Grossvatertanz

Grossvatertanz

 

(German Grossvater, grandfather; Tanz, dance), a comic German dance accompanied by singing. The Grossvatertanz was popular in the 17th through the 19th century. It was performed at family parties, where it was a concluding dance in which everybody participated. The dance consisted of slow triple-time and fast double-time parts. The Grossvatertanz was used in Schumann’s cycles of piano pieces Papillons and Carnaval and in Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Nutcracker.