User:Romanobella/sandbox

The original version of these waltzes (one piano-four hands) was composed in 1865 and published in 1866. Due to their popularity, Brahms later arranged them for solo piano and simplified solo piano. These two later arrangements were published in 1867.

Regarding the change of keys, in the solo piano version (the un-simplified one) Brahms made the last four pieces harder by lowering the key one half step. In the simplified solo piano version, he made the sixth piece easier by lowering the key one half step. In the original (duet) version, #14 is in A minor, and #15 is in A major.

I plan to check several other editions before recommending any actual changes to this page, but so far I have confirmed this information with the New Grove Dictionary second edition, the original Brahms scholarly edition, plus several performing editions.

Regarding changing the title to Sixteen Waltzes (Brahms), it probably isn't necessary since no other composer (that anyone has heard of) has ever used the title. "16 Waltzes" = Brahms in the same way that "32 Sonatas" = Beethoven and "48 Preludes and Fugues" = Bach. Romanobella (talk) 18:08, 9 September 2011 (UTC)