The Johann Strauss Edition JohannStrauss II, the most famous and enduringly successful of 19th-century lightmusic composers, was born in Vienna on 25 October 1825.Building upon the firm musical foundations laid by his father, Johann Strauss I(1804-1849) and Joseph Lanner (1801-1843), the younger Johann (along with hisbrothers, Joseph and Eduard) achieved so high a development of the classicalViennese waltz that it became as much a feature of the concert hall as of theballroom. For more than half a century Johann II captivated not only Vienna but also the whole of Europe and America with his abundantlytuneful waltzes, polkas, quadrilles and marches. The thrice-married ’WaltzKing’ later turned his attention to the composition of operetta, and completed16 stage works besides more than 500 orchestral compositions - including themost famous of all waltzes, The Blue Danube (1867). Johann Strauss II died inVienna on 3 June 1899. TheMarco Polo Strauss Edition is a milestone in recording history, presenting, forthe first time ever, the entire orchestral output of the ’Waltz King’. Despitetheir supremely high standard of musical invention, the majority of thecompositions have never before been commercially recorded and have beenpainstakingly assembled from archives around the world. All performancesfeatured in this series are complete and, wherever possible, the works areplayed in their original instrumentation as conceived by the masterorchestrator himself, Johann Strauss II. RussischerMarsch (Russian March) op. 426 TheRussischer Marsch, one of Johann Strauss’s ’characteristic marches’, belongs tothat group of new compositions with which the Viennese maestro charmedaudiences attending his series of charity concerts in St. Petersburg in 1886.This trip to Russia, made at the invitation of the ’Russian Society of the RedCross’ and a children’s charity, was to be Johann’s final visit there, and cameafter a lapse of seventeen years since his last concert engagement at nearbyPavlovsk (1869). There had been many changes during the intervening years, andafter the assassination of Tsar Alexander II by Nihilists in 1881, theautocratic power had passed into the hands of his son, Alexander III (1845-94).The court society which surrounded the new Tsar may have known little of lifein Russia thirty years earlier, but was well aware of Strauss’s reputation asthe darling of the public, and as a favourite of the Imperial family, throughhis triumphant ’Russian summers’ at Pavlovsk during the years 1856-65. Theappearance of the Viennese maestro in St. Petersburg in 1886 once againoccasioned an outbreak of ’Strauss fever’, with shops offering pictures, bustsand statuettes of the conductor/composer, while one enterprising manufacturereven produced "Strauss Cigarettes" with Johann’s likeness on thepacket. Thevenue for the 1886 charity concerts was the vast riding school of the HorseGuards Regiment in St. Petersburg, and the 80-strong orchestra of the ImperialRussian Opera had been provided for the concerts. While Professor K. Siecke wascharged with the conducting of the symphonic portions of each programme, Johannconducted only his own compositions. The majority of the works he performedwere those which had proved popular in Pavlovsk during the 1850s and 1860s, butthese were supplemented by more recent works like the Brautschau-Polka (op.417) and Schatz-Walzer (op. 418), both based on themes from his latest operettasuccess, Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron, 1885). In addition, Johann composedfour new works especially for his 1886 Russian visit - 2 waltzes, a polka and amarch. It was at his third concert, on 29 April 1886 (= 17 April, Russiancalendar), that he unveiled his Marche des Gardes à Cheval (March of the HorseGuards), written as a tribute to the Tsar’s bodyguard in whose riding schoolthe concerts took place. Althoughthe Marche des Gardes à Cheval is without doubt "uniquelyinteresting", as the critic of the St. Petersburger Zeitung opined of thisand the polka-mazurka Mon salut (= An der Wolga op. 425), its title does notreally suit the character of the piece. Far from being a ’cavalry march’, inthe style of the Grossfürsten-Marsch (op.107, Volume 25 of this CD series) orthe Caroussel-Marsch (op. 133, Volume 6) for example, this work is moredescriptive of heavily-laden Russian foot-soldiers trudging wearily through thesnow, even to the extent of the diminuendo at the end of the piece as thecolumn of soldiers disappears into the distance. Thus, much more apposite wasthe name with which the march was rechristened for audiences in Vienna whenJohann conducted its first performance there as an encore item during EduardStrauss’s benefit concert in the Musikverein on 7 November 1886: the RussischerMarsch. This was also the title under which August Cranz published the work,together with the composer’s dedication to "his Majesty Alexander III,Emperor of Russia etc. etc". Slaven-Potpourri(Slav Potpourri) op. 39 Ata time when Johann Strauss Father and his orchestra dominated Vienna’s dancemusic scene, the various entertainments organised by the minority Slavcommunity living in this, the capital of the Habsburg Empire, provided alucrative source of income for their own preferred musical director, JohannStrauss the younger. From the beginning of his career Strauss junior openlycourted