Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald

Composed in 1868, 'Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald' (Tales from the Vienna Woods) was one of six Viennese waltzes by Johann Strauss which featured a virtuoso part for zither. The waltz's premiere that year reiterated the ascendancy that the dance had made from its humble village origins to become one of the pleasures of fashionable Viennese society, largely thanks to the performing and composing talents of the Strauss dynasty. Nevertheless, the title of Strauss' dance recalls the folk music of the inhabitants of the Vienna Woods.