The Johann Strauss Edition Edition : Volume 49 Johann Strauss II, the most famous and enduringly successful of 19th-century light music composers,...
The Johann Strauss Edition
Edition : Volume 49
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, Josef 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 appeal of his music bridged all social
strata, and his genius was revered by such masters as Verdi, Brahms and Richard
Strauss. The thrice-married 'Waltz King' later turned his attention to the
composition of operetta, and completed 16 stage works (among them Die
Fledermaus, Eine Nacht in Venedig and Der Zigeunerbaron) 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] OVERTURE: DER
LUSTIGE KRIEG (The Merry War)
Throughout much of 1881 Vienna's pressmen enjoyed a field
day recording the various musical projects upon which Johann Strauss was
reported to be working. By no means did all these projects come to fruition:
for example, in April he was reported to have promised a ballet score for the
Hof-Operntheater and in March he was understood to have started composing an
operetta by the French librettist Néolès Alfred Hennequin (1842-87). On 16
February 1881, however, the Fremden-Blatt accurately stated that the highly
successful librettist "firm" of F. Zell (real name: Camillo Walzel,
1829-95) and Richard Genée (1823-95) had drafted a new libretto for the
composer. Indeed, Strauss had begun work on Zell and Genée's latest offering
immediately after the 150th jubilee performance of Die Fledermaus at the
Theater an der Wien on 8 February 1881, an event which the eminent conductor
and composer Hans von Bülow (1830-94) had attended as Johann's special guest.
As is clear from a report in the Fremden-Blatt on 2
July 1881, Strauss made rapid progress with the new operetta, the title of
which had been revealed in May to be Der lustige Krieg (The Merry War).
At a gathering on 30 June 1881 at Johann's country retreat in
Schonau-bei-Leobersdorf, Lower Austria, the composer was joined by Franz
Steiner (1855-1920), Director of the Theater an der Wien, and the two
librettists. Zell passed around the complete libretto, while Strauss astonished
his guests by announcing that he had already composed two acts of the operetta.
It was thereupon agreed that Der lustige Krieg would be presented as the
theatre's main attraction during its next season, probably around December
1881. Only a month after its initial report the Fremden-Blatt (3.08.1881)
announced that work on the operetta had progressed so swiftly that it was hoped
to present it during November 1881.
Rehearsals for Der lustige Krieg commenced on 31
October, and the curtain of the Theater an der Wien duly rose on the premiere
of the new three-act Strauss operetta on Friday 25 November 1881. The
performance and the work exceeded all expectation, and there was universal
praise for the cast which included Therese von Braunecker-Schäfer (as
Artemisia), Caroline Finaly (Violetta), Alexander Girardi (Marchese Filippo
Sebastiani), Ferdinand Schütz (Umberto Spinola) and Felix Schweighofer
(Balthasar Groot). The stage work is set in and around the garrisoned
Mediterranean city of Massa during the first half of the 18th century, and
concerns a dispute between two states. The 'war' between them is played out as
a game of love between, on the one side, the widowed Countess Violetta and, on
the other side, the commander-in-chief of the Genoese army, Colonel Umberto
Spinola. To add to the carefree atmosphere of this unwarlike and highly improbable
tale, there is no bloodshed among the opposing troops of Massa-Carrara and
Genoa, for there is no actual fighting in this "merry war".
Johannes Brahms (1833-97), who attended the dress rehearsal
on 24 November, enthused to the composer and critic Richard Heuberger
(1850-1914) about "all kinds of fine stuff" to be heard in Der
lustige Krieg, though strangely he could not detect one 'hit' in the score.
(Quoted from Richard Heuberger: Erinnerungen an Johannes Brahms. Edited
by Kurt Hofmann, Tutzing 1976). The reporter for the Fremden-Blatt newspaper
(26.11.1881), however, expressed no such reservations, and plundered his
lexicon for pertinent martial terms: "'The war' [= Der Krieg] to
which Johann Strauss has supplied the merry [= lustige] music, ended with
a thoroughly splendid victory and a complete triumph for the celebrated,
popular Viennese maestro. On this occasion the composer has selected the surest
weapons from the arsenal of his invention and imagination, has sent into battle
a legion of charming melodies and has totally captivated the public with them.
The public, however, was awarded a victory prize in the memory of the superb
music which will this season dominate the concert- and ball room, the
programmes of the military bands, and will be played and sung in all possible
arrangements wherever a piano is to be found ... The operetta was received
enthusiastically. Johann Strauss was greeted by a long-lasting storm of
applause, which was repeated during the overture when the first waltz [the
Act 1 Quintet, "Kommen und geh'n, ohne zu seh'n"] resounded, and
at the end of it".
As a light-hearted aside, the evening edition of the same
day's Fremden-Blatt (26.11.1881) reported that the "Kung
Fu" penny-in-the-slot machine in the Silbersaal (Silver Hall) of the
Vienna Musikverein had been asked the question: "How many times will
'Der lustige Krieg' be given?". The device had replied: "84 times!".
It was wrong: the first run of Der lustige Krieg ended on 15
February 1882, after 69 performances.
The Andantino maestoso passage which commences the
overture to Der lustige Krieg comes from the final ensemble in the Act 3
Trio (No. 18) for Violetta, Marchese Sebastiani and Umberto, "Süsse
Friedensglocken, Himmelsmelodie", heard at the eventual union of
Violetta and Umberto. For the Allegro, which presents the accompaniment
to Artemisia's words "Commandirt, instruirt hab' ich manche
Compagnie" (Act 2 Introduction, No. 8), the music is as playfully
warlike as the civilian lohann strauss could make it. A Più moto section,
untraceable in the published piano/vocal score of the operetta and possibly
comprising material discarded from the final version of the stage work, is
followed by the first waltz in the overture. For this Moderato grazioso section,
Strauss took material from what he himself considered the most valuable idea in
the operetta: the Act 1 Quintet (No. 6), "Kommen und geh'n, ohne zu
seh'n", sung by Violetta, Marchese Sebastiani, Umberto, Fortunato
Franchetti and Carlo Spinzi. A Tempo di Marcia passage which follows
features music from the Act 2 Finale (No. 14) for chorus and soloists,
commencing with the words "Der Handstreich ist gelungen". For
the second waltz theme in the overture the composer borrowed directly from the Walzertempo
dance scene in the Act 2 Finale (No. 14), before repeating the infectious Allegro
section from Act 2 ("Commandirt, instruirt hab' ich manche
Compagnie"). The Più viva and Più mosso passages draw
upon music not elsewhere traceable in the published piano/vocal score, but
which Strauss built up into the overture's effective final section.
