Description
The piano part comes from Hans Neusiedler’s dance for vihuela, transposed for piano in its original form
and also in a slightly more “filled out” form to make it more “pianistic”.
Both versions, together with the separate melody instrument part (countermelody), are included in this pdf file.
Performers can choose how to approach it:
play just the original version with repeat to the end of the 4/4 section
or
play the original version first and then use the “filled out” version as a repeat (both 4/4 and 3/4 sections)
or
play just the “filled out” version with repeat to the end of the 4/4 section.
The title of the piece has given rise to much discussion:
The original title of this piece was “Ein welscher Tanz” (= a dance from a nearby country, possibly Italy, Switzerland or even Poland)
and also “Wascha Mesa” (possibly a corruption of the Polish words Wasze Miejsce = your place – ie a dance from your country [Poland]).
It was mistranslated as Dance of the Washerwomen (Tanz der Wäscherinnen) because of the sound of the word “Wascha”.