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Josef Strauss
Mysterious Powers of Attraction (Dynamiden) / Waltz
op. 173 (1865)

For the ball of the association of Industrial Companies held on 30 January 1865 in the Redoutensäle rooms in the Hofburg, the imperial palace in Vienna, Josef Strauss composed a waltz to which he gave the title Dynamiden. This is a term coined in 1857 by Ferdinand Jacob Redtenbacher, the founder of the science of mechanical engineering, and by it he meant the basis for the molecular forces which are responsible for keeping together and attracting substances. It is worth mentioning that Josef Strauss was himself a qualified engineer — and also that the reports of the ball that appeared in newspapers made no mention whatsoever of his name.

In fact the Wiener Zeitung even claimed to know that it was Johann Strauss who had conducted the waltz. On the other hand they all agreed that the new waltz had been very well received, although it is not known whether the symphonic introduction, a musical gem, was played then or not until the first concert performance of the work, given at the Volksgarten establishment in Vienna on 5 March 1865. This was the concert at which the three Strauss brothers played all the new dances they had composed for the Carnival season which had just ended.

In the announcements for the concert a phrase in brackets was added to the title, giving a more generally comprehensible and more poetic explanation as well as a perfect characterisation of that introduction: Mysterious Powers of Attraction. In the printed edition of the piano arrangement this finally became the new main title of the work, with the opus number 173.

Someone who was evidently attracted to the work was Richard Strauss (no relation of the Viennese Strausses). He quotes the opening waltz theme with only minor alterations in his opera Der Rosenkavalier. It is not known whether he did so consciously or unconsciously; however, the great similarity makes it virtually impossible to believe this happened by chance.

Synopsis: Dr. Thomas Aigner

Translation: Dr. Leigh H. Bailey

Josef Strauss: Mysterious Powers of Attraction (Dynamiden) / Waltz op. 173 (1865)
© by WienBibliothek im Rathaus (2021)

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Sunday, 17. July 202217.00 o' clock
Kurpark Wiesbaden

Concert - Rheingau Musik Festival

Johannes Wildner conductor

Program
Johann Strauss II : Ouverture to «Die Fledermaus»
Johann Strauss II : Light of Heart / Quick polka op. 319
Josef Strauss : Heart of Woman / Polka mazurka op. 166
Josef Strauss : Mysterious Powers of Attraction (Dynamiden) / Waltz op. 173
Josef Strauss : Jockey / Quick polka op. 278
Johann Strauss II : Tales from the Vienna Woods / Waltz op. 325
Break Johann Strauss II : Emperor Waltz op. 437
Johann Strauss II : Cuckoo Polka / Polka française op. 336
Johann Strauss II : Artists Quadrille op. 201
Johann Strauss II : Csárdás from the opera «Knight Pásmán» op. 441
Johann & Josef Strauss : Pizzicato Polka
Eduard Strauss I : Clear the Track! / Quick polka op. 45
Johann Strauss II : The Blue Danube / Waltz op. 314

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Johannes Wildner
© by Lukas Beck

Johannes Wildner
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