Johann Strauss, who conducted the première of Der lustige
Krieg on 25 November 1881, was applauded tempestuously after the playing of
the overture. Just over two weeks later, on 11 December 1881, the piece
triumphed again when the composer also conducted its first concert performance
during his brother Eduard's Sunday benefit concert with the Strauss Orchestra
in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein.
NOTE: The resounding 'hit' of Der lustige Krieg, the
waltz-aria "Nur für Natur" ('Only for Nature'), does not
appear in the overture. According to the Fremden-Blatt of 26 October
1881, Strauss only composed this number for the actor and tenor Alexander
Girardi in the rôle of the Marchese Sebastiani "at the last
moment" - presumably after the overture had been completed.
[2] OVERTURE: EINE
NACHT IN VENEDIG (A Night in Venice)
The sixteen stage works which Vienna's Waltz King was to
complete were all first performed in his native city - with one exception: the
three-act comic operetta, Eine Nacht in Venedig. In contrast, this was
first produced in Berlin at the Neues Friedrich-Wilhelmstädtisches Theater (the
former Woltersdorff-Theater) on 3 October 1883. The work, which had endured a
troubled beginning was, however, ultimately a success.
Strauss had commenced work on the libretto of Venezianische
Nächte (Venetian Nights) - later re-titled Eine Nacht in Venedig -
at the request of his second wife, a young and modestly-talented singer named
Angelika Dittrich (1850-1919), who hailed from Breslau (now Wroclaw in Poland,
but at that time part of Prussian Silesia). The success of her husband's 1881
operetta, Der lustige Krieg, had made her aware of Johann's special
affinity for subjects with Italianate settings, and she urged him to accept the
new book from the experienced librettist team of F. Zell (the pseudonym of
Camillo Walzel, 1829-95) and Richard Genée (1823-95). Strauss commenced the
composition in spring 1882. Much later, however, an irritated Walzel complained
to the composer (letter dated 15 July 1886) about persistent interference from
the stage-struck 'Lili': "The time, location, characters, even the
setting for the 3rd act [St Mark's Square, Venice] were dictated to us
(likewise by Frau Lili), and it would perhaps have turned out quite
differently, if we had been able to work on our own free initiative!". But
in September 1882, while Johann Strauss was working on the score of Eine
Nacht in Venedig in Vienna and at his Lower Austrian country villa in
Schönau-bei-Leobersdorf, Lili left him and moved into the very 'home' of
Strauss's operettas in Vienna, the Theater an der Wien, as advisor and lover of
the 29-year-old director, Franz Steiner (1855-1920). Johann Strauss immediately
interrupted his work on the operetta.
Not until the beginning of 1883, with his divorce from Lili
behind him, could Johann recommence work in earnest on the composition of Eine
Nacht in Venedig.
By this time he had at his side the reliable and assured
Adèle Strauss (née Deutsch, 1856-1930), the woman who was to become his
third wife. Even before completing the operetta, Strauss had quite
understandably determined that it would not be given its première at the
Theater an der Wien: he wanted nothing more to do with Lili or Steiner. After
discussions with the rival Carl-Theater and the Hof-Operntheater foundered, it
was announced on 1 May 1883 that the stage work would open at the Neues
Friedrich-Wilhelmstädtisches Theater (the former Woltersdorff-Theater) in
Berlin. This was a perfectly logical step, since from about 1874 the director
of the newly-refurbished German theatre, Julius Fritzche (1844-1907), had
mounted several notable productions of Strauss operettas at the old
Friedrich-Wilhelmstädtisches Theater before that establishment was renovated,
renamed the Deutsches Theater and reopened as a playhouse. Adèle, who
accompanied Johann to Berlin for the rehearsals, informed their friend Josef
Priester on 20 September 1883 that the composer was "pleased with the
cast beyond his wildest expectations", though she entrusted: "But
I must tell you, in confidence, that we have every reason to be afraid of the
public's verdict with regard to the book. Not a trace of wit, still less of an
interesting situation or an absorbing plot".
On the evening of 3 October 1883, Johann Strauss presided
over the world première of Eine Nacht in Venedig at the theatre in
Berlin. As the morning edition of the Berliner Tageblatt (4.10.1883)
reported, he "was welcomed by the heartiest cheers upon his appearance
at the conductor's desk, and every lilting tune in the first act was received
with loud applause". However, as the evening progressed, Johann was
aware of increasing unrest in the auditorium, though he had no way of knowing
it was directed at the "foolishness and tediousness" of the
text rather than at his music. When in Act 3 Sigmund Steiner (1854-1909), the
Linz-bom tenor singing the rôle of the Duke of Urbino, started the "Lagunen-Walzer"
(in translation, the original text of this began: "At night upon
the lagoon ..."), and eventually arrived at the inadvertently comic
line "At night all cats are grey; at night they tenderly 'miaow'
away", the unrest turned into laughter and signalled the participation
of would-be feline impressionists among the audience. The remainder of the
performance passed without incident, and at the end there was once again
friendly applause.
A period of hurried musical and textual reworking preceded
the first Viennese performance of Eine Nacht in Venedig which, after Strauss
had relented, was scheduled for the Theater an der Wien on 9 October 1883. By
this time, however, Johann was utterly disaffected with the piece: on the first
page of the manuscript of the overture he wrote the dedication: "To my
dear brother-in-law Josef Simon as a bound stack of toilet-paper. Hope it goes
down well!". The composer's ill feeling towards the work can be
understood, but he was doing his operetta an injustice. The reviewer for Die
Presse (10.10.1883) captured the celebratory mood of the opening night in
Vienna: "A tumult of applause, lasting several minutes, greeted the
maestro who had come home from abroad. The jubilation was actually so great,
and expressed in such a noisy fashion, that one could scarcely hear the fanfare
which the orchestra had begun to play. The hurricane-like roar of applause
eventually gave way to the silence which is usual in Vienna during the
overture. It would certainly weary our readers if we were to record in detail
all the fiery ovations which were heaped on Johann Strauß this evening. We
would simply note that there was tumultuous demand for several repetitions of
almost every number in the operetta".
