Concert in Suzhou

Johann Strauss II
Be embraced, ye millions! / Waltz
op. 443 (1892)

In the middle of the hectic preparations for the premiere of his opera Ritter Pásmán (Knight Pásmán), Strauss wrote a letter to his publisher at the time, Friedrich August Simrock in Berlin, informing him that he wanted to dedicate a waltz to his friend the composer Johannes Brahms, which was to be written ‘in a popular vein, but nevertheless with some spice and pepper added, without forgetting the purpose of a waltz’.

At the beginning of February 1892 composer and publisher agreed on a title. Taking up a proposal made by the German writer Julius Stettenheim, ‘Millions, Be Embraced’, they decided on the definitive title, Seid umschlungen, Millionen (Be embraced, ye millions’), which is taken from Friedrich Schiller’s poem Ode an die Freude (Ode to Joy).

At the same time it had already been decided that, in accordance with the wishes of Princess Pauline Metternich, the waltz would be an important contribution to the International Exhibition of Music and Drama, which she was organising and which was due to open in Vienna on 7 May 1892. The title page of the various editions shows the exhibition site with the Rotunde hall in the Prater in Vienna and states that the work is ‘for the International Exhibition of Music and Drama’.

After his opera Ritter Pásmán, premiered in the Imperial-Royal Court Opera Theatre on New Year’s Day 1892, had not been a success, Strauss wanted to present the new waltz to ‘his’ public in Vienna under the best possible conditions: shortly before 20 March 1892 he asked his brother Eduard if he could conduct his new work in the last concert of Eduard’s winter season of concerts in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein, as the Strauss Orchestra would have left for a tour of Germany and thus not be in Vienna when the exhibition opened in May. However, the printed editions were not to be available for sale until then, so that the waltz would not have already been ‘worn out’. Eduard made the first performance the centrepiece of the concert on 27 March 1892, putting it on the programme as the last item before the interval. Johann conducted, and the waltz had to be repeated twice. Brahms, to whom the work was actually dedicated, reported to Simrock that the new waltz had given great pleasure to him and to all those present.

Synopsis: Prof. Norbert Rubey

English translation: Dr. Leigh H. Bailey

Johann Strauss II. Be Embraced, ye Millions / Waltz op. 443
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