this national group with compositions such as the Serben-Quadrille op.14, and the Alexander-Quadrille op. 33 (Volume 15 of this CD series). TheWiener Allgemeine Theaterzeitung of 18 March 1847 carried an announcement forone such event: "The Slav soirées are beginning to increase in scope.There will shortly take place a soirée at which all Slavic races will berepresented. Strauss Son has received the honourable commission of arranging apotpourri of Slavic national melodies and preparing it for the orchestra. Hewill perform it with his band at the soirée, which will probably be held at theSperl". Thesoirée, a "Musical Evening Entertainment for the Slavs", duly tookplace at the Sperl dance hall in the suburb of Leopoldstadt on 27 March 1847.As reported, Strauss was on hand to present his potpourri assembled from thevast cauldron of Slavic national airs from Russia and Bohemia to the regions ofthe southern Slavs. More than 1,000 guests - including Bohemians, Moravians,Silesians, Poles, Serbians, Illyrians, Slovenians, Croats, Bosnians,Montenegrins and Russians - attended the event, which consisted of two parts:after a concert alternating vocal and choral items with instrumental solos,Strauss appeared with his still relatively small orchestra and presented aprogramme exclusively comprising pieces featuring Slavic melodies. The reporterfor the Wiener Allgemeine Theaterzeitung (31.03.1847) observed that "itwas a noteworthy spectacle how, despite all the general applause, the acclaimgrew to acrescendo, first from one part of the room, then from another, as oneSlavic race then another heard the melodies of its homeland". Naturally,Johann’s cleverly contrived potpourri - which was subsequently published byH.F. Müller as the Slaven-Potpourri - drew considerable applause. The workpresents no less than twenty-four national melodies, amongst those identifiedby Professor Arnold McMillin of London’s School of Slavonic and East European Studies: No. 2 - a Moravian song: "Water flows from the stream to the River" No. 4 - a Bohemian song about drunkenness No. 6 - a Russian folk song: "Do not sew me a sarafan, mother", also used by Strauss in the Été section of his Nikolai-Quadrille op. 65 No. 8 - a quotation from a melody in Frantisek Jan Skroup’s opera Fidlovacka (1834), which became the national anthem of Czechoslovakia No. 16 - a Bohemian or Moravian Christmas carol No. 17 - a Czech furiant No. 19 - a Serbian or Macedonian air No. 20 - a Serbian kola or round dance No. 23 - a melody adapted from the Polish (and Slovenian?) national anthem: "Poland has not yet rotted". Amonth after the première of Strauss’s Slaven-Potpourri, the Wiener AllgemeineTheaterzeitung (28.04.1847) wrote: "The potpourri of Slav melodies whichis now enjoying extraordinary applause at all the soirées given by Strauss Son,is assembledfrom themes of all the Slav nations, and is worth hearing on account of itsvaried character. Every national air is beautiful; how much more pleasant isthe Slav one, eternally sweet melancholy!". Yetthe winds of political change were starting to blow. Johann Strauss continuedto reap great success with his Slaven-Potpourri during his tour of the Balkansin the late autumn of 1847, but by December 1848 the mood in Vienna had alteredcompletely towards this work. The outbreak of Revolution in the Austriancapital had once more highlighted the tensions which persisted between thevarious nationalities making up the Habsburg Empire. When Strauss played hispotpourri at a musical "Reunion" in the ’Grünen Thor’ tavern on 8December 1848, there arose vehement opposition in the audience which, as theWiener Allgemeine Theaterzeitung (10.12.1848) reported, "tempestuouslydemanded the playing of the ’German Fatherland tune"’. Order was onlyrestored to the scene by the timely intervention of a city official, but theforces which were to tear apart the multi-racial state of Austria hadmanifested themselves. Theperformance featured on this Marco Polo CD is of the original version of thework preserved at the Wiener Stadt- und Landesbibliothek in Vienna. This fullscore lacks only two sections - No. 22 March and No. 23 Trio - and these havebeen orchestrated for this recording by Professor Gustav Fischer. Nearlyhalf a century after Johann Strauss first played his Slaven-Potpourri he wasapproached by the writer Gustav Davis who suggested that the composer mightcare to collaborate on an operetta set in Serbian south-Hungary .In his reply,extant only in a first draft dating from around April 1893, Strauss stated:"My preference for Serbian national music, which is demonstrated by mypublished compositions like Serben-Quadrille [and] Serbenpotpourri (bothassembled from Serbian themes) brings me very keenly to accept yourproposition". (The planned stage work, Jabuka, eventually received itspremière during Johann Strauss’s Golden Jubilee year of 1894.) FünfParagraphe aus dem Walzer-Codex. Walzer (FiveParagraphs from the Waltz Code. Waltz) op. 105 Thewaltz Fünf Paragraphe aus dem Walzer-Codex was the first of fourteen dancecompositions - 11 waltzes and 3 polkas - which Johann Strauss II dedicated tothe "Gentlemen Students of Law at Vienna University". Indeed, withthe exception of Johann III (1866-1939), Eduard’s eldest son, all the composersin the Strauss family wrote dedications for this particular