The Johann Strauss (1825-1899) Edition, Volume 40 Johann Strauss II, the most famous and enduringly successful of 19th-century light music composers,...
The Johann Strauss (1825-1899)
Edition, Volume 40
Johann
Strauss II, the most famous and enduringly successful of 19th-century light
music composers, was born in Vienna on 25 October 1825. Building upon the firm
musical foundations laid by his father, Johann Strauss I (1804-1849) and Joseph
Lanner (1801-1843), the younger Johann (along with his brothers, Joseph and
Eduard) achieved so high a development of the classical Viennese waltz that it
became as much a feature of the concert hall as of the ballroom. For more than
half a century Johann II captivated not only Vienna but also the whole of
Europe and America with his abundantly tuneful waltzes, polkas, quadrilles and
marches. The thrice-married 'Waltz King' later turned his attention to the
composition of operetta, and completed 16 stage works besides more than 500
orchestral compositions - including the most famous of all waltzes, The Blue
Danube (1867). Johann Strauss II died in Vienna on 3 June 1899.
The
Marco Polo Strauss Edition is a milestone in recording history, presenting, for
the first time ever, the entire orchestral output of the 'Waltz King'. Despite
their supremely high standard of musical invention, the majority of the
compositions have never before been commercially recorded and have been
painstakingly assembled from archives around the world. All performances
featured in this series are complete and, wherever possible, the works are
played in their original instrumentation as conceived by the master
orchestrator himself, Johann Strauss II. [1]
Heimaths-Kinder. Walzer (Children of the Homeland. Waltz) op. 85
On
Sunday 15 September 1850, several Viennese newspapers carried announcements of
a remarkable event taking place the following evening, 16 September, at the
'Sperl' dance hall in the suburb of Leopoldstadt. Presented as a "Grand
National Music Prize Festival with Ball as a Finale to this Year's Summer
Season, under the title THE RETURN TO THE RESIDENCES!", the festivity
promised the participation of three competing groups of musicians from the
Austrian crownlands: for Austria, the Strauss Orchestra under Johann Strauss;
for Hungary, the band of the Prince Gustav Wasa Infantry Regiment under
bandmaster Franz Haniel; and for Bohemia, the Prague Civilian Corps of
Sharpshooters directed by Kapellmeister Pergler. Additional details were given,
for example, by Der Wanderer: "The prize is a silver cup decorated with
a laurel wreath. Herr Rabensteiner will lead the dancing. In order to avoid any
unfairness, each guest will receive upon arrival a stamped slip of paper which
he or she will fill in with the name of the musical director and place in an
urn designated for this purpose. At the appointed time, the urn will be opened
and the voting slips will be counted under supervision. The result will then be
formally announced". Elsewhere it was stated that half of the net
proceeds from the evening's entertainment would be donated to the poor of
Leopoldstadt.
A
crowd of all ages packed out the premises of the 'Sperl' for the "Grand
National Music Prize Festival": while the Strauss Orchestra played for
dancing in the upper room, Franz Haniel conducted his band in the garden and
the Sharpshooters' Corps performed in the garden salon. On 18 September 1850
the Wiener Allgerneine Theaterzeitung reported on the event, and
announced the result of the competition: "Herr Strauss won the cup with
a majority of over 400 votes, which is the number of dancers who could not
leave their Orpheus in the lurch. We grant him the prize wholeheartedly, for
indeed his waltzes, namely 'Vaterländischen' and 'Johanniskäferln', were quite
delightful; [the effect] passed to the feet and the effect of the music
on many legs is such that one believes that pine trees, rocks, soup dishes and
wash boilers are flying past one". Leaving aside the question of what
strange substances the Theaterzeitung reviewer may have inhaled, he
continued his report: "However, if we were publicly to declare
our vote, as we cast it into the urn, then the prize belongs to Kapellmeister Hanel [!], whose band of
musicians played with a virtuosity which we have met only rarely!".
