It was at a summer gathering that the
Cachucha-Galopp was introduced in August 1837. The dance’s main theme had recently created a sensation in Vienna when danced by the celebrated dancer Fanny Elssler (1810-1884). She had made it her party piece after dancing it in the ballet
Le Diable Boiteux in Paris in 1836. A note on the galop’s original orchestral score in the collection of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna suggests that Strauss’s dance was composed an hour before the ball, written out by copyists, performed without rehearsal, and repeated three times in response to the applause it received.
from notes by Andrew Lamb © 2000
