1st. concert of the Vienna Johann Strauss Orchestra

Johann & Josef Strauss
Pizzicato Polka
(1870)

‘I advised my brother – in order to win the Petersburg engagement for himself (I had already been there 10 times & earned a lot of money) to compose something they would get excited about in Petersburg and suggested that he should do a pizzicato polka. He was hesitant about getting started – he was always like that – so in the end I proposed to him that the polka should be the work of the two of us. He took me up on that & lo and behold – the polka created a furore in the true sense of the word.’ That is what Johann Strauss remembered about the origin of the polka in a letter he wrote to Simrock, his publisher, on 1 April 1892.

On 1 June 1869 OS (= 13 June NS) Jetty Strauss, who had also travelled to Pavlovsk, informed Josef’s wife Caroline in Vienna, ‘Pepi & Jean are now writing a polka together – that will again be something new.’ The autograph manuscript of the joint composition has been lost, and which parts were the work of which brother cannot be determined from the extant sources.

The first performance was given at Pavlovsk near St Petersburg at a musical evening held on 12 June OS (= 24 June NS). The enthusiasm of the Russian audience is clear from the fact that Johann was called back six times and the polka had to be repeated twice.

The first performance in Vienna was given in the Sofiensaal with Johann conducting on 14 November 1869, during a promenade concert given by the three Strauss brothers. It was the first appearance by Johann and Josef after their return from St Petersburg. The orchestration of the original version is documented in the Fremden-Blatt newspaper on 13 November, where it was announced that it would be ‘performed just by a quartet’. Seven days later Zeitgeist, another newspaper, reported that the polka had been ‘performed with precision by the quartet’. However, the Pizzicato Polka was also published in a version for large orchestra, with a new setting for the strings and with the winds not only playing in the opening tutti chord but also being included in the orchestration throughout.

Text: Prof. Norbert Rubey

Johann & Josef Strauss: Pizzicato Polka
© by WienBibliothek im Rathaus (2019)

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Monday, 03. October 196619.30 o' clock
Konzerthaus ⁄ Grosser Saal

1st. concert of the Vienna Johann Strauss Orchestra
Benefizkonzert zu Gunsten der Hochwasser-Katastrophen-Hilfe

Heinz Sandauer Conductor and pianist
Franz Zelwecker conductor
Leo Lehner conductor
Lucia Popp soprano
Dagmar Koller soprano
Walter Kraeutler tenor
Friedrich Nidetzky bass-bariton
Otto Stradal narrator
Chorvereinigung «Jung-Wien» choir

Anmerkung:
Zu Gunsten der Hochwasser-Katastrophen-Hilfe; unter dem Ehrenschutz von Vizekanzler Fritz Bock, Theodor Piffl-Percevic, Bürgermeister Bruno Marek, dem Botschafter der USA James Riddleberger und dem Präs. der Bundeswirtschaftskammer Rudolf Sallinger.

Veranstalter:
Österreichische Fremdenverkehrswerbung

Source: Wiener Konzerthaus

Heinz Sandauer
© by WJSO-Archive

Heinz Sandauer
Resumé
Website

Franz Zelwecker
© by bildarchivaustria.at/ÖNB Bildarchiv

Franz Zelwecker
Resumé
Website

Leo Lehner
© by WJSO-Archive

Leo Lehner
Resumé
Website

Lucia Popp
© by WJSO-Archive

Lucia Popp
Resumé
Website

Dagmar Koller
© by WJSO-Archive

Dagmar Koller
Resumé
Website

Walter Kraeutler
© by WJSO-Archive

Walter Kraeutler
Resumé