Whilst
the waltz Johannis-Käferln (Glow-worms) is easily traceable as that
first performed by Strauss and his orchestra at a "Grand Viennese
Public Festival" at the Casino Zogernitz on 28 July 1850 and
subsequently published as the composer's opus 82 (see Volume 21 of this CD
series), the prize-winning Vaterländische-Walzer (Those of the
Fatherland) poses a question. No waltz by this name appears in Johann's
catalogue of published dance pieces, and yet neither Strauss nor his publisher
would have overlooked the potential afforded by such a high-profile sales
launch as the prize competition. In all probability, the answer lies in an
advertisement placed in the Wiener Zeitung on 6 February 1851. Under the
headline "Latest Dance Music for Pianoforte by Johann Strauss", the
publisher Pietro Mechetti announces the issue of five new dance pieces by the
young composer. At the top of this list is a waltz entitled Heimaths-Kinder op.
85 - yet no earlier reference to a waltz by this name appears in announcements
or reports of Johann's performances. This background detail, together with the
similarity in the ideas conveyed by the titles of the two Strauss waltzes, Vaterländische
(Those of the Fatherland) and Heimaths-Kinder (Children of the
Homeland), lead one to surmise that the two works are one and the same.
Mechetti
issued no orchestral parts for Heimaths-Kinder and no orchestral
performing material seems to have survived. For this present recording,
therefore, Professor Ludwig Babinski has arranged the waltz from the published
piano edition.
[2]
Hochzeits-Praeludium (Wedding Prelude) op. 469
In
1896 the Berlin publishing house of Bote & Bock issued the performing
material for a most unusual composition by Vienna's Waltz King. Entitled simply
Hochzeits-Praeludium (Wedding Prelude), the work is scored for organ
(harmonium), violin and harp, and bears the inscription: "Composed by
Johann Strauss and dedicated to his beloved daughter Alice". As this
first edition also makes clear, the Hochzeits-Praeludium was played for
the first time in the historic Deutsche Ritterordenskirche (Church of the
Teutonic Order of Knights), situated in Vienna's Singerstrasse, near St
Stephen's Cathedral, on 27 February 1896. On this day, Alice Elisabeth
Katharina Maria Strauss (1875-1945), Johann Strauss's stepdaughter and the only
child of his third wife, Adèle (1856-1930), by her earlier marriage to Anton
Strauss (1845-77), married the distinguished graphic artist and painter Wilhelm
Josef Franz, Marquis de Bayros (1866-1924). Bayros, who had made a name for
himself with a number of risqué pictures, provided the romanticised cover
design for the Bote & Bock printing of the Hochzeits-Praeludium (depicting
the Deutsche Ritterordenskirche and an orchestra of cherubs serenading bride
and groom) and later that year also created the cover illustration for Johann
Strauss's Deutschmeister Jubiläums-Marsch op. 470.
Alice
had asked her stepfather's friend, Johannes Brahms, to be her supporter in
church, and the German composer had initially agreed: however, as he confided
to Richard Heuberger, the prospect of having to wear a dress-suit with top hat
and white gloves later led him to reconsider, and he had to make a 'pilgrimage'
to the 'Strauss Palace' in Igelgasse in order to withdraw his promise. A note
in the parish register of marriages records the fact that Alice's marriage was
never consummated and was thus declared invalid on 24 May 1898 on the grounds
of marital incapacity on the part of her husband. (Bayros married again in
1913, and this union lasted until his death on 3 April 1924. Alice is known to
have married at least twice more before her death on 23 Apri11945, and produced
two sons.)
According
to the few reports of the wedding, the ceremony must have proceeded with plenty
of atmosphere, and the Hochzeits-Praeludium was a major contribution to
this. The Fremden-Blatt reported in its edition of 28 February 1896: "Soon
after 2:30pm the young bride, at her mother's side, the bridegroom Feri de
Bayros and the supporters, Professor Victor Tilgner and Dr Ludwig Ganghofer for
the bride, General Major Anton von Chavanne-Wöber and Privy Councillor Count
Hans Wilczek senior for the groom, as well as Johann Strauss himself, arrived
at the sacristy doors in covered carriages. While the strains of the
'Hochzeits-Praeludium', composed by the bride's father for his daughter's
marriage, were heard, the wedding procession entered the church. The pastor of
the Church of the Teutonic Order, Franz Jancar, performed the marriage.
