Johann Strauss : Myrthenblüthen Walzer Op.395 for Orchestra (Myrtle Blossoms Waltz)

. Walzer (Myrtle Blossoms. Waltz) op. 395




On 8 March 1880 the Imperial Court in Vienna let it be known that the Emperor's son, the Crown Prince Rudolf (1858-89), had announced his engagement in Brussels to Princess Stephanie (1864-1945), second daughter of the reigning Belgian monarch Leopold II. The wedding was to take place in Vienna on 10 May of the following year and the municipal council there lost no time in commissioning Johann Strauss to compose music for a festival performance to be given in celebration of the marriage. Putting aside work on his operetta, Das Spitzentuch der Königin [Première: Theater an der Wien, Vienna. 1 October 1880], Strauss sketched a large-scale work. However, after he had drafted eleven numbers, the city fathers relinquished their plans for such a grand spectacle and instead gave the brothers Johann and Eduard Strauss free rein as to the compositions with which they would honour the royal couple and at which events they would perform these works. Thereupon Johann accepted an invitation from the Wiener Männergesang-Verein, and for this joint venture conceived a waltz for male chorus and orchestra which he first entitled Myrthensträusse (Myrtle Bouquets) and later re-named Myrthenblüthen. The work remains one of the loveliest of all Johann Strauss's creations in three-quarter-time, and is allied to a text by August Seuffert (1844-1904) who had earlier provided the words for Strauss's choral French polka, Burschenwanderung op. 389. Seuffert's Myrthenblüthen text presented impressionistic pictures of nature through the seasons, closing with lines addressed to the 17-year-old bride: "Your new Fatherland/greets you today with heart and hand/Belgium's royal child!/Northern rosebud/The south greets you/aglow with love!".




The dress rehearsal for the new waltz took place on 6 May 1881 in the Musikverein building when the composer conducted the Wiener Männergesang-Verein with orchestral accompaniment. A report on this rehearsal reads: "The singers greeted the Maestro upon his appearance with spirited applause, which intensified still more after the close of the number. Real Vienna blood pulses through Strauss's newest composition". The first public performance of Myrthenblüthen followed on 8 May at a festival in the Vienna Prater, with the composer conducting the orchestra of the Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, Infantry Regiment. The waltz was received with jubilation by the 20,000-strong Viennese crowded around 'Am Rustenschacher' (the Rustenschacherallee), and the occasion was chronicled by, among others, the reporter for the Neue Freie Presse (9.05.1881): "And then, when the Maestro Johann Strauss appeared on the conductor's platform, which was decorated with brushwood, there was an unending roaring, shouts of hurrah and waving of hats and handkerchiefs! Thus the multitude was able to document very clearly that a right, regular public entertainment in Vienna is unthinkable without a waltz by Strauss. And the new waltz? It will soon no longer be new, because within a few days everyone in Vienna, as well as beyond the precincts of the city, will be singing these sweet sensual tunes. 'Myrthensträusse' is, in fact, a bouquet of fragrant melodies, not of the gripping, singable type of the 'Blue Danube', but delicate and tingling. The two pieces of music behave towards one another like wine to champagne. There was a storm of applause which split the air after the first performance of the waltz, and it looked more like an act of self-defence against this attempted assassination by applause when the composer and singers hastily decided to sing the new waltz again to the joy of the delighted listeners¡¨. The letter of thanks which the Mayor of Vienna wrote to Johann Strauss a few days later, enclosing two specially struck Crown Prince Rudolf Wedding Medals, mentioned nothing of the absence of1he bridal pair from the scene of this first performance. They, together with the Austrian Emperor, had been prevented from reaching the venue by the huge crowd of well wishers blocking the main route along the Prater.




The Wiener Männergesang-Verein repeated Myrthenblüthen at their 'Summer Song Programme' at the 'Neue Welt' entertainment venue in Hietzing on 14 July 1881, this time accompanied by the Strauss Orchestra under Johann's direction. Remarkably, following this performance the Association did not sing this delightful work again until after the First World War.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Johann
• Strauss
• myrthenbluten
• walzer
• op.395
• napoleon
• marsch
• russische
• rmarsch
• egyptischer
• die
• fledermaus
• ouverture
• kaiser
• polka

[laoniricArte1]

... e per 200.000 .... altri video

offrendo a noi Tanta Bellezza!!!! Congratulazioni!!! ***Caro FABRIZIO***

[giordanengo1]

Magnique ! Quel talent, toujours dans le même style mais différent chaque fois ! Génial !

[MUEHLENinEUROPA]

very nice! Greetings Inge

[32shiara]

·٠•●♥Susanஇڿڰۣ-ڰthank you for your upload..it is beautiful..susan

[elettrofisa]

bello

[curleyhead100]

Beautiful music to warm the hearts of everyone. Your animation is awesome.

[neuIlaryRheinKlange]

Che bello, adoro questo valzer!