Cherry Blossom Waltz: A Song History
"Cherry Blossom Waltz" appears in Ellen Pratt's Ensemble Arrangements For The Mountain Dulcimer, Volume 1, a book of classical ensemble arrangements at a moderate level, with melody, harmony, bass and chord back-up parts in DAD tuning.[1] Pratt's website hosts the sheet music for the waltz as a PDF in 3/4 time, which prints the name Ellen S. Pratt beneath the title and in its page footers.[2] By contrast, a photograph of the book's Bach Minuet page on Pratt's store listing credits J. S. Bach by name, while the sources consulted here name no other composer for the waltz.[3] Pratt has played the dulcimer for more than two decades, began writing her own pieces for it around 2004, and took up ensemble writing after joining a dulcimer orchestra in northeastern Connecticut.[4]
Utagawa Toyokuni, Cherry Blossoms in the Wind, triptych of woodblock prints, ink and color on paper, late 1790s. Shown for its cherry blossoms; it has no connection to the waltz.
In 1912 the City of Tokyo, with the backing of its mayor, Yukio Ozaki, shipped 3,020 cherry trees of twelve varieties to Washington, D.C., as a gift of friendship, and on March 27 First Lady Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, planted two Yoshino cherries on the north bank of the Tidal Basin.[5] An earlier gift of 2,000 trees had reached Washington in January 1910 but failed a Department of Agriculture inspection for pests and disease, and President William Howard Taft approved its destruction by fire.[5] The National Park Service traces the National Cherry Blossom Festival to that small 1912 ceremony, though the first event under the festival name was held in 1935.[5] Nothing in the sources consulted here connects Pratt's waltz to these trees.[2]
Sources
- Ellen Pratt: "Ensemble Arrangements For The Mountain Dulcimer, Volume 1".
- Ellen S. Pratt: "Cherry Blossom Waltz" (sample ensemble piece).
- Ellen S. Pratt: "Ensemble Arrangements for Mountain Dulcimer, Volume 1".
- DulcimerDownloads: "Ellen Pratt".
- National Park Service: "History of the Cherry Trees".
- Image: Utagawa Toyokuni, Cherry Blossoms in the Wind, triptych of woodblock prints, ink and color on paper, late 1790s. The Cleveland Museum of Art.