Afterwards, the newly-weds accepted congratulations and withdrew to the
parents' home".
Since
Eduard Strauss had engaged the musicians for the playing of his brother's Hochzeits-Praeludium
at the wedding in the Deutsche Ritterordenskirche, it was entirely natural
that he should also introduce the first public performance of the piece. Thus
it was that the audience attending Eduard's afternoon concert with the Strauss
Orchestra in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein on Sunday 29 November 1896 was
treated to the delights of this charming work, played in its original
instrumentation. The leader, Herr Friedmann, played the violin part; the
Imperial-Royal Court Organist, Herr Volker, presided over the organ, and Herr
Drescher played the harp. In all probability, it was these three players who
had also performed the Hochzeits- Praeludium at Alice's wedding.
The
performance on this present recording presents the work in the edition revised
by Fritz Racek, and published by Ludwig Doblinger in 1963. This version is
based on Johann Strauss's autograph sketches for the Hochzeits-Praeludium, housed
in the collection of the Wiener Stadt- und Landesbibliothek, and exhibits only
minor departures from the original Bote & Bock edition of 18%.
[3]
Wildfeuer. Polka française (Wildfire. French polka) op. 313
The
extent to which Vienna's nineteenth-century dance music composers observed -
and astutely capitalised upon - novelties mounted at the city's theatres, is
ably demonstrated by the fact that, in the late autumn of 1866, both Johann
Strauss and his rival, Carl Michael Ziehrer (1843-1922), composed dances to
which they gave the same name: Wildfeuer.
The
impetus for their like-minded choice of title was a drama, Wildfeuer, which
had opened at the Imperial-Royal Hof-Burgtheater on 18 October 1866. The
five-act theatre piece, essentially about a girl in man's clothing, was written
by Friedrich Halm (the nom de plume of Baron Eligius von
Münch-Bellinghausen, 1806-71), the governor of the Court Library and, from 11
July 1867, director of both Court Theatres, namely the Hof-Burgtheater and the
Hof-Operntheater. Wildfeuer became the subject of discussion throughout
Austria and spawned numerous parodies on the stages of Vienna's suburban
theatres.
The
23-year-old 'Michi' Ziehrer had been the first off the blocks with his quick
polka Wildfeuer, given its première on 11 November 1866 in the
Blumen-Säle der Gartenbaugesellschaft (Floral Halls of the Horticultural
Society) on Vienna's Ringstrasse. Ziehrer dedicated his polka to Louisabeth
Roeckel (1841-1931), whose performance in the leading rôle of René many
considered a principal factor in the success of Wildfeuer. The
Weimar-born actress was a granddaughter of the skilful musician Josef August
Roeckel (1783-1870), a friend of Beethoven and the brother-in-law of Johann
Nepomuk Hummel. On Sunday 18 November 1866, just a week after Ziehrer had
unveiled his new dance piece, Johann strauss conducted the Strauss Orchestra in
the first performance of his own Wildfeuer , a French polka, at a "Novelty
Concert for the benefit of Josef and Eduard Strauss", during the
course of which the three brothers introduced the public to no less than six
new dance pieces. The Fremden-Blatt (21.11.1866) wrote of this concert,
which had taken place on another part of Vienna's Ringstrasse, in the
Imperial-Royal Volksgarten, that the Strausses' new compositions "received
tumultuous applause on the part of a numerous audience". Johann's
publisher, C.A. Spina, just managed to issue the first piano edition of the
polka Wildfeuer before the end of the year, on 31 December 1866.
Almost
two years after its first performance, Johann's polka was announced to appear
in a vocal arrangement on the programme of a charity evenil1g in the
Sofienbad-Saal on 12 October 1868 celebrating the 25th anniversary of the
Wiener Männergesang-Verein (Vienna Men's Choral Association). Entitled "Jubel-Wildfeuer"
(Jubilee Wildfire), the piece was to be sung by three members of the Association,
Messrs Henriquez, Hopp and Josef Weyl - Weyl being the lyricist of Strauss's
waltzes An der schönen blauen Donau op. 314, Wein, Weib und Gesang! op.
