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
Friday, 27. September 198520.00 o' clock New Gewandhaus / Great Hall
Concert in Leipzig GDR tour 1985
Alfred Eschwé conductor
Program Johann Strauss II : Ouverture to «Die Fledermaus» Johann Strauss II : Singers Joy / Polka française op. 328 Josef Strauss : Chatterboxes: musical joke / Polka op. 245 Johann Strauss II : Artist’s Life / Waltz op. 316 Johann Strauss II : Egyptian March op. 335 Eduard Strauss I : By Express Post / Quick polka op. 259 Josef Strauss : Watercolours / Waltz op. 258 Break Johann Strauss II : Napoleon March op. 156 Josef Strauss : My Character is Love and Joy / Waltz op. 263 Johann Strauss II : Cuckoo Polka / Polka française op. 336 Johann Strauss II : Light of Heart / Quick polka op. 319 Eduard Strauss I : Clear the Track! / Quick polka op. 45 Johann Strauss II : New Pizzicato Polka, from the Operetta «Fürstin Ninetta» op. 449 Johann Strauss II : The Blue Danube / Waltz op. 314 Encore Johann Strauss I : Radetzky March op. 228
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