Spring concert in the Golden Hall

Johann Strauss II
Vienna Blood / Waltz
op. 354 (1873)

In the spring of 1873 Vienna was getting ready for the imminent opening of the World Exhibition. The festive mood was increased still more when Archduchess Gisela married Prince Leopold of Bavaria on 20 April.

The Imperial-Royal Court Opera also took advantage of the favourable moment to hold a ball in the Musikverein concert hall in order to boost their pension fund. In an interval in the dancing Otto Desoff conducted a programme of classical music, and then Johann Strauss II presented the waltz Vienna Blood, op. 354, which he had composed specially for the ball, with the Court Opera’s orchestra of eighty musicians. The title was taken from a collection of ‘small cultural sketches of the life of the people in the old imperial city on the Danube’ written by Friedrich Schlögl — a book that had become a bestseller.

In their reports, one journal, the Blätter für Musik, Theater und Kunst, wrote that the new waltz had the ‘freshness of original melody and the genuine spirit of the dance’, while one daily, the Wiener Tagblatt, summed it up as follows, ‘In this now cheeky, now sentimental music in three-four time there flows the lifeblood of Vienna — fresh, free, authentic, and red.’

The first editions for piano solo and duet, violin and piano, zither, as well as the orchestral parts, were published on 10 June 1873. This was the first of Strauss’s compositions to appear after the publishing house of C.A.Spina had been taken over by its new owner, Friedrich Schreiber. The relatively short time taken to produce these editions can be explained by the publisher wanting to make use of the increased market for sales resulting from the World Exhibition, a circumstance which also promised scope for international contacts. Some years later an edition appeared with the title page giving King Christian IX of Denmark as the dedicatee. In the operetta named after the waltz which Adolf Müller junior put together from melodies by Johann Strauss II its first theme is used for the final chorus; this begins with the title, which has since become a phrase everyone knows, ‘Vienna blood, a sap like no other, full of power, full of fire’.

Synopsis: Dr. Thomas Aigner

Translation: Dr. Leigh H. Bailey

Johann Strauss II. : Vienna Life (alt.: Vienna Blood or Vienna Spirit) op. 354
© by WJSO-Archive

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Sunday, 15. May 201611.00 o' clock
Vienna ⁄ Musikverein ⁄ The Große Musikvereinssaal

Spring concert in the Golden Hall
«Eduard-Strauss-Schwerpunkt» anlässlich des 100. Todestages

Johannes Wildner conductor

Program
Heinz Sandauer : Festive Fanfare of the Vienna Johann Strauss Orchestra
Johann Strauss II : Overture to the operetta "The Gypsy Baron"
Eduard Strauss I : Brakes off / Quick polka op. 238
Josef Strauss : Heart’s Sorrow / Orchestral Fantasy *
Eduard Strauss I : Jubilee Waltz / Waltz op. 296
Josef Strauss : Ardent Love / Polka mazurka op. 129
Johann Strauss II : Vienna Blood / Waltz op. 354
Johann Strauss II : Thunder and Lightning / Quick polka op. 324
Break Josef Strauss : Allegro fantastique / Orchestral Fantasy*
Josef Strauss : Mysterious Powers of Attraction (Dynamiden) / Waltz op. 173
Johann Strauss II : Csárdás from the opera «Knight Pásmán» op. 441
Johann Strauss II : The Sighs of the Liguorian Monks / Playful polka op. 57
Johann & Josef Strauss : Pizzicato Polka
Eduard Strauss I : Who’ll Join the Dance? / Quick polka op. 251
Johann Strauss II : The Blue Danube / Waltz op. 314
Encore Johann Strauss II : Niko-Polka (Quick polka) op. 228
Josef Strauss : Eingesendet / Polka schnell op. 240
Johann Strauss I : Radetzky March op. 228

Hinweis:
* Bei den mit dem Stern gekennzeichneten Werken handelt es sich um eine österreichische Erstaufführung.
Wir danken der Wienbibliothek im Rathaus für die Zurverfügungstellung des Notenmaterials und die wertvolle wissenschaftliche Kooperation!

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Johannes Wildner
© by Lukas Beck

Johannes Wildner
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