I think that endlessly circulating post that claims to present an actual performance of John Stumpâs âFaerieâs Aire and Death Waltzâ but is in fact an arrangement of âU N Owen Was Her?â, Flandre Scarletâs boss fight theme from the 2002 video game Touhou: Embodiment of Scarlet Devil has to be the iconic example of Tumblr misinformation â not because of the blatantly misidentified music, but because every so often somebody reblogs it with a long-winded explanation that no, thatâs not really John Stumpâs âFaerieâs Aire and Death Waltzâ, itâs an arrangement of âU N Owen Was Her?â, and hereâs the real âFaerieâs Aire and Death Waltzâ, followed by a link to a different arrangement of âU N Owen Was Her?â.
(For those popping up in the notes to explain that this particular bit of misinformation doesnât originate on Tumblr, yâall, I never said it did. Almost none of the misinformation thatâs popularly circulated on Tumblr actually originates here. Iâm specifically talking about the pattern of some ostensibly helpful reblogger providing an essentially complete and correct explanation of whatâs wrong with the original post and why, then proceeding to put forth a âcorrectedâ version thatâs somehow even wronger.)
Still, itâs pretty funny that this is so prevalent that most of the initial Google results have mislabeled U.N. Owen arrangements. I found a link in a comment section that lead to this, but I have no idea whether even thatâs true. Iâm inclined to believe it might be since itâs the only arrangement I found that isnât a U.N. Owen piece, but honestly I donât know anymore.
Thatâs a reasonable approximation of what the Death Waltz might sound like, if it were playable. Which it isnât â to be clear, âFaerieâs Aire and Death Waltzâ is an esoteric joke about certain conventions of musical notation that only incidentally resembles actual music. John Stump was an engraver specialising in sheet music, and he composed the Dealth Waltz as a parody of some of the odder examples of his craft that heâd encountered over the years.
Iâm told that itâs hilarious, provided you have the right sort of musical background. You can judge for yourself!
(The page has been divided into parts for easier mobile viewing. You can find it all in one piece with a quick Google search, if so inlined.)
âSaxes move downstageâ might be my favourite bit of notation.
Iâm a fan of the single measure of absolute silence with an indicated tempo of seven hundred and eighty-eight beats per minute, personally.



























