The enormously successful dance
From the Opera Burlesque
Faust Up To Date
[Wilhelm] Meyer Lutz
[1829-1903]
Piano solo
E. Ascherberg & Co.,
46 Berners Street, Oxford Street,
London
s.d. [1888]
4pp
4/-
lithographed
E A & Co 364
This sheet music with a very attractive cover was sold locally at the outlet MUSIC DEPOT, 40 Strada Mezzodi, Valletta. This was the piano solo arrangement of the dance music in the Opera Burlesque 'Faust Up To Date' by the German composer Wilhelm Meyer Lutz who early in life moved to London. The dance was apparently an 'enormous success'. So much so that the young ladies who danced it are also mentioned by name on the sheet music cover. Riding the wave of this music's popularity and that of its dancers, the composer made arrangements of it for Full Orchestra, Septet, Military Band and also Brass Band. Composers often exploited the popularity of their own music by producing different arrangements thereby making it accessible to a far wider public.
The Burlesque Opera 'Faust Up To Date' was written as a spoof of Gounod's Faust, and was first performed at the Gaiety Theatre in London on 30 October 1888.