The overture to Eine Nacht in Venedig is a
masterpiece of variety, although it contains only a fraction of the splendid
melodies in the operetta. The opening Allegro commences with a series of
fifth leaps, a figure probably based on the beginning of Annina's Act 3
'Spottlied' (No. 16), to the words "Ein Herzog, reich und
mächtig". After a link passage, the Tempo di marcia, quasi maestoso
features music from the chorus section of the Act 2 Finale (No. 13), "Horch!
Von San Marco der Glokken geläut"', while the Allegro which
follows is untraceable in the published score and may perhaps comprise material
discarded before the Viennese production of the stage work. The Tempo di
Valse passage quotes almost complete from the duet for Annina and the Duke
in the Act 2 Finale (No. 10), commencing with the words "Ach, was ist
das?". A further link passage leads to the Andante mosso taken
from Caramello's famous 'Gondellied' (Gondola Song: "Komm' in die
Gondel") from the Act 1 Finale (No. 7a). Agricola's "So
ängstlich sind wir nicht" from Act 2 (No. 8a) provides the theme for
the Allegro moderato section, which is followed by a repeat of material
used earlier in the overture: the untraceable Allegro, the Tempo di
Valse, the Quasi maestoso and the Allegro moderato (now
marked Allegro), and these all combine to form an effective and
rhythmical conclusion to the overture.
(The above analysis is based on the definitive original
version of Eine Nacht in Venedig as established by the first performance
in Vienna, published in the Johann Strauss Gesamtausgabe (Complete
Edition), Doblinger-Universal Edition, Vienna 1970.)
After he himself had conducted the Viennese première of Eine
Nacht in Venedig on 9 October 1883, Johann Strauss left it to his brother
Eduard to introduce the first concert performance of the operetta's overture.
Eduard lost no time in scheduling the piece for his opening concert of the
1883/84 season with the Strauss Orchestra in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein
building on Sunday 14 October 1883. Moreover, Eduard took this opportunity to
play some couplets from Eine Nacht in Venedig, arranged by himself in
polka form, while the concert also featured more serious music by such
composers as Rossini (Overture: The Thieving Magpie), Mozart (Quintet
from Così fan tutte), Moszkowski (Serenata, concert piece for
piano, orchestrated by Eduard Strauss) and Charles Oberthür (Bonnie
Scotland, Fantasia on Scottish folk songs, for harp).
[3] VORSPIEL
ZUM 3.AKT DER OPERETTE EINE NACHT IN VENEDIG (Prelude to Act 3 of
the operetta A Night in Venice)
In 'Strauss circles', the major publishing event of 1970 was
the appearance of the definitive original score of Eine Nacht in Venedig, as
established at the operetta's first performance in Vienna on 9 October 1883.
Painstakingly researched by Professor Dr Fritz Racek (1911-75) on behalf of the
Johann Strauss Society of Vienna, the volume was published by Doblinger and
Universal Edition in Vienna as Volume 9 (Series II) of the Johann Strauss
Gesamtausgabe (Johann Strauss Complete Edition). With the publication of
this masterly thesis, most of the outstanding riddles concerning the genesis of
Strauss's ninth stage work appeared to have been resolved.
It is therefore understandable that the subsequent emergence
of a full score for a hitherto unknown prelude to Act 3 of Eine Nacht in
Venedig, written throughout in Johann Strauss's own hand, caused
justifiable excitement. It is apparent that this orchestral prelude - or "Entre
Akt" as the composer himself styled it - was not heard at the
operetta's première in Berlin on 3 October 1883 or at the first Viennese
production six days later. It may be assumed, therefore, that the composer
chose to drop the piece, at the latest during rehearsals for the Berlin
première at the Neues Friedrich-Wilhelmstädtisches Theater. Certainly, such
last minute excisions were commonplace, and frequently a stage work did not
achieve its final, definitive form until after a run of performances. The
reason for the specific cutting of the Act 3 "Entre Akt", however,
remains unclear.
Yet, while the extant letters written by Strauss and his
wife-to-be, Adèle (née Deutsch, 1856-1930), during the rehearsal period
offer no solution, one theory has recently been advanced by the musicologist
and noted Strauss authority, Professor Dr Eberhard Würzl (b. 1915). Following
examination of the Strauss manuscript, Professor Dr Würzl suggests that
Strauss's excision of the piece may have resulted from his recognition that the
melody of the Act 1 Quartet (No. 6a in the full score), a waltz with the words "Alle
maskiert" (Everyone masked) - which appears in the prelude after 11
bars of introduction - has already appeared a total of four times in the
operetta. In the manuscript prelude the five-part rondo form of the number has
been reduced, and the Coda has also been shortened. Nevertheless, the
composer's work is of particular value in enabling the full glory of the piece
to develop through the rich instrumentation possible in a prelude. At a recent
production of Eine Nacht in Venedig at the Vienna Volksoper, conducted
by Professor Ernst Märzendorfer, the "Entre Akt" was
interpolated into the performances and was rapturously applauded. It is,
moreover, worthy of a permanent place in the final, definitive version of
Strauss's operetta.
[4] OVERTURE: DER
ZIGEUNERBARON (The Gypsy Baron)
During November 1882, the German-Hungarian journalist and
author Ignaz Schnitzer (1839-1921) submitted an operetta libretto for Johann
Strauss's consideration. Nothing came of this particular project, but on 31
January 1883 Strauss informed Schnitzer that while he considered the plot of
the delivered libretto too "thin", he hoped to receive a more
suitable book from him.
In late November 1882 Strauss travelled to Pest (now
Budapest), where he was scheduled to conduct performances of his operetta Der
lustige Krieg (1881). His travelling companion was Adèle Strauss (née Deutsch,
1856-1930), the young widow whom he would eventually marry in 1887. According
to Adèle, it was during this journey to Pest that she urged Johann to visit the
great Hungarian writer Jókai Mór (1825-1904) to discuss the possibilities of a
stage work with an Hungarian subject. What is certain, as the Hungarian press
reported on 5 December 1882, is that the composer twice attended evening
performances of "Hungarian folk music", and himself played
Hungarian pieces at the piano during a soirée at the home of the political
representative Gusztáv von Tarnóczy (1843-1906), who was married to Ida
Gutmann, Adèle's cousin. No mention of Johann and Adèle's joint visit appeared
in either the Viennese or Hungarian press.
