Københavns Jernbane-Damp-Galop (Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop)

Program notes

About the Work

The Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop is the most famous of Hans Christian Lumbye’s pictorial dances and one of the most delightful novelties in the entire light-music repertoire. Composed in 1847 to celebrate the opening of Denmark’s first railway, the line from Copenhagen to Roskilde, and first played at Tivoli three days later, it is a vivid musical portrait of a steam-train journey: programme music in miniature, written when railways were still a thrilling marvel of modernity. Lumbye, the ‘Strauss of the North,’ was a master of orchestral mimicry, and here he turns the whole orchestra into a locomotive, complete with whistles, the chuffing of the engine, and the steady acceleration and deceleration of the train. The galop’s giddy speed makes it the perfect vehicle for such effects. Its appearance at the New Year’s Concert brings a touch of Nordic wit to the Viennese morning.

What to Listen For

This is musical storytelling, so listen for the journey. The piece opens with the engine starting up (a whistle, the first puffs of steam, the gradual gathering of speed) before settling into a brisk, racing galop that depicts the train at full tilt. Note the imitations of the locomotive’s chugging rhythm in the orchestra and the whistle calls along the way, then the slowing and final hiss of brakes as the train pulls into the station. Charming, witty, and instantly evocative.