333 and Neu-Wien op. 342, as well as the French polka Sängerslust op.
328.
Wildfeuer,
which
immediately precedes the waltz An der schönen blauen Donau (By the
beautiful blue Danube) op. 314 in the opus listings, belongs to a period in
Strauss's career which saw some of the composer's most enduring creations for
the ballroom and concert hall, perhaps beginning in 1865 with the waltz Feuilleton
op. 293 and ending in 1870 with another waltz, Neu-Wien op. 342.
Whilst Wildfeuer itself has long since faded from concert repertoire,
its opening melody (theme 1A) was given a new lease of life by Adolf Müller junior
(1839-1901) when he included it alongside other published Strauss melodies in
his pastiche operetta Wiener Blut (1899). After eight bars of
introduction, the first melody of Wildfeuer provides the opening melody
for the Act 1 duet (No. 4) for the mannequin Pepi Pleininger and her valet
boyfriend Josef: "Wünsch' gut'n Morgen, Herr van Pepi!".
[4]
Wilhelminen-Quadrille (Wilhelmine Quadrille) op. 37
During
the Vienna Carnival of 1847, Dommayer's Casino in the suburb of Hietzing proved
an attractive venue for those respectable, and often younger, Viennese seeking
the intimate atmosphere afforded by Ferdinand Dommayer's rather small, but
tastefully decorated and well-lit premises, which further boasted an excellent
kitchen and cellar to please all but the most fastidious gourmet. The visitor
to Dommayer's Casino at this time could also be assured of excellent musical
entertainment, provided by an orchestra under the direction of the
21-year-old Johann Strauss junior, son of the Austrian Emperor's own 'Director
of Music for the Imperial-Royal Court Balls', Johann Strauss the Elder
(1804-49).
The
success enjoyed by the younger Johann at Dommayer's may be gauged from a report
in Der Wanderer on 19 January 1847, following his appearance there two
days earlier at the first of that year's 'Harmony Balls'. "The
cheerful, fresh music of Herr Strauss Son moved everyone to dance, and even
non-dancers found pleasure in listening to his beautiful melodies". Johann
presented no new compositions to his audience on this occasion, but on 4
February 1847 the newspaper Die Gegenwart was able to announce "On
Wednesday 10 February, at Dommayer's in Hietzing, Herr Webersfeld is holding a
subscription ball. Herr Kapellmeister Johann Strauss Son has taken on the
conducting of the music and, especially for this ball, has composed a new
quadrille with the title 'Wilhelminen-Quadrille"'.
With
his customary courtesy, Strauss had named his new quadrille after Wilhelmine
von Webersfeld, wife of the aristocratic dancing master Eduard Edler von
Webersfeld (1812-47) who had organised the subscription ball at Dommayer's.
Some seven months after the ball, in October 1847, Eduard von Webersfeld died.
In the dance-loving Vienna of the mid-1800s, in particular, such dancing
masters were highly respected individuals in society, their names known even to
small children: Brêtel, the Court Dancing Master; Zaccaria Sedini (1780-1862);
Franz Rabensteiner (1810-59); Adam Rabel (1800- 62) and numerous others - their
work immortalised in Strauss Father's waltz Die Tanzmeister op. 135
(1841). At the beginning of the 1840s the popularity of the frenetic galop had
given way to the delights of the more sociable quadrille, a dance style
imported from France but adapted by the Viennese who chose to dance all six
'figures', rather than the five usual in England and France. The dancing
masters were kept busy teaching this new 'rage' and the younger Johann's choice
of a quadrille as his dedication to Wilhelmine von Webersfeld was quite
deliberate. The event itself seems only to have brought in a modest profit: a report in the Wiener
Allgemeine Theaterzeitung on 4 November 1847 makes it clear that, in spite
of her husband's noble birth, Wilhelmine was left in "straitened
circumstances" and was forced to give lessons in the piano.