The early days of February 1883 found Johann once again in
Pest to conduct further performances of Der lustige Krieg: once more,
Adèle accompanied him. Strauss probably made initial contact with Jókai during
this visit, and discussed with him the possibility of a joint theatrical project.
It is known that during November 1883 - at the very latest -Strauss confirmed
his willingness to write the music for a libretto based on Jókai's novel, Saffi.
There was agreement, too, regarding the title for the planned opera (Der
Zigeunerbaron) and that Jókai would send German text in prose form to
Schnitzer in Vienna who would turn them into rhyming verse. From documentary
evidence recently uncovered by Professor Dr Eberhard Würzl for his article "Neues
zum 'Zigeunerbaron': Eine Dokumentation seiner Entstehung" (New
Information about 'Der Zigeunerbaron': A Documentation of its Genesis),
published in the Österreichische Musikzeitschrift (1995, Volume 7), it
is clear that Jókai played a far more active rôle in the development of Der
Zigeunerbaron than had hitherto been thought. He did not simply offer his
novel Saffi (together with a scenario of the first act) as the basis for
Schnitzer's libretto, but he supplied a complete libretto which Schnitzer
adapted as necessary, in consultation with the author. Jókai also created two
additional humorous characters (apparently Ottokar and Zsupán) not to be found
in his novel. Furthermore, he suggested original Hungarian musical motifs to
Strauss, including one which is to be heard in the Act 2 'Werberlied' ("Her
die Hand"). Strauss himself, it seems, only embarked upon the
composition of Der Zigeunerbaron during February 1884, even though the
Budapest press reported at this time that he had just completed the composition
of Act 1. Remarkably, the Waltz King made so little headway with the
composition that on 28 June 1884 Schnitzer wrote to Jókai: "Strauss
makes only little progress, and he does not want to commit himself to complete
the composition by the end of January [1885] ... On Wednesday I shall
visit him at his estate - if he does not give me a binding undertaking then, I
would have - though with a heavy heart - to withdraw the entire thing from him.
In this case, perhaps Suppé would do the composition; he would at all
events give us the guarantee that the first performance could take place early
in February ¡K I have told Strauss that further changes to the book will
absolutely not be made ...".
Johann Strauss worked on the score of Der Zigeunerbaron for
longer than had hitherto been his practice with stage works. During this
period, the project changed from its conception as an Hungarian comic opera
into an Austro-Hungarian operetta. At the operetta's opening night at the
Theater an der Wien on 24 October 1885, coincidentally the eve of the
composer's 60th birthday, the Viennese public was aware it had witnessed a
masterpiece. In his assessment of the "great, exceedingly splendid
triumph" achieved by Der Zigeunerbaron at its opening night,
the critic for the Fremden-Blatt (25.10.1885) observed: "The man
who for decades has delighted the music-loving world through his creations,
appears now to have reached the zenith of his creative power". The
reviewer for the Morgen-Blatt (25.10.1885) was no less impressed by what
he had witnessed: "The music by Johann Strauss brought surprises in
many respects. Firstly, it is certainly more carefully worked, more richly
instrumented and more significant in its style of construction than any of his
earlier stage works. Secondly, it makes a noticeable effort to grasp the style
of grand opera, which may perhaps have been brought about by the libretto ...
The first finale, with its great tension, the energetic build-up and the
effective use of all the colours in the musical palette, breaks out from the
artistic form of operetta and could hold its own with honour in a grand
opera".
The first-night critic for the Illustrirtes Wiener
Extrablatt (25.10.1885) sketched a colourful portrayal of the scenes inside
the Theater an der Wien: "The house was packed to the rafters and
hearts were full. The audience forgot that the evening had been bought at a
high premium, and one orgy of applause after another was celebrated. When the
maestro's head, with its black curly hair, appeared in the orchestra, the first
storm roared forth, and when the overture had finished the racket began again,
growing or subsiding according to circumstances as the action progressed ...
And the famous composer was not niggardly with his talents. He established a
flowing spring from which songs and dance tunes splash about uninterrupted and
practically submerge the libretto under music". In more succinct
terms, the Fremden-Blatt (25.10.1885) confirmed the observations of its
rival: "The tempestuous applause with which Herr Strauss was greeted,
and which broke out after every theme in the overture, repeated itself after
every vocal number".
In his biography, Johann Strauss: Ein Wiener Buch (1922),
the journalist and critic Ernst Decsey (1870-1940) gave a pertinent description
of the beginning of Strauss's Zigeunerbaron overture: "With the
first four bars the harmony of the Hungarian world rings out; there begins the
minor-key domain of syncopation, cascades of demi-semi-quavers, the pauses,
free cadenzas, the cimbalom-like sounds, rhapsodic music, the wild melancholy
of the puszta, against which the Viennese style works as a contrast. In the
overture both colours are bound together and heighten each other with a
complementary effect, like red and green. The two halves of the [Austro-Hungarian]
monarchy, ensnared in a perpetual struggle for compromise, were brought
together with effortless ease by the musician".
Strauss cornrnenced his overture for Der Zigeunerbaron with
music based on the orchestral Allegro moderato passage accompanying the
Act 1 Finale (No. 7) ensemble, "Dschingrah, Dschingrah", a
scene in which the gypsies return to their native region. A flute cadenza leads
into the Andantino section of the overture, comprising thematic material
from a later section of the Act 1 Finale, sung by Saffi to the words "Hier
in diesem Land Eure Wiege stand". By way of a lighthearted contrast,
the Allegretto moderato which follows is taken from the Act 2 Trio (No.