faculty, commencingwith the elder Johann’s Egerien-Tänze (op. 134) in 1842 and concluding withEduard’s waltz Heimische Klänge (op. 252) in 1887. Fünf Paragraphe aus demWalzer-Codex, itself, came into being during the winter of 1851/52 and wascomposed for the law students’ ball held on 3 February 1852 in theSofienbad-Saal. Despite the fact that Vienna was still under martial lawfollowing the revolutionary events of 1848 and their suppression by the army,the 1852 Carnival saw a partial return to the gaiety of former years. Thestructures of Viennese society, which had existed prior to the March 1848revolution, were restored, and with this came a resumption of the traditionalball festivities of the various Vienna University faculties, and also those ofthe Imperial city’s middle classes. Die Presse (5.02.1852) named theaforementioned 1852’ Juristenball’ (Lawyers’ Ball) as "one of the mostsplendid of the season", noting that its large attendance included all theministers, several ambassadors - amongst them the British Ambassador, the Earlof Westmorland (1784-1859) - and Prince Alois of Liechtenstein. Another visitorwas Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1818-93), and it was at this ball,at the very latest, that the Duke first became acquainted with Johann Strauss.Thirty-five years later, in the summer of 1887, this same regent from Coburgwould play a crucial rôle in making possible Strauss’s marriage to his thirdwife, Adèle. Strauss’spenchant for thought-provoking titles for his musical creations is welldemonstrated in Fünf Paragraphe aus dem Walzer-Codex. On the most elementarylevel the ’Paragraphs’ are the five separate waltz sections comprising thecomposition - yet in German, ’Paragraphe’ means not only ’paragraphs’ but also’articles of law’. Likewise, ’Codex’ has a dual-meaning, signifying both ’code’and a term used in legal circles for ’technical expressions of jurisprudence’.The critic of Die Presse (5.02.1852) observed that Johann’s tuneful waltz"had an electric effect upon the dance-loving crowd" attending thelaw students’ ball, while the Wiener Allgemeine Theaterzeitung of 12 February1852 carried a report of a subsequent performance on 10 February: "AtCapellmeister Johann Strauss’s benefit ball, which was held two nights ago inthe Sofienbad-Saal, more than 2,000 people attended. The majority of thosepresent occupied the room’s large floor, which, however, on this occasionappeared inadequate, for in the contredanses the columns stretched as far asthe buffet. Strauss performed five new dances at this ball festival, of whichthe two waltzes ’Windsor-Klänge’ [Volume 17 of this CD series] and ’FünfParagraphe des Walzer-Codex’ [sic!] had to be repeated four times amidtempestuous applause on account of their charming, melodious and piquantthemes. Not until around five o’clock in the morning did the ball guests departfrom the room". LaFavorite. Polka française (The Favourite. French polka) op. 217 Therich cornucopia of new compositions which Johann Strauss offered to Russianaudiences attending his performances at the Vauxhall Pavilion in Pavlovskduring 1858 included two novelties which were to become ’standards’ of Vienneseconcert repertoire - the Champagner-Polka (op. 211, Volume 14 of this CDseries) and the Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka (op. 214, Volume 32). Noless delightful were the other new works which Vienna’s young ’Musikdirektor’composed for this 1858 Pavlovsk season, the Reussen-Polka (Russians Polka)proving a particularly engaging example of the genre. According to a programmeleaflet preserved at the Russian National Public Library in St. Petersburg, thepolka was played for the first time at Strauss’s fifteenth "MusicalEvening" at the Vauxhall Pavilion on 30 September 1858 (= 18 September,Russian calendar). It also appeared on the programme of Johann’s concert on 6October 1858 (= 24 September, Russian calendar) for the benefit of the widow ofJosef Szokoll, the leader of Strauss’s orchestra at Pavlovsk, who had recentlydied. Despitethe pronounced Russian flavour of the Reussen-Polka, Johann’s publisher inVienna, Carl Haslinger, evidently found the title insufficiently appealing,preferring to issue the piece during late February 1859 with the title changedto La Favorite. (The Russian edition of the work, published by A. Büttner ofSt. Petersburg, utilised both titles: Reussen-Polka. La Favorite.) JohannStrauss took the opportunity to unveil the novelty before his native Vienneseduring the 1859 Carnival - possibly at the elegant ’House Ball’ in Schwender’sentertainment establishment on 19 January. This conjecture arises fromambiguous announcements in the Viennese press for the "Splendid BallFestivity" at Schwender’s. Whereas the Wiener Zeitung of 18 January 1859states that "the music [is] under the personal direction of Johann &Josef Strauss, who will perform a polka especially composed for this festivity",the Fremden-Blatt of five days earlier (13.01.1859) unhelpfully declares that"J. Strauss will conduct the music in person, and will perform a polkacomposed especially for this evening". The press did not review the ball,although it is known that Josef Strauss’s quick polka Saus und Braus (op. 69)was first performed on that occasion, and it is not beyond the bounds ofpossibility that Johann also contributed a new dance piece. At