The
first piano edition of the Wilhelminen-Quadrille appeared from H.F.
Müller's publishing house, without dedication, in late August / early September
1847. Although the publisher later announced "correct copies" of
the orchestral parts for the quadrille, none appear to have survived. For this
present recording, therefore, Professor Ludwig Babinski has orchestrated the Wilhelminen-Quadrille
on the basis of the piano edition.
[5]
Irrlichter. Walzer (Will-o'-the-Wisps. Waltz) op. 218
An
almost supernatural element pervades the fairylike Introduction which Johann
Strauss created for his enchanting waltz Irrlichter, while his masterly
grasp of instrumentation perfectly conjures up the phenomenon known variously
as 'Will-o'-the-Wisp', 'Jack-o'-Lantern' and 'Friar's Lantern'. Yet it is the
less fanciful, Latin term - 'Ignis fatuus' (literally 'foolish fire') - that
most closely explains such apparently spectral manifestations. A
'will-o'-the-wisp' takes the form of a pale flame or phosphorescence, sometimes
seen flickering over marshy ground and, occasionally, churchyards, which is
believed to result from the spontaneous ignition of gases such as methane
(marsh gas) produced by the decomposition below water of dead plant or animal
matter. By extension, a 'will-o'-the-wisp' means a person or thing which
allures and misleads, and Johann most certainly bestowed upon his Irrlichter
an opening waltz number of the greatest allurement, in which the piccolo
continues to portray the sudden flaring of the tiny, almost ghostlike flames.
The
first mention of the waltz Irrlichter is to be found in the Wiener
Allgemeine Theaterzeitung of 22 January 1859. A brief article announces the
titles of Johann and Josefˇ¦s new dance compositions for the forthcoming festivities,
among them Johann's waltz Irrlichter for the ball of the engineering
students at Vienna University, due to be held in the Sofienbad-Saal on 31
January 1859. Since the Strausses took great pains to avoid duplicating the
titles they gave to their various dances, it is interesting to note that Irrlichter
had already been used by Josef - just seven months earlier - for a waltz he
first played on 7 June 1858 at his concert on the Vienna Wasserglacis. That
waltz promptly disappeared from concert repertoire, and no work by that title
appears in Josers list of published compositions. It remains a matter for pure
conjecture whether, for his own use, Johann later appropriated merely the title
of his brother's waltz, or whether musical elements of Josefˇ¦s dance found
their way into Johann's dedication for the engineering students.
The
differing reactions of the press to the waltz Johann presented at the
Engineering Students' Ball are noteworthy. The reporter for the Wiener
Allgemeine Theaterzeitung (4.02.1859) remarked: "Strauss inspired
the desire for dancing through his alluring and ingratiating music, and from
nine o'clock at night until early morning the parquet shuddered under the
dance-loving throng. As well as his best-loved dances Strauss also played a
waltz, 'Irrlichter', which he had composed especially for this ball festivity [and]
of which the first, third and fifth sections were best received on account
of their original and piquant melodies". The reviewer for the Fremden-Blatt
(2.02.1859) was less impressed with Johann's latest waltz offering: "Just
as the eye was delighted by the loaves of charming young ladies in elegant
attire, the ear was no less gratified by the music, conducted by Strauss. His
new waltz, however, composed especially for this ball and entitled
'Irrlichter', is not a worthy associate of his worthy compositions. In this
rather monotonous waltz, one misses the merry sounds of Viennese dance music
and receives instead, by way of a substitute, 'Reminiscences of
Tannhäuser"'.
Whether
or not echoes of Wagner's orchestral style are discernible in Irrlichter -
as they most certainly are in a number of the Strauss brothers' earlier waltzes
dating from the mid 1850s - is of little consequence, and should not be deemed
as conveying a negative aspect to this evocative work.
