Memory of a ball experience

A reminder of a ball experience is an orchestral work by Hans Bund with a length of about seven minutes, which was premiered in 1939 and is often cited as an example of the musical genre of upscale light music.

The work with the subtitle "Dancer Sketch" is a character piece , as was often the case with instrumental music of this kind. The "ball experience" was an exciting term and stood for erotic memories and expectations. The piece was one of the most popular of its genre and was played very often by radio orchestras or at spa concerts until the 1960s and beyond . It is available in innumerable recordings. The National Socialists did not object to it as a jazz piece, nor could the circumstances of its creation after 1945 harm it.

The middle section after a lively introduction is a blues (indicated as Tempo di Blues ) with a pathetic climax, followed by a coda with motifs from the introduction. The blues was interpreted in more modern arrangements such as Paul Würges as "Lost Melody".

occupation

As is usual in this genre, the same work could be performed with the same orchestral parts, both with a large symphony orchestra or symphonic wind orchestra, and with a small salon orchestra . The second and possibly third wind parts could be left out without the arrangement sounding incomplete.

A set of parts with the parts of the 1st flute, 1st oboe, two clarinets, two trumpets, 1st trombone, percussion, piano, harmonium, strings (with violin obligatory ) was widely used (by Kawi-Verlag Berlin ). The piano part and the voice of the first violin are set up as director's voices in order to be able to conduct larger ensembles from these instruments. Score or piano reduction were therefore not necessary. The harmonium part was used in smaller ensembles to compensate for the missing wind parts.

The cue notes contain references to other instruments that belong to larger ensembles, such as saxophones. An execution with only strings or just two wind instruments and piano would also be conceivable. In this case, the 1st violin or the piano would have to play additional notes specified with cue notes.