all events, LaFavorite was swift to gain popularity, as evidenced by a remark in the WienerAllgemeine Theaterzeitung on 2 March 1859: "With his ’La Favorite-Polkafrançaise’, which during this carnival has become the favourite piece and thusfully lives up to its name, Johann Strauss has demonstrated most brilliantlythat his spring of melody has not yet dried up; on the contrary, it flows evenmore freely than before". Naturally La Favorite was among the thirteen newpieces which Johann and Josef Strauss played at their "Benefit Concert andCarnival Revue of all the dance compositions appearing in this year’sCarnival", held in the Imperial-Royal Volksgarten on Sunday 13 March 1859. Nikolai-Quadrillenach russischen Themen (NikolaiQuadrille on Russian themes) op. 65 The1848 Vienna Revolution led to the abdication of the Emperor Ferdinand in favourof his 18-year-old nephew Franz Josef, who was proclaimed Emperor of Austria on2 December 1848. Just five days later, on 7 December, the Diet in Hungaryrefused to acknowledge the young monarch, "as without the knowledge andconsent of the Diet no one could sit on the Hungarian throne", and calledthe nation to arms. In retaliation, the Imperial General Windischgrätz invadedPest, and the Hungarian government and Diet retired to Debreczen. From here, on14 April 1849, the Hungarian parliament announced it had deposed the HabsburgEmperor Franz Josef and elected the statesman Lajos Kossuth governor of anindependent Hungary. Austria turned to the Russian Tsar, Nicholas I(1796-1855), for help in overthrowing the rebels: the Austro-Russian armies oftwo hundred and seventy thousand men soon proved victorious against the smallerHungarian forces, and at Vilagos (today, Arad) on 13 August 1849 the Hungarianscapitulated to Rüdiger, the Russian General. The Revolution crushed, Hungarywas governed by martial law from October 1849 to July 1850. Duringthis period of co-operation between Russia and the House of Habsburg, TsarNicholas despatched to Vienna his eldest son and heir to the throne, AlexanderNikolaievich (1818-81). As guest of the Austrian Emperor he lived at FranzJosef’s summer residence, Schloss Schönbrunn, for the duration of his visitfrom 19-22 August 1849. For his part the younger Johann Strauss was anxious todemonstrate that he now fully supported the ’official line’ of the ImperialCourt, having long since recognised how his open support for therevolutionaries during the events of 1848 had damaged his musical career.During the military and political struggles with Hungary in the spring andsummer of 1849, therefore, he composed his Nikolai-Quadrille in honour ofAustria’s ally, the Russian Tsar Nicholas (= Nikolai), and almost certainlyconducted its first performance with the Strauss Orchestra at one of his manysoirées at Dommayer’s Casino in the suburb of Hietzing. We may also be surethat Johann performed the quadrille there during Alexander Nikolaievich’s visitto Vienna, for Dommayer’s Casino was in the immediate neighbourhood of SchlossSchönbrunn. Asits piano edition (published on 21 August 1849) proclaims, the Nikolai-Quadrilleis based on Russian melodies. Principal amongst these are the folk-song"Red Sarafan" ("Do not sew me a sarafan, Mother"), quotedas the second theme in the Été (i.e. 2nd) section and already utilised in hisearlier Slaven-Potpourri op. 39, and the Russian national anthem, heard as thesecond theme in the Finale (i.e. 6th) section. Since Pietro Mechetti, Johann’spublisher, did not issue printed orchestral parts for the quadrille and theoriginal manuscript performing material has been lost, Professor LudwigBabinski has made the present arrangement for this Marco Polo recording. Abschiedvon St. Petersburg. Walzer (Farewellto St. Petersburg. Waltz) op. 210 Suchan air of sadness pervades the waltz with which Johann Strauss bade farewell toSt. Petersburg in 1858, that one is persuaded that genuine regret filled theheart of the 32-year-old Viennese Kapellmeister as he prepared for hisdeparture from the Russian capital. Indeed, an examination of events in hislife affords ample evidence to support this belief. InMay 1856 Johann Strauss had appeared for the first time in Russia, having beenengaged by the Tsarskoye-Selo Railway Company to give a season of concerts atthe Vauxhall Pavilion in Pavlovsk, near St. Petersburg. Such was the success ofthis venture that the railway management offered Strauss a two-year contract,which he signed in November 1856. This contract expired in October 1858, andJohann did not believe it would be extended. During the 1858 season Strauss hadfallen in love with the capricious young Russian girl, Olga Smirnitskaja, andthe thought of never again seeing his "poetic love" - as Strausshimself called her - added to the sorrow of his departure. But his Russianadventure was not yet over: instead of heading for home after his finalPavlovsk concert in mid-October 1858, Johann despatched his orchestral playersto Berlin, while he himself travelled to Moscow where Tsar Alexander II hadplaced the Bolshoi Theatre at his disposal for conducting three concerts. Surprisingly,the first was so poorly attended that the remaining two were cancelled,whereupon Johann dispiritedly resumed his homeward journey via Berlin toVienna, en route learning that his Pavlovsk concert engagements had beenextended for a further