Tanz Orchester Klaus Hallen plays The Music of Phil Collins, Elton John and Stevie Wonder

Tanzorchester (literally “dance orchestra”) denotes the German large‑ensemble tradition that provided fashionable social dance music for ballrooms, cafés, and—after 1945—radio and television. In practice it functioned as the German counterpart to the American big band, but typically with an added string choir alongside saxophone and brass sections, plus a rhythm section (piano/guitar, bass, drums). Repertoires mixed foxtrots, waltzes, tangos, rumbas and later swing, as well as arrangements of Schlager and film tunes. The format crystallised in the Weimar era and matured around Germany’s broadcasting system: house dance orchestras accompanied singers in studios, cut 78‑rpm discs, and filled daily schedules with “leichte Unterhaltung” (light entertainment). Compared with US swing bands, Tanzorchester often foregrounded lush string melodies, with reeds and brass providing riffs and countermelodies—an aesthetic that carried into postwar radio dance orchestras.