Fall Concert at Vienna Musikverein

Johann Strauss II
A Masked Ball, Quadrille on Themes from Verdi’s Opera «Un ballo in masquera»
op. 272 (1862)

The opera «Un ballo in maschera» with the music by Giuseppe Verdi, was first performed on February 17, 1859, at the Teatro Apollo in Rome. Only the plot itself—which involved a royal assassination—was objected to, not the score by the composer, who was already widely recognized as a master of modern Italian opera. However, there were still reservations about Verdi’s music in Vienna, even in the early 1860s. Naturally, opera-goers in the imperial city on the Danube were eagerly awaiting an encounter with Verdi's musical adaptation of this controversial opera, which had been hailed as sensational in international reports following the premiere in Rome and subsequent performances.
But they had to wait until April 1, 1864, when a «stagione» presented the first performance of Un ballo in maschera in Italian at the Imperial-Royal Court Opera Theater next to the Kärntner Gate. The Viennese critics received both the work and its performance without enthusiasm. Thus, the first German-language performance of A Masked Ball at the Kärntnerthortheater

in Vienna did not take place until November 19, 1866.
Johann Strauss II did not wait for these developments. For many years he had been a staunch advocate for Giuseppe Verdi’s works, both in Vienna and in St. Petersburg. He quickly embraced the practice, already established in Joseph Lanner's and his father’s time, of incorporating the most significant motifs from a new, noteworthy work into his orchestra’s repertoire. In the case of «Un ballo in maschera», he followed the Russian premiere of the work in December 1861 and, by April 26/May 8, 1862, had already presented a quadrille based on themes from Verdi’s opera to the musicians of his orchestra in Pavlovsk. Since Johann Strauss II interrupted his activities in July 1862 to marry Jetty Treffz and go on a honeymoon to Italy, the Viennese audience had to wait until a concert by the brothers Strauss on December 21, 1862, in the Imperial-Royal Volksgarten to hear the new quadrille, which still bore the Italian title «Un ballo in maschera».

Translation: Dr. Michael L. Bock

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Tuesday, 26. October 202111.00 o' clock
Vienna ⁄ Musikverein ⁄ The Große Musikvereinssaal

Fall Concert at Vienna Musikverein

Johannes Wildner conductor

Program
Franz von Suppè : Ouverture zu «Dichter und Bauer»
Johann Strauss I : Beliebte Annen-Polka op. 137
Eduard Strauss I : Unter der Enns / Polka schnell op. 121
Johann Strauss II : Anna Polka op. 117
Johann Strauss II : Travel Adventures / Waltz op. 227
Josef Strauss : Heart of Woman / Polka mazurka op. 166
Eduard Strauss I : Who’ll Join the Dance? / Quick polka op. 251
Johann Strauss II : With Us at Home / Waltz op. 361
Break Jacques Offenbach : Ouverture zur Operette «Orpheus in der Unterwelt»
Johann Strauss II : Express Polka / Polka schnell op. 311
Johann Strauss II : A Masked Ball, Quadrille on Themes from Verdi’s Opera «Un ballo in masquera» op. 272
Johann Strauss II : Csárdás from the opera «Knight Pásmán» op. 441
Johann & Josef Strauss : Pizzicato Polka
Johann Strauss II : Emperor Waltz op. 437

«National Day Concert»

The Vienna Johann Strauss Orchestra invites you to a “National Day Concert” on October 26, 2021 with works by the Strauss dynasty and their contemporaries. Johannes Wildner is the musical director.

You can look forward to popular masterpieces such as the overture from the operetta “Orpheus in der Unterwelt” and the Kaiser Waltz with the traditional Viennese orchestra founded in 1966!

Note
If you have any further questions about our Musikverein concerts, please visit the FAQ section on our website. (Only in german)

Johannes Wildner
© by Lukas Beck

Johannes Wildner
Resumé
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Venue

Vienna ⁄ Musikverein ⁄ The Große Musikvereinssaal
Musikvereinsplatz 1
1010 Vienna
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