two seasons (1859 and 1860). Butby this time Johann Strauss had already said his Farewell to St. Petersburgwith a waltz, in which are locked forever his memories of Russia and of Olga,as well as his mournfulness at this parting. Abschied von St. Petersburg commenceswith a plaintive Introduction for solo cello - beyond all doubt anacknowledgement to the Grand Dukes Constantin Nikolaievich and MichailNikolaievich, the Tsar’s brothers, who often appeared as cellists in Strauss’sorchestra at Pavlovsk. The opening waltz theme, too, is full of melancholy, amood which is enhanced by the composer’s effective use of counter-melody in thecello line. The happiness which Johann had found in Russia also sounds an echoin some of the waltz themes, but no sooner are they heard than they give wayonce more to the restrained and elegiac mood which dominates this poignantcomposition. The Coda signals a return of these same solemn melodies, played bythe cello against the quaver rhythms of the oboe - a device he was to use againsome thirty years later in the Coda of the Kaiser-Walzer (op. 437, Volume 9 ofthis CD series), and the waltz ends with the fading trumpet call sounded by thecomposer’s carriage as it bears him away from Pavlovsk and St. Petersburg. Theworld première of the waltz Abschied von St. Petersburg featured on theprogramme of Johann Strauss’s final benefit concert in Pavlovsk on 5 September1858 (= 24 August, Russian calendar): in keeping with the vogue then current inRussia for the French language, it bore the title Mes adieux à St. Petersbourgh(My Farewell to St. Petersburg). Less than a week after returning to Vienna,Johann introduced his native audience to the delights of the new work when heconducted it at a "Festival Concert" (shared with brother Josef) inthe Volksgarten on Sunday 21 November 1858. The critic for the WienerAllgemeine Theaterzeitung (24.11.1858) wrote enthusiastically of the occasion:"The day before yesterday, Sunday, Kapellmeister Johann Strauss appearedbefore the Viennese public for the first time since his return from St.Petersburg, and was received in the most flattering way with lengthy applause.For his production, Strauss chose the well loved waltz from the last carnivalseason, ’Die Extravaganten’ [op. 205], which was followed by the charmingcompositions ’L’Enfantillage’ [op. 202, Volume 26], ’Etwas Kleines’ [op. 190,Volume 33] and ’Alexandrinen-Polka’ [op. 198, Volume 30]. The waltz ’Abschiedvon St. Petersburg’ distinguishes itself among the newly performed compositionsby its alluring themes and interesting instrumentation; the composition has apredominantly serious Slavic character ... Strauss was accorded extraordinaryamounts of applause and had to repeat each new composition two or three times...". Inspite of public and critical acclaim for the work, it is perhaps surprisingthat Abschied von St. Petersburg did not remain for long in the StraussOrchestra’s repertoire. Can one perhaps infer from this that its composer hadno desire to be reminded of the sorrow he had felt when creating its melodies -a sorrow which had, in any case, now been dispelled with the certainty of a newseason in Pavlovsk and the promise of love reborn alongside Olga? DerKobold. Polka-Mazur (The Imp. Polka-mazurka) op. 226 "Myangel, everything that you say to me makes me boundlessly happy, because moreand more I can allow myself to think that in you I have at last found my ideal.Thus my love for you is my only happiness, my life, my everything, and eventhough far from you I am always with you in spirit". JohannStrauss wrote these lines on 14 November 1859, some two weeks after returningto Vienna from his fourth summer season of concerts at Pavlovsk, near St.Petersburg. His words were addressed to Olga Smirnitskaja, the young and prettyRussian girl whom he had first met and fallen for during the summer of 1858,and whom he desperately wished to marry. (See also note on Bonbon-Polka op.213, Volume 25 of this CD series.) Johann’s pet names for the capricious Olgawere "L’Espiègle" and "Der Kobold" - ’The Imp’ in Frenchand German. In September 1859, for example, he ended a letter to her with thephrase: "You may be totally assured that the little imp Olga is worshippedand truly loved by Jean [= Johann]". L’Espiègle was also the title Straussgave to the polka-mazurka he composed in Olga’s honour and first performedduring his benefit concert "with illuminations and fireworks" at theVauxhall Pavilion in Pavlovsk on 13 August 1859 (= 1 August, Russian calendar). Thishumorous polka commences with a skittish main section, followed by a Trio ofchangeable mood in which an ascending staccato scale in the lower registerinstruments (cello, bassoon and viola) imitates the mischievous tripping stepof the imp. Johann conducted the Viennese première of the new polka on 20November 1859 at a concert in the Volksgarten, given jointly with his brotherJosef, the event marking his first public appearance since returning fromRussia. The programme, which included five works written for Strauss’s Pavlovskaudiences, was enthusiastically applauded by the 2,000-strong public. Thefollowing day (21 November) Johann wrote to Olga, advising her of the specialsuccess enjoyed by his waltz Reiseabenteuer (op. 227, Volume 30), adding that"also an encore was demanded of your polka-mazurka ’L’Espiègle’,rechristened ’Der Kobold’ in Vienna". It was indeed under this amendedtitle that Carl Haslinger published the work on 20 November 1859, althoughwithout any specific dedication to Olga. Itis apparent from Johann’s letter of 21 November to Olga that his passion forher was undiminished, even though he must by then have realized that his hopesof a permanent union with his "imp" could never be realised. Thestumbling block to his dreams proved to be Olga’s aristocratic parents, whoseundisguised opposition to the Viennese ’Musikdirektor’ as a prospectiveson-in-law was made clear to Johann during his meeting with Olga’s mother inmid-September 1859, when she expressed her disapproval of him in terms which hefound "heartless and indelicate!". In the face of such parentalintransigence, Olga acquiesced and ended her affair with Strauss. Early in 1860she wrote to him in Vienna, advising him of her plans to marry another.Recalling the nickname Johann had given her, she closed her letter with thewords: "Forget your unfaithful imp, who will never cease to cherish yourmemory". Imrussischen Done. Fantasie (In the Russian Village. Fantasy) op. 355 JohannStrauss spent the summer months of 1856 to 1865 at Pavlovsk, in Russia, asmusical director for the Tsarskoye-Selo Railway Company of St. Petersburg. In1869 he returned for a further season as a favour to his brother Josef, who wanted toestablish himself there as Johann’s successor, and the two men jointly sharedthe daily concert schedule. Underthe gentle, but firm, guidance of his wife Jetty, whom he had married in 1862,Johann was increasingly turning his talents to the composition of operetta. Itwas while he was working on his second stage work, Der Carneval in Rom, that heunexpectedly received a further invitation from the Russian railway companyrequesting him to open their 1872 concert season at Pavlovsk with a series ofevents. The idea appealed to him, and on 24 January 1872 the Vienna Fremden-Blatt reported: "In the spring he is going to St. Petersburg, where hewill receive for his performances 1,290 silver roubles for only a brief stay,and in the summer [he will go] to Baden-Baden where, during the high season, hewill receive 42,000 francs under a contract". Having signed the contract for the Russianvisit, Johann began to prepare his programmes. The ’darling’ of the Russianpublic had had ample opportunity during his previous eleven visits to acquainthimself with Russian folk music, and he composed two ’characteristic pieces’ inthe Russian style: the Russische Marsch-Fantasie op. 353 (Volume 5 of this CDseries) and the fantasy, Im russischen Dorfe. Butnow came an even more lucrative invitation for Johann to participate that summerat the World’s Peace Jubilee and International Musical Festival at Boston, inthe United States of America. Sublimating his lifelong dread of travel in theface of rich financial rewards, Vienna’s ’Waltz King’ accepted the Americanoffer and, together with Jetty, travelled to the Boston Jubilee. He may naivelyhave thought that his popularity within Russia would preclude any legal actionon the part of the railway company, with whom he was now in breach of contract.Had he entertained such thoughts, they were misplaced, for the railwaymanagement embarked upon a lengthy legal process which eventually cost himdearly. TheStrausses made the return trip from the ’New World’ via the fashionable Germanspa resort of Baden-Baden, where Johann was scheduled to conduct a"festive ball" and twelve concerts. In the event, they extended theirstay to avoid an outbreak of cholera in Vienna, and additional concerts wereorganised. The seriesof "Grand Concerts" took place in the Great Hall of the Baden-BadenConversationshaus, and Johann appeared there for the first time on 3 August1872 to conduct the spa orchestra in three of his compositions: the waltzKünstler-Leben op. 316 (1867), Egyptischer Marsch op. 335 (1869) andTritsch-Tratsch-Polka op. 214 (1858). On this occasion Strauss shared thebilling with the orchestra’s resident conductor, Miloslav Koennemann. It was atthe fourteenth "Grand Concert", held on the evening of Tuesday 17September 1872, that Johann presented the première of his novelty fantasia Imrussischen Dorfe, alongside the well-known waltzes Freuet euch des Lebens op.340 (1870) and Wein, Weib und Gesang! op. 333 (1869). The local newspaper, theBadeblatt für die grossherzogliche Stadt Baden, kept a watchful eye on themusical entertainments at the Conversationshaus, and on 28 September observedthat "Johann Strauss has, moreover, just recently brought us several newcompositions. For example, the charming, richly colourful national fantasy, ’Imrussischen Dorfe’ ...". Theadvertisement for this "14th Grand Concert", which appeared in theBadeblatt Baden-Baden on the day of the performance (17 September) noted thatIm russischen Dorfe was dedicated to Madame la Baronne de Case [sic!],presumably the wife of the French foreign minister, Louis-Charles Decazes(1819-86), eldest son of the French statesman, Duke Elie Decazes (1780-1860).The dedicatee, whose name appears on the title page of the first piano editionof Im russischen Dorfe as "Baroness L. Decaze, née CountessStackelberg", was a guest at the highly respectable health resort on theedge of the Black Forest. Johannappears to have given just a single performance of his fantasia at