Flohwalzer


Flohwalzer is a simple piano piece, often one of the first learned because its fingering is simple and it allows beginners to perform a piece that is harmonically and rhythmically pleasing.

Music

Despite its name, the piece is not a waltz in triple meter, as it has a time signature in duple meter and is closer to a polka or galop. The composer is unknown. In a parody of musicology writing, Eric Baumann attributes the piece to Ferdinand Loh, but this is obviously a joke. The piece is notated in the identically sounding keys of F-sharp major or G-flat major, because most of the piece's notes are played on black keys in those keys, making the fingering easier.

International

The piece is known all over the world under various names:
  • In Bulgaria, it is known as .
  • In Chile, it is known as .
  • In China, it is called .
  • In the Czech Republic, it is known as .
  • In Finland, it is known as .
  • In French-speaking countries, it is known as .
  • In Hungary, it is known as .
  • In Japan, it is known as "Neko Funjatta".
  • In Korean, it is known as .
  • In Mallorca, it is known as .
  • In Mexico, it is called .
  • In the Netherlands, it is known as .
  • In Poland, it is known as .
  • In Russia, it is known as .
  • In Slovakia, it is known as .
  • In Spain, it is known as.
  • In Taiwan, it is known as .
  • In the United Kingdom, the melody is often called "Chopsticks", not to be confused with "Chopsticks" by Euphemia Allen.

    Arrangements

An elaborate variation on this piece, "Lesson One", was a hit in 1962 for pianist Russ Conway. Danish pianist Bent Fabric released a jazz-influenced version in 1963 as "Chicken Feed". The piece becomes even easier to play in piano four hands arrangements, but there are also quite virtuosic versions of such arrangements.
Swedish songwriter Thore Skogman used the piece as the basis for his 1962 song "", featuring lyrics about a man named Kalle Johansson, who gets in a love affair that involves him, his sister, and two of their neighbors.