Post by erik on Sept 19, 2020 19:07:44 GMT -5
Johann Strauss II, the man who perfected the waltz form with Zen-like discipline, is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight with one of his many "hits".
Johann Strauss II: MORNING PAPERS WALTZ, OP. 279
No other composer is as synonymous with a singular form of classical music art as Johann Strauss II is to the waltz form, which he refined with almost Zen-like discipline. But the world might have missed a great deal of what some would have dismissed as “frothy” entertainment had his father, Strauss Snr., had his way. The elder Johann Strauss didn’t want any member of his family, not Johann II, Josef, nor Eduard, getting into the “family business”. And in fact the influence that the father had over most of Vienna’s entertainment establishments during the 1840s was so great that they were awfully concerned over offering Johann II any contracts. But the father’s death from scarlet fever in 1849 gave Strauss II the license to merge both his burgeoning orchestra and that of his father’s for widespread tours throughout the Austrian empire. As a result, the Viennese waltz form began exploding in popularity; and Strauss II was its greatest exponent. As of the 21st century, as many as three dozen of Strauss’ waltzes are fixtures of every major orchestra in the world, inside and outside of the Viennese sphere of influence. One of the composer’s earliest success stories in this form came in 1863 in the form of the work known in German-language circles as “Morgenblatter”, and translated as “Morning Papers”. True to form, a slow introduction introduces some of the themes to be heard in the work itself, before the main body, really a chain of mini-waltzes assembled into one, makes itself known in the home key of G Major. Ironically, the creation of this work was inspired by the “Abendblatter” waltz composed by the legendary French operetta composer Jacques Offenbach for the Viennese Authors and Journals Association. Although not as often performed as other Strauss waltzes yet to be would become, it still maintains a place; it even can be heard in a ballroom scene of director Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1957 World War I film Paths Of Glory.
Philadelphia Orchestra/EUGENE ORMANDY (RCA)
Included:
THE BLUE DANUBE, OP. 314
VIENNA BLOOD, OP. 354
WHERE LEMONS BLOOM, OP. 364
TALES FROM THE VIENNA WOODS, OP. 325
AN ARTIST’S LIFE, OP. 316
EMPEROR WALTZ, OP. 437
Johann Strauss II: MORNING PAPERS WALTZ, OP. 279
No other composer is as synonymous with a singular form of classical music art as Johann Strauss II is to the waltz form, which he refined with almost Zen-like discipline. But the world might have missed a great deal of what some would have dismissed as “frothy” entertainment had his father, Strauss Snr., had his way. The elder Johann Strauss didn’t want any member of his family, not Johann II, Josef, nor Eduard, getting into the “family business”. And in fact the influence that the father had over most of Vienna’s entertainment establishments during the 1840s was so great that they were awfully concerned over offering Johann II any contracts. But the father’s death from scarlet fever in 1849 gave Strauss II the license to merge both his burgeoning orchestra and that of his father’s for widespread tours throughout the Austrian empire. As a result, the Viennese waltz form began exploding in popularity; and Strauss II was its greatest exponent. As of the 21st century, as many as three dozen of Strauss’ waltzes are fixtures of every major orchestra in the world, inside and outside of the Viennese sphere of influence. One of the composer’s earliest success stories in this form came in 1863 in the form of the work known in German-language circles as “Morgenblatter”, and translated as “Morning Papers”. True to form, a slow introduction introduces some of the themes to be heard in the work itself, before the main body, really a chain of mini-waltzes assembled into one, makes itself known in the home key of G Major. Ironically, the creation of this work was inspired by the “Abendblatter” waltz composed by the legendary French operetta composer Jacques Offenbach for the Viennese Authors and Journals Association. Although not as often performed as other Strauss waltzes yet to be would become, it still maintains a place; it even can be heard in a ballroom scene of director Stanley Kubrick’s classic 1957 World War I film Paths Of Glory.
Philadelphia Orchestra/EUGENE ORMANDY (RCA)
Included:
THE BLUE DANUBE, OP. 314
VIENNA BLOOD, OP. 354
WHERE LEMONS BLOOM, OP. 364
TALES FROM THE VIENNA WOODS, OP. 325
AN ARTIST’S LIFE, OP. 316
EMPEROR WALTZ, OP. 437