Baden-Baden,and Viennese audiences were only introduced to the work when Eduard Strauss -recently decorated by the Sultan of Turkey for the dedication of his waltzHuldigungen op. 88 - conducted it with the Strauss Orchestra on New Year’s Day1873 during his promenade concert in the Musikverein. Thesearch continues for the original orchestral material for this interestingcomposition, but it appears to have been lost. (Interestingly, the work wasalso missing from the catalogue of the Strauss Orchestra’s Archive compiled in1901 byEduard Strauss.) This present recording therefore utilises the orchestrationmade by Professor Dr. Max Schöherr (1903-84). "Dolcipianti", Lied (Romanze) ("Sweet Tears", Song (Romance)) o. op. Feigningillness, Johann Strauss interrupted his summer 1862 concert season at Pavlovsk,near St. Petersburg, and returned to Vienna. His "illness" wasshort-lived: once back in his native city his motives became apparent when, on27 August 1862, he married Henrietta Carolina Josepha Chalupetzky (1818-78). ’JettyTreffz’, as the 44-year-old Frau Strauss was known to the musical world, was aninternationally acclaimed mezzo-soprano. Although no longer at the peak of hercareer, she was still sufficiently admired to perform before the RussianImperial Court when she accompanied her husband to Pavlovsk in the summer of1863. During the course of a long letter, written to Johann’s Viennesepublisher, Carl Haslinger, on 8 July 1863 (= 26 June, Russian calendar), Jettyannounced: "My dear, dear Jeany-boy [= Johann] was seduced by me intowriting a song for me in the Italian style, but good Italian style, and it cameoff so splendidly that it is my cheval de bataille [= current fad]. [Sigismund]Thalberg has also set the same text to music, only Jeany’s composition is far,far better, more beautiful and more rewarding. It is written with cello andharp, and was sung exquisitely well (naturally!) by my humble self. Would youlike to have absolute ownership of this composition, possibly dedicated to theEmperor of all the Russias and graciously accepted by him? If so, I requestthat you inform Jeany immediately and specify how many hundreds you areprepared to give for it. The song is for mezzo-soprano and will sell as quicklyas hot rolls after a famine". Inthe event, Haslinger declined to publish the song, entitled "Dolcipianti" (Sweet Tears), and regrettably the original version sung by Jettyhas been lost. However, an arrangement of the piece for cello and piano isextant: bearing a dedication to Jetty Treffz, it survived among the papers ofStrauss’s estate and is now housed in the collection of the Wiener Stadt- undLandesbibliothek in Vienna. Johann himself hadreferred to the same piece of music during June 1863, adding in a postscript toHaslinger: "You’ll be getting a little song from me which, fashioned inVerdi’s style, is a disgrace". In a subsequent letter, written fromPavlovsk on 16 August that year, the composer again mentioned the piece:"The song will very shortly be in your possession. I am playing it for thefirst time in my benefit concert on Tuesday (arranged for cello and harp)...". The first performance of the work in the version for cello and harp(with orchestral accompaniment) took place, as Johann announced, at his secondbenefit concert held at the Vauxhall Pavilion in Pavlovsk on 18 August 1863 (=6 August, Russian calendar). The enthusiastic audience at once demanded arepetition of the work, which the orchestra’s diarist, F.A. Zimmermann, enteredin his programme details under the title Neue Romanze (New Romance). Commentingon this benefit concert, Jetty wrote to Haslinger on 24 August (= 12 August)that "a new polka-mazurka (Invitation à la Polka Mazurka) caused a furore,and so did my song, which Johann has written for cello and harp and orchestra;it always has to be repeated and sounds absolutely delightful". Betweenits première and the final concert of the 1863 Pavlovsk season on 27 September(= 15 September), Strauss conducted the piece a further sixteen times - mostnotably on 11 September (= 30 August) during a ball given by the RussianEmperor, Alexander II, at his palace in Tsarskoye-Selo (= Pushkin), situatedsome 3 miles/5 km from Pavlovsk. Zimmermann’s records for this, and severalother performances, entitle the work: "lied [Song] Süsse Thränen" -the German translation of the title "Dolci pianti" - while furtherentries refer to it as a "Romanze". Regrettably it has provedimpossible to determine which, if any, of these aforementioned performanceswere sung by Jetty, rather than being purely instrumental renditions. Vienneseaudiences heard the new composition for the first time on 10 January 1864 at aconcert in the Volksgarten given by Josef and Eduard Strauss, "with theparticipation of Hofball-Musikdirektor Johann Strauss". The pressannouncements for the event (for example, in the Fremden-Blatt of 6 January)drew particular attention to the performance of the novelty, arranged as aninstrumental romance: "Note:’Dolci pianti’, song in the Italian style for cello and physharmonica [a largeharmonium] by Johann Strauss, accompanied by him on the physharmonica". Theversion for cello, harp and small orchestra used in this present recording wasprepared by a long-standing member of the Strauss Orchestra. Niko-Polka(Niko Polka) op. 228 "Whatmakes [Johann] Strauss’s compositions