The formal opening of the Suez Canal -- linking Port Said, on the Mediterranean Sea, and the Egyptian port of Suez, on the Red Sea -- was celebrated on 16 November 1869 by an inaugural ceremony at Port Said. On the following day sixty-eight vessels of various nationalities began the passage, arriving at Suez four days later. The opening of this artificial waterway created considerable interest around the world, and in Vienna gave rise to Anton Bittner's burlesque, Nach Ägypten (Into Egypt), presented at the Theater an der Wien on 26 December that year. It was here as a processional march for Egyptian warriors before the final scene, that the Viennese public first became acquainted with the sinuous themes of Johann Strauss's Ägyptischer Marsch. The composer, ever mindful of current affairs, had in fact written the piece for his 1869 summer concert season in Pavlovsk -- shared that year with his brother Josef -- and had conducted its première at the Vauxhall Pavilion there on 6 July (= 24 June, Russian calendar) at a benefit concert for the two brothers.
Johann Strauss II. : Egyptian March op. 335 © by WJSO-Archive
Saturday, 08. March 200319.30 o' clock Vienna ⁄ Musikverein ⁄ The Große Musikvereinssaal
Concert at the Musikverein Vienna
Martin Sieghart conductor Walther Schulz solo cello
Program Johann Strauss II : Overture to the operetta «Waldmeister» (Woodruff) Josef Strauss : Moulinet Polka / Polka française op. 57 Josef Strauss : Chatterboxes: musical joke / Polka op. 245 Josef Strauss : Village Swallows from Austria / Waltz op. 164 Johann Strauss II : Romanze No. 2 in g-moll for Violoncello & Orchestra op. 255 Johann Strauss II : Thunder and Lightning / Quick polka op. 324 Carl Michael Ziehrer : Viennese Girls / Waltz op. 388 Johann Strauss II : Egyptian March op. 335 Johann Strauss II : The Blue Danube / Waltz op. 314 Encore Johann Strauss I : Radetzky March op. 228
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