Concert in 府中の森芸術劇場どりーむホール

ヨハン･シュトラウス2世
ワルツ「レモンの花咲くところ」
op. 364 (1874)

In May 1874 Johann Strauss II made a concert tour to Italy for the first time. For this occasion he composed a new waltz whose original title was Bella Italia.

It was not the Strauss Orchestra that accompanied the Waltz King on this tour but the orchestra of Julius Langenbach from Elberfeld (nowadays known as Wuppertal) in Germany. Johann Strauss II had got to know the Langenbach Orchestra of about forty musicians when he gave concerts in Baden-Baden. Evidently he had such a high opinion of the orchestra that he arranged for it to play as the official Vienna World Exhibition Orchestra at the World Exhibition held in Vienna in 1873, against the interests of his brother Eduard and the Strauss Orchestra which he conducted.

The waltz was given its first performance under the title Bella Italia in the course of a concert at the Teatro Regio in Turin. The orchestra of Julius Langenbach played, with Johann Strauss II himself conducting his new composition.

In Vienna the work was given a new name: Wo die Citronen blüh’n (Where the Lemon Trees Blossom). The new title also refers to Italy, but this time specifically to a poem by Goethe, Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blüh’n (Knowst thou the land where the lemon trees blossom), one of Mignon’s songs from his novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre (Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship Years). The first performance in Vienna took place at a concert in the Floral Rooms of the Horticultural Society on 10 July 1874. It was again the orchestra of Julius Langenbach that played, and he was the conductor on this occasion, not Strauss himself.

Synopsis: Prof. Norbert Rubey

English translations: Dr. Leigh H. Bailey

Johann Strauss II. : Where the Lemon Trees Blossom / Waltz op. 364
© by «Kulturverein Wiener Blut»

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