Four Characteristic Waltzes, Op. 22

• Coleridge-Taylor composed this set in 1898 or 1899.¹
• Coleridge-Taylor composed this set while he was courting his future wife, Jessie Walmisley.²
• The composer told Walmisley that these waltzes weren’t meant for dancing, but rather as stylized explorations of waltz rhythm. The composer cited Brahms’s waltzes as an example.³

Movements

1. Valse bohémienne (Bohemian Waltz) 
2. Valse rustique (Rustic Waltz) 
3. Valse de la reine (The Queen’s Waltz) 
4. Valse mauresque (Moorish Waltz)⁴

1. Stephen Banfield and Jeremy Dibble, and Anya Laurence, “Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel,” Grove Music Online (2003), accessed July 7, 2021,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002248993. 
2. David Ades, liner notes to Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: Hiawatha Overture et al, RTE Concert Orchestra, Adrian Leaper, Marco Polo 8.223516, CD, 1995.
3. Ibid.
4. Banfield, Dibble, and Laurence, “Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel,” Grove Music Online.