9) for Saffi, Czipra and Barinkay to the words "Darum nur klopfe,
klopfe, klopfe, klopfe, klopf¡¦ an jedem Stein". After a melodramatic
intermezzo (marked Più Allegro in the August Cranz published piano/vocal
score, but otherwise untraceable in the operetta), Strauss offers for the Tempo
di Valse passage the stage work's principal waltz theme from the Act 2
Finale (No. 13), "So voll Fröhlichkeit", sung first by Arsena
and Mirabella. An Allegro moderato follows which appears as an
orchestral interlude in the Act 1 Finale, and then comes a 7-bar quotation from
Count Homonay's Act 2 'Werberlied' (No. 12½, "Her die Hand"). Next
is heard a 10-bar Andantino section taken from the chorus "Das
wär kein rechter Schifferknecht" from the Act 1 Introduction (No. 1).
Strauss now reintroduces as the Tempo di Valse passage the second part
of the Act 2 Finale (No. 13) waltz ("So voll Fröhlichkeit"), sung
by Arsena and Mirabella to the words "Ja dahin, dahin lasst uns Alle
zieh'n". Gypsy rhythms dominate the final Allegro sections of
the overture, but whereas the first is nowhere traceable in the published
piano/vocal score (and may have been excised before the operetta reached
production), the second directly quotes the powerfully syncopated orchestral Allegro
passage which closes the Act 1 Finale (No. 7).
After the composer himself had presided over the world
première performance of his overture to Der Zigeunerbaron at the stage
work's opening night on 24 October 1885 at the Theater an der Wien, he left it
to his brother Eduard to conduct the first concert performance of the piece.
Accordingly, Eduard featured the overture as the closing item in the first half
of his afternoon concert in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein on Sunday
8 November 1885. There are no press reviews of this performance, but the
overture to Der Zigeunerbaron swiftly became a staple of Viennese
concert repertoire and has justifiably remained so to the present day.
[5] OVERTURE:
SIMPLICIUS (Simplicius)
In mid February 1887 Vienna's press broke the news that
Johann Strauss had chosen a libretto by Victor Léon (the nom de plume of
Viktor Hirschfeld, 1858-1940) as the subject for his next operetta project. The
young, and at that time relatively untried, Viennese writer later recalled in
an article for the Wiener Tagblatt (26.08.1928) that Strauss's friend
and billiard-partner, Josef Priester (1836-1904), had been the first to propose
he write a book for Johann Strauss. Understandably taken aback by this
unexpected approach, the librettist of the successful operetta Der
Doppelgiinger (The Double, 1887) for Alfred Zamara (1863-1940) responded to
the challenge by offering Strauss the libretto for Simplicius
Simplizissimus. Although Johann had made no secret of his desire to compose
a stage work "with a German subject" and considered Léon's
adaptation of H.J.C. von Grimmelshausen's novel, Der abenteuerliche Simplicissimus
(Adventurous simplicissimus, 1669), "the most outstanding of all
books of modern times" (letter to Gustav Lewy , circa 1.07.1887), the
resulting operetta, called Simplicius, was not crowned by the success
which his best efforts - nor the presence of Alexander Girardi (1850-1918) in
the rôle of the hero, simplicius - really deserved.
It hardly helped that on the night of the première, 17
December 1887, the audience at the Theater an der Wien was unsettled by a minor
alarm on stage when an actor's feather plume touched a gas flame, and instantly
re-awoke memories of the fire that had raged through Vienna's Ring-Theater six
years earlier, claiming 386 lives. Once the capacity house had again settled,
there was little light relief to be gained from this ponderous tale set at the
time of the Thirty Years War, and even Johann Strauss's exquisite score could
not secure for the work a run of more than 29 performances. (Two subsequent
revivals of Simplicius, in 1888 and 1894, fared even less well.) The 'gentlemen
of the press' were, for once, generally united in recognising the shift in
emphasis in the new Strauss stage work towards a more serious musical style. "Opera
or operetta?" was the question posed by Oskar Teuber in the Fremden-Blatt
on 18 December 1887, his uncertainty echoed by the reviewer for the Allgemeine
Zeitung (21.12.1887) who observed that the music "varies between
operetta and opera: the composer has somewhat too hastily burned behind
him the bridge which took him out of the realm of operetta, and because he
lacks the ability to throw a bridge across to opera, he sits between the two
stools - neither flesh nor fish".
Simplicius was to prove the last of Johann Strauss's
stage work premières to be conducted by the composer himself. A capacity house,
which included Archduke Wilhelm (1827-94) and Archduchess Elisabeth Marie
(1883-1963, daughter of Crown Prince Rudolf and Crown Princess Stephanie) in
the Imperial box, greeted the Viennese maestro enthusiastically upon his
appearance at the conductor's desk. Referring to the score of the new work, the
Wiener Tagblatt (18.12.1887) considered that "the music of our
worthy Strauss constitutes an impressive climax to his creative powers". Yet,
for all the many fine musical moments the stage work possesses, its overture
lacks the unity of other Strauss operetta overtures. With its quiet, almost
gloomy opening, it evokes a mood which is more to be expected in the opera
house than in the Theater an der Wien. (After the first performance of Simplicius,
the composer was accused of obvious 'Wagnerisms'. Such claims by, for
example, the Illustrirtes Wiener Extrablatt (23.12.1887), were indeed
justifiable, for the stage works of Richard Wagner always had a special
significance for Johann Strauss.)
The Simplicius Overture opens exactly as the Act 1
'Introduction' (No. 1) of the operetta, with 14 bars Allegro moderato. The
remainder of this opening section, though specifically untraceable, presents
material reminiscent of other motifs in No. 1. After a short fanfare comes a Marcia
passage, which appears here in 2/4 time but is played in the operetta as an
orchestral interlude in common time during the Act 1 Finale (No. 10). The next
section of the overture comprises a series of alternating 6/8 and 2/4 bars, which
are untraceable in the published piano/vocal score and may constitute material
excised from the operetta before its opening night. The Act 3 'Walzer-Romanze'
(No. 12) "Ich denke gem zurück", sung by the Hermit, provides
the music for an Andante passage, played first staccato in 2/4
and then in waltz time. This melody, which later formed theme 1A of Strauss's
orchestral Donauweibchen-WaIzer op. 427 (Volume 11 of this CD series),
was also used as the final ensemble (No. 17, 'Schluss') of the operetta simplicius.
A repeat of the alternating 6/8 and 2/4 section leads to an excerpt from
the Act 2 'Introduction' (No. 6), sung by the chorus to the words "soldatenhandwerk,
schönstes auf der ganzen Welt". To close the overture, Strauss
utilises an Allegro vivace and Più allegro, which build from pianissimo
to a final fortissimo flourish.