The
first piano edition of Irrlichter, bearing Johann's dedication to "the
Gentlemen Students of Engineering at Vienna University" and adorned
with a cover
illustration portraying the 'will-o'-the-wisps, was issued by Carl Haslinger on
12 June 1859. The waltz was among the works which Strauss took with him to
Pavlovsk that summer: he played it on a number of occasions, for the first time
at his benefit concert in the Vauxhall Pavilion on 13 August 1859 (= 1 August,
Russian calendar). The title of the waltz had a special poignancy for his
audience there, for in Russian folklore 'will-o'-the-wisps' are supposed to
represent the spirits of still-born children which flit between heaven and the
infernos of hell.
[6]
Herzenskönigin. Polka française (Queen of Hearts. French polka) op. 445
On
24 December 1892, Johann Strauss wrote to Fritz Simrock (1836-1901), his
publisher in Berlin: "The Concordia Ball will take place on 6 February
1893. This will be the first performance of the Polka française which I
shall send you in a few days, so that you can issue it in good
time".
Strauss
does not identify his composition by name in this letter, but on 2 February
1893 the Neue Freie Presse reported an "unusually brisk" demand
for tickets for the ball of the Vienna Journalists' and Authors' Association,
'Concordia', planned for 6 February in the Sofienbad-Saal. The newspaper
announced that Carl Michael Ziehrer and the k.k. Hofballmusikdirektor, Eduard
Strauss, together with their respective orchestras, had been engaged to provide
the musical entertainment, and went on to name the twelve dance novelties which
would be played for first time at the event, and which had been dedicated to
the ball-organising Committee. The list makes interesting reading: Original-Bericht,
Walzer (Joseph Bayer); Reseda, Polka-Mazur (Johann Brandl); Redactions-Geheimniss,
Walzer (Richard Heuberger); Gedenke mein, Polka-Mazurka (Karl
Komzák); Spiegl-Polka française (Eduard Kremser); Aus den Polen-Club,
Polka-Mazurka (Carl Millöcker); Geflügelte Wörte, Polka française (Adolf
Müller); Die Recensenten, Polka-Mazurka (Eduard Strauss); Sensationelles,
Polka française (Johann Strauss); Informationen, Polka schnell (Karl
Weinberger); Nächstens mehr, Polka schnell (Carl Zeller); Clubgeister,
Walzer (C.M. Ziehrer).
The
two Strauss contributions to the evening, Johann's French polka Sensationelles
and Eduard's Polka-mazurka Die Recensenten, were played by the
Strauss Orchestra under Eduard's direction. Under these titles, however,
neither work is to be found in the catalogue of published Strauss works. In
fact, both pieces did indeed appear in print, though no longer under titles
relating to the professional membership of the 'Concordia': Die Recensenten (The
Reviewers) emerged as Die Sentimentale! Polka Mazurka op. 289, while
Johann's French polka Sensationelles (Sensational) was published as Herzenskönigin
(Queen of Hearts).
There
is some doubt as to whether Simrock followed the suggestion Johann had made in
his letter and issued the Polka française - re-christened Herzenskönigin -
in time to be available for the 'Concordia' Ball on 6 February 1893. By then,
the relationship between composer and publisher had all but come to an end.
Following the dismal failure of their joint project, the comic opera Ritter
Pásmán (1892), Simrock could not decide whether to publish Johann's next
stage work, the operetta Fürstin Ninetta. Strauss had delayed only
briefly, before signing a contract for the new theatre piece with his earlier
publisher, August Cranz. As such, it was Cranz who published the separate dance
numbers which Strauss fashioned from the score of Fürstin Ninetta -
including the Ninetta Walzer, to which Cranz assigned the opus number
445. Meanwhile, it seems that Simrock had remained hesitant about publishing
Johann's polka Sensationelles. When he eventually decided to issue the
work as Herzenskönigin - a title almost certainly chosen by Simrock
himself, but for reasons unknown - he assigned the polka his next vacant opus
number - 445. Hence the unusual situation of two works by the Waltz King, the Ninetta-Walzer
and Herzenskönigin, sharing the slime opus number.