even more attractive is the careful,inspired and bold development and charming instrumentation ... He is a masterof musical effect, and knows how to exploit it with nobility and fine taste. Ina word, he has become the reformer of dance music". Eugene Eiserle’s laudatorywords, published in Vienna’s theatrical paper, Der Zwischen-Akt, on 6 March1860 at the close of that year’s Vienna Carnival, apply admirably to thecomposer’s jolly Niko-Polka, heard in Vienna for the first time that Fasching. TheNiko-Polka came into being during Strauss’s 1859 summer concert season at theVauxhall Pavilion in Pavlovsk, near St. Petersburg. While the work’s firstperformance may well have been at a private function, Johann conducted itspublic première at his benefit concert on 14 July 1859 (= 2 July, Russiancalendar) at the Vauxhall. The polka’s title derives from the nickname of itsyoung dedicatee, Nikolai Dadian (1847-1903), the ruling prince of Mingrelia -the so-called ’Land of a Thousand Springs’ in the southern Caucasus region.Nikolai, the son of Prince David Dadian (1812-53) and Catherine-Alexandrovna(née Princess Tchavtchavadze), was the sovereign prince of Mingrelia until 4January 1867 (= 23 December 1866, Russian calendar), when he abdicated infavour of the Emperor Alexander II, and Mingrelia was annexed to Russia. Prince’Niko’ was evidently a well-respected guest at the Tsar’s court, and to judgefrom Strauss’s musical portrait was full of fun. In the main section of thepolka, the melancholic Russian folk tune played by cello and bassoon in theminor key is masterfully balanced by the upper strings playing a jauntycountermelody. The Trio section is both lyrical and flirtatious, and Straussdeals a final master stroke with the surprise ’false’ ending - which surely musthave delighted the 12-year-old prince: the tranquillity created by the harp inthe closing section is suddenlyshattered by a full orchestral fortissimo chord. (Strauss’s relationship withthe Dadian family was strengthened still further the following year when hededicated his Romance No. 1 in D minor op. 243 to Prince Niko’s mother,Catherine Dadian - see Volume 14 of this CD series.) Withthe 1859 ’Russian summer’ behind him, Johann Strauss returned to Vienna at theend of October and made his first public appearance there on 20 November 1859at a concert in the Volksgarten. He took the opportunity to introduce fivenovelties written for his Pavlovsk audiences: the Niko-Polka was not amongstthem, and not until 18 December, when Carl Haslinger announced its publication,was there any mention of the work in the Viennese press. Then, on 19 January1860, the Wiener Allgemeine Theaterzeitung announced a list of dance pieceswhich Johann had prepared for the forthcoming carnival season, and includes "a’Niko-Polka’, composed in Petersburg [but] not yet performed here".Thereafter the Viennese press carries neither announcements nor reviews of itsperformance at any of the carnival festivities, but the greatest likelihood isthat it featured among the (unnamed) nine French polkas which Johann and JosefStrauss played at their "Monster Ball" benefit - an eveningentertainment comprising 50 dance compositions - in the Sofienbad-Saal onMonday 13 February 1860. Programmenotes © 1993 Peter Kemp. The Johann Strauss Society of Great Britain. Theauthor is indebted to Professor Franz Mailer for his assistance in thepreparation of these notes. SlovakRadio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava) TheSlovak Radio Symphony Orchestra (Bratislava), the oldest symphonic ensemble inSlovakia, was founded in 1929 at the instance of Milos Ruppeldt and OskarNedbal, prominent personalities in the sphere of music. Ondrej Lenárd wasappointed its conductor in 1970 and in 1977 its conductor-in-chief, succeededrecently by Robert Stankowsky. The orchestra has given successful concerts bothat home and abroad, in Germany, Russia, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Spain,Italy, Great Britain, Hong Kong and Japan. For Marco Polo the orchestra hasrecorded works by Glazunov, Glière, Miaskovsky and other late romanticcomposers and film music of Honegger, Bliss, Ibert and Khachaturian as well asseveral volumes of the label’s Johann Strauss Edition. Naxos recordings includesymphonies and ballets by Tchaikovsky, and symphonies by Berlioz and Saint-Saëns. MichaelDittrich MichaelDittrich was born in Silesia and studied the violin at the Music Academies inDetmold and in Vienna. As a student he was employed as second Concertmaster andAssistant Conductor of the Tübingen Chamber Orchestra and was also a violinistin the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, of which he has been a member since 1970. Hiscareer as a conductor was developed under Hans Swarowsky, Karl Österreicher,Otmar Suitner and Franco Ferrara and through the advice and friendship of CarloMaria Giulini. In 1977 he established his own ensemble Bella Musica for thehistorically correct performance of music from the Baroque, Classical andBiedermeier periods, with concel1 tours throughout Europe and the Americas.Since 1978 his recordings for Harmonia Mundi have won six international prizes,including the Diapason d’Or of Radio Luxemburg and the Paris Grand Prix duDisque. He has served as a guest conductor in Italy, Germany and Austria andgiven television performances.