(NOTE: The aforegoing analysis of the overture is based on
the piano/vocal score of Simplicius, issued by the August Cranz
publishing house in Hamburg. As this score describes the stage work as an "Operetta
in 3 Acts" - rather than an "Operetta in a Prelude and
2 Acts" as shown on the first night playbill - Act 1 should be
understood as synonymous with the Prelude.)
The first concert performance of the Simplicius Overture
- described on the printed programme as the "Introduction to the
operetta 'Simplicius'" - took place in the Golden Hall of the Vienna
Musikverein on St Stephen's Day, Monday 26 December 1887. This festive occasion
also afforded Eduard Strauss and the Strauss Orchestra the opportunity to
include the first performance of an orchestral transcription (flugelhorn solo:
Herr Birnbaum) of another piece from Simplicius: the "Frühlingslied"
('Spring Song'), "Der Frühling lacht" (No. 12½ in the
published piano/vocal score), sung in the operetta by Karl Streitmann
(1858-1937) in the rôle of the law student, Arnim. Subsequent performances of
the Simplicius Overture became less and less frequent, and eventually
the work was almost forgotten.
[6] VORSPIEL ZUM
3.AKT DER OPERETTE JABUKA
(Prelude to Act 3 of the
operetta Jabuka)
"Storms of applause, which vibrated through the
house for minutes on end, shouts of
'encore' which could not be silenced, acclamations,
floral bouquets, laurel wreaths, rejoicing from a thousand voices and - tears,
tears of joy which glittered in the eyes of so many beautiful Viennese women,
when the maestro, whose day of glory had come, appeared on the stage for the
first time - those were the manifestations with which yesterday's theatrical
event, the première of the operetta 'Jabuka', took place".
With these words, the critic for the Vienna Fremden-Blatt
(13.10.1894) commenced his review of the opening night of Jabuka (Das
Apfelfest) - Jabuka (The Apple Festival) - at the Theater an der Wien on 12
October 1894. Adolf Müller junior (1839-1901) conducted the première, and the
performance signalled the beginning of a whole series of festive events to mark
the Waltz King's Golden Jubilee as composer and conductor. Fifty years earlier,
on 15 October 1844, the 18-year-old Johann Strauss had stood for the first time
in public at the head of his own orchestra for a soirée dansante at
Dommayer's Casino in the Viennese suburb of Hietzing.
Jabuka (originally entitled Joschko, after one
of the principal characters in the operetta) is set in late 19th-century
Serbian south-Hungary and concerns itself with events surrounding the
traditional Serbian 'Festival of Apples'. The librettists of the piece, the
authors Max Kalbeck (1850-1921) and Gustav Davis (the pseudonym of Gustav
David, 1856-1951), fashioned a story with a Slavic backdrop at the specific
instigation of Strauss himself. In voicing his request, Johann recalled not
only the success enjoyed in Vienna by Smetana's opera Die verkaufte Braut (The
Bartered Bride) in 1892, but also the part Slavic music had played during his
own early years as a Kapellmeister and during his frequent summer seasons
conducting in Russia. Johann's two librettists were of a high pedigree. Kalbeck
was a skilled translator of foreign language operas and, besides providing the Jabuka
song-texts, was also able to draw Johann's attention to a Serbian national
melody which was to find its place in the' Apfellied' (Act 2 Finale). Davis,
formerly an officer in the Austrian army and editor of a military journal, was
a successful author of stage comedies who concentrated on the plot and the
prose dialogue of the new operetta. Despite this, Jabuka suffered at
their hands through their inadequate communication with each other, and with
the composer. The jubilation of the audience which had marked the opening
night, and which was manifestly directed at the composer himself, could not be
sustained and, after only a short initial run, the operetta was taken out of
the schedule of the Theater an der Wien.
Jabuka has no overture, but instead commences with a
very brief prelude. Following the operetta's première, however, it was
principally the atmospheric prelude to Act 3 (No. 13a) that was played in the
concert halls. Several journalists reviewing the first night of the operetta
regarded this orchestral interlude (termed "Entre Akt" in the
published piano/vocal score) as a highlight of the score. The critic for the Neue
Freie Presse (13.10.1894), for example, observed: "Remarkably, an
instrumental piece in the Strauss operetta made an absolutely thrilling
impression: the orchestral prelude to the third Act, starting off in
waltz-time, exhibits uncommonly tender feeling and overflows with melodic
sweetness. The audience could not hear enough of this entr'acte music, and it
had to be repeated: everyone thought instinctively of the dazzling success
which Mascagni's Intermezzo enjoyed at the first performance [20.03.1891] of
'Cavalleria rusticana' in our [Court] Opera Theatre". Strauss
assembled the prelude entirely from music in the Act 3 Quartet (No. 17) for
Jelka, Mirko, Anitta and Vasil. The first of the themes (Andante con moto) in
polka-mazurka rhythm, "Siehe die Sonne verglüh'n in Pracht!", was
also used as theme 1A for the orchestral polka-mazurka Sonnenblume op.
459 (volume 37 of this CD series). The second part of the prelude, played in
waltz time, is to be found in the quartet in 6/8 time with the words "Ich
bin dir gut seit ich dich sah", and this theme gave the title and
theme 1A to the orchestral waltz Ich bin dir gut! op. 455 (volume 32).
On Sunday 28 October 1894, the Fremden-Blatt newspaper
carried an advertisement announcing a concert that same day in the
Gartenbau-Restaurant (situated in the buildings of the Vienna
Gartenbau-Gesellschaft at Parkring 12), given by the conductor Carl Wilhelm
Drescher (1850-1925) and his civilian orchestra. Drescher's musical bill of
fare included the première of a piece entitled "Fragmente aus Johann
Strauss' Operette 'Jabuka"'. For reasons which will become apparent,
was this perhaps the first concert performance of the prelude from Act 3 of Jabuka?