[7]
The Herald Waltz. o.op
The
American journalist, James Gordon Bennett (1795-1872), was born in Banffshire,
Scotland, and emigrated to America in 1819. For a decade he was employed on
various newspapers as correspondent and associate editor, and his articles
attracted much attention. He founded the short-lived Globe in New York
in 1832 before publishing the first issue of a small one-cent paper, the New
York Herald, on 6 May 1835. Through wisdom and diligence he made the paper
a great commercial success; in 1835, 'for example, the New York Herald published
the first Wall Street financial article to appear in any American newspaper.
When he died on 1 June 1872 he was succeeded by his son, James Gordon Bennett
(1841-1918), who assumed control of the Herald and established daily
editions of the paper in London and Paris. He it was who commissioned one of
his New York Herald correspondents, the British explorer Henry M.
Stanley (1841-1904), to find David Livingstone (1813-73) in Central Africa. In
1924 the New York Herald amalgamated with the New York Tribune to
form the New York Herald Tribune. The paper folded in 1966.
Johann
Strauss's Golden Jubilee in 1894 occasioned tributes and celebrations, not only
in Vienna, but around the world. Through the efforts of the American
impresario, conductor and composer Rudolph Aronson (1856-1919), for instance,
Strauss's admirers in America contributed to the presentation of a magnificent
and costly laurel wreath in silver and gold. In contrast, James Gordon Bennett
junior sought, and received, a unique Jubilee gift for his newspaper and
readers from Vienna's Waltz King. On 27 September 1894 Johann Strauss signed
his name below twenty-four bars of manuscript music entitled the Herald
Waltz and bearing the inscription: "Dedicated to Mr James Gordon
Bennett with the composer's compliments", and despatched it to the
offices of the New York Herald. On Sunday 14 October 1894, the day
before Strauss's actual Golden Jubilee, the New York Herald published a
facsimile of the waltz and announced, with an element of 'poetic licence': This
charming melody, composed on the eve of the Waltz King's Jubilee, will be
rendered tonight at the Academy of Music by Victor Herbert, conductor of
Gilmore's band". Gilmore's Band, otherwise known as the 22nd Regiment
Band of New York, was named after the Irish-American bandmaster Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore (1829-92),
organiser of the 1872 Boston World's Peace Jubilee and Musical Festival at
which Johann Strauss had performed.
The
Irish-born Victor Herbert (1859-1924) was then thirty-five and his first
operetta, Prince Ananias was about to be produced, but he was still a
few years away from the celebrity he was to attain in the operetta world with
works like Babes in Toyland (1903), Mlle. Modiste (1905) and Naughty
Marietta (1910). The waltz which James Gordon Bennett had received from
Strauss was written for piano and, moreover, lacked Introduction, Coda and
repeats. The choice of Herbert to prepare and orchestrate the piece for
performance could scarcely have been better: during 1880-81, Herbert had been
solo cellist in the Strauss Orchestra under Eduard Strauss, and thus had an
intimate knowledge of Strauss instrumentation. Yet, as the New York Herald (14.10.1894)
indicated, Herbert had to work through the night to prepare Strauss's "Valse
Amerique" for performance. "Mr. Herbert only received the
manuscript at half-past six o'clock last evening [13.10.1894], but with
the energy and enterprise characteristic of his predecessor, Patrick Sarsfield
Gilmore, he set to work to orchestrate the piece for tonight's concert. Few
composers in this country would have undertaken such a task at such short
notice or could have successfully carried it out". The paper
continued: "The band will rehearse the waltz this morning and this
evening it will fill the historic academy with the rhythmic melody of this new
creation of the great composer's genius".
In
its issue of the following day, 15 October 1894, the New York Herald positively
glowed with self-satisfaction in its reporting of the performance at the
Academy of Music, stating that The Herald Waltz had "made an instant success.
The graceful motive, very effectively arranged by Mr. Herbert, charmed every
one in the audience, and at the close a perfect storm of applause broke out.
