Anton Wallerstein

Anton Wallerstein (Dresden, 1813 – Geneva, 1892) was a German violinist and composer whose output is associated above all with light salon music. His name appears in the repertoires of the second half of the nineteenth century as the author of dance pieces of wide circulation.

He began his career as a child, at the age of nine, playing in taverns and private houses, although he also achieved a striking appearance in Berlin in 1827. In 1829 he joined the court orchestra in Dresden and in 1832 moved to Hanover as Konzertmeister. He undertook several concert tours and in 1841 gave up his permanent post to devote himself entirely to performing and composing.

He began composing around 1830. His numerous salon pieces stand out, mostly for violin and piano, and above all his dances: polkas, quadrilles and galops. Among the best known are La coquette, Rédova parisienne (1846), Studentengalopp and Erste und letzte Liebe. He also wrote some songs. His last published work, the suite Souvenir du pensionnat op. 275, comprising five contrasting dance pieces, is one of the most ambitious in his catalogue; the publication date, Leipzig circa 1877, appears in the surviving data with a question mark, so its exact publication is not known with certainty.

His legacy lies in having shaped the salon and dance repertoire of his time, with pieces designed for the amateur and the middle-class drawing room rather than the concert hall.