vals called "Desde El Alma" is given as a 'Vals Boston' - anyone
>know why? What makes it so?
>
>I don't know what Java and Redova are, but mazurka does not have a
>vals rhythm pattern despite having a 3/4 time signature because the
>accent there is either on the second or third quarter note in a
>measure.
>
>Rancheras also are not really valses as they have what feels like all
>three quarter notes accentuated and are much slower. In my opinion
>anyway.
>
>Cheers!
>
>
>On 2/22/07, Tango Tango <tangotangotango at gmail.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>Most people would not consider a Boston to be part of tango and the
>>Waldteufel-waltzes Canaro recorded are really a novelty. I've never heard
>>them played at a milonga. Rodriguez recorded EVERYTHING, so he does not
>>represent a straight lineage of tango.
>>
>>To the Vals and Vals-Boston, you can add Mazurka, Java and Redova. All are
>>3/4.
>>
>>I have some Vals-Rancheras that are 3/4 and some that are 4/4 (so then is it
>>still a waltz or is it a bolero?) Some switch between 3/4 and 4/4.
>>
>>The answer to your question is: You know it when you hear it.
>>
>>-Kinda like the difference between contemporary zydeco and contemporary
>>cajun. You can't define it in terms of instrumentation or score but you hear
>>the difference immediately.
>>
>>Neil
>>
>>On 2/22/07, anfractuoso anfractuoso <anfractuoso at gmail.com> wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Hello everybody,
>>>
>>>I hope there is some interest in this, more musical, type of a question. I
>>>did try to search the archives on this subject but could not find anything
>>>useful.
>>>
>>>How many types (sub-classes) of vals exist in tango and how do they differ
>>>from each other?
>>>
>>>For example, there is "vals boston". What is it in terms of what is
>>>different from a regular vals?
>>>
>>>Some other are more obvious - e.g. "vals viennese" (my designation) is a
>>>tango vals that emulates a viennese waltz in certain characteristic
>>>features. Examples exist by the Canaro and Rodriguez orchestras.
>>>
>>>I am interested in real sub-classes of vals that one can identify based on
>>>systematic features, and I am also interested in the different sub-classes
>>>as labelled on sheet music. What I mean by this distinction is that
>>>sometimes the sheet music labels do not mean anything different, sometimes
>>>they do.
>>>      
>>>
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>