The conductor bowed again and again, but the auditors were inexorable, and he
was compelled to repeat the entire number. Not even then was the audience
satisfied, but repeated its demands for more until for more until Mr. Herbert
again ascended the conductor's platform, and, for the third time, led his
excellently trained organization through the last work from the pen of a man
whose melodies have fascinated millions and whose piquant rhythms have infused
a new vitality into every dance music form. The 'Herald Waltz' is not one of
the least capitivating creations of the Viennese composer... The sweet grace of
the theme is ear haunting. It is one of those melodies that you catch yourself
humming again and again 4ter once hearing, a waltz theme that is as
characteristic and as beautiful as that of the 'Beautiful Blue Danube'. The
orchestral effect given to it by Mr. Herbert's scoring is very charming. A
short introduction that was built upon the waltz motive led into the waltz
proper, which was varied in every way that musicianly ingenuity could suggest,
an additionally piquant effect being gained by the entrance of the glockenspiel
at one part".
Assuming
it still exists, the present whereabouts of Herbert's arrangement of The
Herald Waltz, complete with Introduction, repeats, transitions and Coda, is
regrettably unknown. Nearly three-quarters of a century later, Max Schönherr
(1903-84) made a new orchestration of The Herald Waltz. This version of
the work was unveiled on 21 April 1967 in the Vienna Hofburg at a 'Ball of
Nations', a gala dance sponsored by the Vienna Press Club and various Austrian
friendship societies. It is this arrangement of The Herald Waltz which
Franz Bauer-Theussl conducts on the present recording. Perhaps to create a more
substantial piece, Schönherr's arrangement brings together two Strauss
compositions: The Herald Waltz proper provides the framework around his
orchestration of an unusual piano piece, entitled Problem, which Gustav
Lewy had published in 1893/4.
(Note:
Erich W. Engel claimed in Johann Strauss und seine Zeit (1911) that
Problem dates from Franz Liszt's visit to Vienna in January 1856: "Strauss
wagered that Liszt would not be able to determine the key of this piece from a
rendition on the piano - and he won his bet". This story, however, is
unsubstantiated.)
[8]
Ninetta-Quadrille (Ninetta Quadrille) op. 446
"An
event took place at the Theater an der Wien last Tuesday. This does not refer
to the first performance of the operetta 'Ninetta' by Strauss, but rather to
our Emperor's visit
to a première ill the suburbs. The success, for which an expensive effort was
made, was - in spite of all the 'jubilant curtain calls' - purely superficial.
Sadly, Maestro Strauss has grown old. The dazzling giant reflector of his rich
musical inventiveness is no longer functioning ˇK Rhythm alone does not make it,
but the musical ideas".
With
these words, the Viennese periodical Halls Jörgel (No. 2, 1893)
dismissed Fürstin Ninetta (Princess Ninetta), the stage work with which
Johann Strauss had returned to operetta composition following the rejection of
his grand opera Ritter Pásmán (1892) by press and public alike. Yet not
all reviewers shared the opinion of the Halls Jörgel critic, and Fürstin
Ninetta went on to register a respectable run of seventy-six performances.
Immediately after the final curtain fell on the première of the operetta on 10
January 1893, the composer was invited into the Royal Box to receive the
personal congratulations of the Austrian Emperor, Franz Josef, and subsequent
performances were graced by the presence of the Archduke Wilhelm and
Archduchess Elisabeth as well as by the widowed Archduchess Stephanie with the
Archdukes Carl Ludwig and Otto.
Among
the separate orchestral numbers which Johann arranged on melodies from
Fürstin Ninetta was the Ninetta-Quadrille. This piece appeared for the
first time on the programme of the afternoon concert which Eduard Strauss gave
with the Strauss Orchestra in the Vienna Musikverein on Sunday 19 February
1893. Johann was economical in the use of melodies from his stage work,
utilising some of the same themes in both the quadrille and the Ninetta-Marsch
(op. 447, Volume 39 of this CD series). The thematic sources of the Ninetta-Quadrille
are drawn from all three acts of the operetta, and may be summarised as
follows:
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Heimats-Kinder, Walzer, Op. 85 (orch. L. Babinski) - 9:02 
