Concert at the Toyota City Concert Hall

Johann Strauss II
Excursion Train / Quick polka
op. 281 (1864)

Pleasure trips by train to places close to — or even some distance from — Vienna, or perhaps by steamship to faraway destinations such as Constantinople, Cairo or even further into the Orient, became extremely popular in the second half of the nineteenth century. And so in the winter of 1863–4 Johann Strauss II composed the quick polka with the title Vergnügungszug, even including in the instrumentation a ‘conductor’s horn’, which was used to sound the signal for a train to depart. The various railway companies, at that time competing with one another, regularly offered their passengers so-called ‘excursion trains’ to attractive destinations.

On 19 January 1864 Der Zwischenakt, a newspaper published in Vienna, announced for the last three days of the Carnival season a festival entitled ‘An Evening in Paris, An Evening in Vienna’, with the three Strauss brothers Johann, Josef and Eduard being named as performers. It was even intended to organise an ‘excursion train’ from Paris to Vienna.

Strauss had composed his ‘excursion train polka’ for the ball of the association of Industrial Companies. This took place on 19 January 1864 in the Imperial-Royal Redouten-Säle rooms in the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. In the course of the evening Strauss’s new quick polka received its first performance. It was played by the Strauss Orchestra conducted by Eduard Strauss.

The work is dedicated not to a railway company, as one might suppose on the basis of the title, but of course to the organiser of the ball, namely the Association of Industrial Companies, some of the most important among them being the profitable railway companies.

Synopsis: Prof. Norbert Rubey

English translation: Dr. Leigh H. Bailey

Johann Strauss II. : Pleasure Train / Polka schnell op. 281
© by WJSO-Archive

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Friday, 08. January 202719.00 o' clock
Toyota ⁄ City Concert Hall Nohgakudo

Concert at the Toyota City Concert Hall

Johannes Wildner conductor

Program
Johann Strauss II : Overture to the operetta "The Gypsy Baron"
Josef Strauss : Artists's Greeting / Polka française op. 274
Joseph Lanner : Malapou-Galopp op. 148
Josef Strauss : Heart of Woman / Polka mazurka op. 166
Josef Strauss : Delirien / Waltz op. 212
Josef Strauss : Chatterboxes: musical joke / Polka op. 245
Johann Strauss II : Vienna Blood / Waltz op. 354
Break Johann Strauss II : Overture to «A Night in Venice»
Josef Strauss : On Holiday Travels! / Quick polka op. 133
Josef Strauss : Friedenspalmen / Walzer op. 207
Johann Strauss II : Fledermaus-Quadrille op. 363
Johann Strauss II : New Pizzicato Polka, from the Operetta «Fürstin Ninetta» op. 449
Johann Strauss II : Excursion Train / Quick polka op. 281
Josef Strauss : Fire-Proof! / Polka française op. 269
Johann Strauss II : The Blue Danube / Waltz op. 314

Johannes Wildner
© by Lukas Beck

Johannes Wildner
Resumé
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Venue

Toyota ⁄ City Concert Hall Nohgakudo
200 1-chome
nishimachi Toyota city
〒 471-0025 Aichi
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