ländler

/lent"leuhr/, n., pl. ländler, ländlers.

1. an Austrian and southern German folk dance in moderately slow triple meter, antecedent to the waltz.

2. music for this dance.

3. a piano or orchestral composition patterned after such music.

[1875-80; < G: lit., something connected with Landl (lit., little land) name for Upper Austria, where the dance first became popular; see -ER¹]

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Traditional couple dance of Austria and Bavaria.

A gliding and turning dance to music in 34 time, it was popular in the 18th–19th century in Vienna and influenced the later development of the waltz. Composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert, Anton Bruckner, and Gustav Mahler wrote ländlers and ländler-inspired works.

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▪ dance

      traditional couple dance of Bavaria and Alpine Austria. To lively music in ³/₄ time, the dancers turn under each other's arms using complicated arm and hand holds, dance back to back, and grasp each other firmly to turn around and around. These figures and the triple rhythm have appeared in turning dances characteristic of German peasant dances from the Middle Ages. Ländler melodies became fashionable in 18th- and 19th-century Vienna, and the dance greatly influenced the evolution of the waltz.

      The Ländler has many variants, among them the Steyrischer, with improvised satiric verse and syncopated hand clapping, and the Schuhplattler, a courtship dance in which the men perform exuberant, acrobatic displays, stamp their feet, slap their hands and body, and end by lifting the women high off the ground. The Schuhplattler is one of several European courtship dances, such as the Basque aurresku, the Norwegian halling, and the Ukrainian hopak, in which the men show off for their partners.

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