Waldteufel Sheet Music and Biography
9 Dec 1837-12 Feb 1915
Émile Waldteufel was a French composer born on 9 December 1837. Waldteufel sheet music featured on our site includes The Skater’s Waltz.
Family
Émile was born into a musical family. His father and grandfather were musicians and his mother was a pianist, singer, and dancer.
The family moved from Strasbourg to Paris when his brother gained a place at the Paris Conservatoire.
Waldteufel’s father led his own orchestra which became quite famous. Émile himself was often invited to play.
Life and Career
Waldteufel went to the Paris Conservatoire but left prior to graduating. He earned money as a piano tuner, playing at private soirées and teaching.
In 1865 he got the position of Court Pianist to Napoleon III, which included conducting at State Balls where he used a stick rather than a violin bow!
In 1868 he married Célestine Dufau and they had three children.
After serving in the Franco-Prussian War his hometown became part of Germany and he became much more active in composition: Manolo (1873), The Skater’s (1882).
In 1874 Walteufel hugely impressed the future King Edward VII at an event playing Manolo. This lead to a long-term contract with the publisher Hopwood & Crew and his music being played at Buckingham Palace for Queen Victoria.
He became famous worldwide for writing over three hundred dances, over half of which were waltzes including The Skaters, Estudiantina, and Dolores.
Waldteufel gave concerts in Europe and prestigious events in Paris including Presidential Balls.
He retired in 1899 and died on 12 February 1915 at the age of seventy-seven.
Waldteufel Sheet Music Downloads and Further Reading
On music-scores.com we have a few arrangements of Waldteufel sheet music in PDF format for you to download.
For further reading on this composer why not take a look at Wikipedia and Britannica.