As far as the Strauss Orchestra's own performance of the Act
3 Prelude is concerned, Eduard wrote to his brother Johann on 10 November 1894:
"From the orchestral parts for the prelude to Act III passed over to me
by [the publisher, Gustav] Lewy, I saw that it consists solely of [a]
mazurka theme and the waltz theme. However, as I announced the prelude as a
novelty, I feared my regular public would be disappointed. I then came
up with the idea of giving this prelude a 'supplement' from the other themes,
and when making the choice came up with my favourite of all the themes: the one
in 6/8 time in B major ["Ja, einen solchen feurig süssen", sung
by Mirko in his Act 1 (No. 7) duet with Jelka] ... This theme, with its
expressly lyrical character, is the most beautiful and meaningful - and my
favourite - number. With a transition section a few bars long into F major, I
then attach the abovementioned prelude in F major and call this combination:
Fragments from the operetta (that is how you will see it announced today and
tomorrow. I am pleased that the work (the quick arrangement and writing
of parts was successful, so that I was able to rehearse it today. The
theme - as it was not sung badly or squawked) pleased me even more. I
am sorry you cannot hear it". Eduard duly conducted the first
concert performance of his own arrangement of the Act 3 Prelude in the Golden
Hall of the Vienna Musikverein on 11 November 1894. The work, performed as the
fifth item in the first half of the concert, appeared on the printed programme
as Eduard had notified Johann, under the title "Fragmente aus der
Operette: 'Jabuka' (Das Apfelfest)". It would seem to have been this
arrangement (announced as the "Intermezzo" from Jabuka) which
Eduard and the Strauss Orchestra brought with them to London the following
summer for their three-month engagement at the Imperial Institute in
Kensington, and which they played there for the first and only time on the
evening of Tuesday 16 July 1895.
[7] OVERTURE:
WALDMEISTER (Woodruff)
Even before the première of his operetta Jabuka at
the Theater an der Wien on 12 October 1894, Johann Strauss had commenced work
on his next project for the stage. Long before this news reached Vienna's
press, which was otherwise preoccupied with events leading up to the Waltz
King's Golden Jubilee, the composer had written from Bad Ischl on 12 September
1894 to his friend and personal advisor, Josef Priester: "The weather: 5
degrees below zero, mountains white with snow, leaves nothing to be desired.
Thanks to this, the first scene of 'Waldmeister' not only drafted, but partly
instrumented as well. The opening of the operetta 'Waldmeister' is so full of
genuine feeling - exceedingly charming, that I could not stop working on
it. I lost interest in 'Jabuka' long ago. Farewell beloved! Now on to
another!!! It was ever thus!"
Strauss's enthusiasm for the Waldmeister libretto,
the work of the journalist and writer Gustav Davis (real name Gustav David,
1856-1951), manifested itself in an outpouring of fresh and inspired melodic
invention. The score unequivocally gave the lie to those critics who had
declared publicly that the "eternally young" Waltz King was
exhausted, and who privately voiced the opinion that the composer's hitherto
unquenchable creative flame had finally burned itself out. At the forefront of
his musical ideas was an original waltz theme, which cleverly contained an
inverted arpeggio of the first three notes in his famous Blue Danube
Waltz (An der schönen blauen Donau op. 314 of 1867). Searching for further
themes in his new stage work, Johann even drew upon a song written in his
youth, which he interpolated into the operetta to the text "Klipp,
klapp, klipp, klapp, rasch dem Glücke nach" (see programme note on op.
466, Volume 22 of this CD series). For his part, Gustav Davis brought with him
from the Hof-Burgtheater and the Deutsches Volkstheater a reputation as a
successful writer of comedies such as Das Heiratsnest and Die
Katakomben, before working with Johann Strauss as co-librettist of Jabuka.
Davis had initially discussed his plans for Waldmeister with
Strauss during summer 1894, and the contract they signed with Alexandrine von
Schönerer (1850-1919), directrix of the Theater an der Wien, required delivery
of the completed musical score on 15 October 1895. Strauss duly adhered to the
delivery date, advising Fräulein von Schönerer: "Never in my youthful
years did I work so indefatigably". The composer was not disappointed,
for Waldmeister was to enjoy an initial run of 88 performances in
Vienna, and proved to be the most successful of his later stage works. There
was general praise for the entire cast, and Alexander Girardi (1850-1918), in
the rôle of the dialect-speaking Saxony Professor of Botany, Erasmus Müller,
was again triumphant. (The following year the tenor buffo transferred to
the rival Carl-Theater, and Waldmeister was the last original Strauss
operetta in which he appeared.)
Among the celebrities attending the opening night of Waldmeister
was Johannes Brahms (1833-97). In Erinnerungen an Johannes Brahms (edited
by K. Hofrnann, 1971), the music critic Richard Heuberger (1850-1914) recalled
a conversation with the north German composer. "Brahms was very
enthusiastic about the 'Waldmeister' performance. In particular, he praised the
excellent piece and the clever, concise verses: '... which I would
like to set to music straight away! - and the orchestral sound! How
magnificently Strauss orchestrates! He would certainly have crafted the music
itself better in former times, but the thing as a whole! The piece!"'. Dr
Eduard Hanslick (1825-1904), editor of the Neue Freie Presse, was also
present at the première and recalled in Die Moderne Oper (Vol. IX, 1900)
that Brahms had said how Strauss's "splendid" orchestration "reminded
him of Mozart".
Reviewing Waldmeister for the Neue Freie Presse on
6 December 1895, Eduard Hanslick opined that the new work's immediate
predecessors, at least in some scenes, had teetered on the "dangerous
brink of tragic or sentimental style ... 'Waldmeister' turns back much
more to the familiar paths of Strauss's most effective operetta, 'Die
Fledermaus', not only in its innocuous middle-class material, but also in the
logically-structured comedic character of the music". The critic for
the Fremden-Blatt (5.12.1895) also filed an enthusiastic copy, observing
of the music: "It flows invigoratingly into our ears and veins. It is
true Strauss ...". The reporter for the Neues Wiener Tagblatt (5.12.1895)
closed his analysis of the première with a brief summary of the evening's
events: "The overture was conducted by Johann Strauss in person. When
he appeared at the conductor's desk a storm of applause broke out in the house,
which was repeated at the end and for which Strauss had to give thanks again
and again. Then he handed over the baton to Capellmeister [Adolf] Müller
[1839-1901], and this excellent musician conducted the performance with
great energy. There were repeats, applause during scenes as well as after the
ends of acts, and after these also numerous calls for the entire cast and for
Johann Strauss, whose 'Waldmeister-Walzer' will certainly soon become popular
in Vienna".
On 8 December 1895 Strauss personally conducted the first concert
performance of the Waldmeister Overture at his brother Eduard's benefit
concert with the Strauss Orchestra in the Golden Hall of the Vienna
Musikverein. The novelty closed the first half of an interesting programme
which also featured music by Ambroise Thomas, Liszt, Benjamin Godard, Robert
Schumann, Paderewski, Mascagni, Mendelssohn and Eduard Strauss. The
Illustrirtes Wiener Extrablatt (9.12.1895) noted that Strauss's initial
attempt to gain the orchestra's attention by tapping the desk with his baton
was drowned out by the tempestuous applause which greeted his arrival at the
conductor's podium. After an "exemplary" performance of the
overture, the tightly-packed house showed its approval through further
hurricanes of applause.
The structure and composition of the Waldmeister Overture
are simple, yet highly effective, prompting the Illustrirtes Wiener
Extrablatt (5.12.1895) to remark: "With its sparkling orchestral
ingenuity, even the overture called forth the applause of the house". The
dominant theme - with many variations - is the waltz from the Act 2 Finale, to
the words "Trau, schau, wem!" ('Take care in whom you
trust!'). Particular delight was engendered by the repetition of the drawn-out
three-note theme (the "inverted Danube Waltz", mentioned
earlier), to which Strauss composed a haunting countermelody for the violins.
It was not long before it was rumoured that Johannes Brahms had written this
countermelody into the score for his friend Johann Strauss. As Professor Franz
Mailer has so charmingly written: "Perhaps Strauss heard this rumour
while he was still alive - it has lasted obdurately to the present day. He may
have smiled and been proud that the symphonic composer Brahms, whom he admired
without envy, should have ascribed to himself [Brahms] what in fact was
the invention of Strauss, the erstwhile suburban musician". Indeed, a
calligraphic study of the Waldmeister autograph full score (now in the
archives of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde) reveals only the hand of Johann
Strauss.
The Allegro introductory bars of the overture are
based loosely on ideas in the operetta score, leading into an Andante 3/4
section. There follows a Più moto, ma non troppo passage, taken from the
"Gemässigtes Walzertempo" (moderate waltz tempo) section of
the Act 2 Finale (No. 14) sung by the ensemble to the words "Hm, hm,
hm, So in der Näh"'. After some development a later section in this
same ensemble (No. 14), sung first by Pauline with the words "Trau',
schau', wem? Freundchen, sei auf der Hut!", provides the Gemässigtes
Walzer-Tempo passage in the overture. The Allegro moderato quotes
from the third and last orchestral Melodrama in the Act 2 Finale (No.
14), although its Staccato second section is nowhere traceable in the
operetta's published piano/vocal score. A link passage follows, possibly based
on a motif from the Act 2 Ensemble und Arietta (No. 10), while the Andantino
presents music from the Act 2 Duet (No. 11) for Botho von Wendt and Freda,
sung first by Botho to the words "Bin Dir van Herzen ergeben". In
the Allegretto ben moderato a hunting-style wind section, dominated by
horns, foreshadows a song from the Act 2 Ensemble und Arietta (No. 10) sung by
Botho to the words "Der Jäger nimmt, So wie's geziemt" (Strauss's
parody of the 'Hunting Chorus' from Weber's 1821 opera, Der Freischütz?). Another
Gemässigtes Walzer-Tempo linking section (based again on "Hm,
hm, hm, so in der Näh"') is followed by a repeat of "Trau',
schau', wem? Freundchen, sei auf der Hut!", and the overture is
brought to a scorching conclusion by a recapitulation of the untraceable Vivace
staccato passage heard earlier.
[8] OVERTURE: DIE
GÖTIIN DER VERNUNFT (The Goddess of Reason)
On 11 July 1896 the Illustrirtes Wiener Extrablatt and
Fremden-Blatt newspapers jointly informed their readers that "Johann
Strauss who is at present on his summer break at [Bad] Ischl, as every
year, has there commenced the composition of a new three- act operetta. The
libretto for this is being written by A.M. Willner and Bernhard Buchbinder. Maestro
Strauss, who has set about working on the new piece with great creative joy,
expects to have it completed for autumn 1897". Later, it became known
that the new stage work was to be called Die Göttin der Vernunft (The
Goddess of Reason).
In the event, Johann's "great creative joy" was
short-lived, as a series of disagreements soon arose between him and his
librettists. Although Strauss had received the texts for the first three
numbers of the operetta on, or about, 12 July 1896, Willner (1859-1929) and
Buchbinder (1871-1922) did not submit their completed scenario to the composer
until the beginning of the following month. Now able to read the entire plot
for the first time, Strauss felt only distaste for a tale which sought to
derive entertaining ideas from the period of the anticlerical and republican
French Revolution of 1789-99, and he immediately attempted to release himself
from his contract with the two librettists. His protests, however, were in vain
and, under threat of legal action if he reneged on his agreement with Willner
and Buchbinder, a disenchanted and ill-tempered Strauss saw the project through
to its completion. Die Göttin der Vernunft was to be the Waltz King's
final operetta.
The contract with Alexandrine von Schönerer (1850-1919),
directrix of the Theater an der Wien, was signed by Strauss and his librettists
on 14 January 1897, the opening night of Die Göttin der Vernunft being
scheduled for 10 March. In the early days of March it was announced that the
première had been postponed until the 16th of the month. It was then reinstated
for the 10th and eventually took place at the Theater an der Wien on Saturday
13 March 1897. Apparently suffering from "harmless bronchial
catarrah", Strauss himself stayed away from the première, being kept
informed of the operetta's reception by telephone. The theatre orchestra at the
première was conducted by Adolf Müller junior (1839-1901) and there was praise
not only for the cast, but also for the orchestra's Czech-born leader,
František Drdla (1869-1944), later famed internationally as the composer of
numerous salon pieces.
The opinions of the press towards Strauss's twilight stage
work differed markedly. While the Deutsche Zeitung (14.03.1897) opined: "Inventiveness
and power of execution have both deserted the aged composer; what is left only
succeeds in a few place
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