FRIDAY 28 November 7.30pm
Federation Concert Hall, Hobart
NOVEMBER
A NIGHT
IN VIENNA
SATURDAY 29 November 7.30pm
Albert Hall, Launceston
Marko Letonja conductor
Lorina Gore soprano
JOHANN STRAUSS II
The Beautiful Blue Danube Duration 9 mins
SUPPÉ
Light Cavalry – Overture Duration 6 mins
INTERVAL Duration 20 mins
JOSEF STRAUSS
Sphärenklänge Duration 9 mins
LEHÁR
‘Vilja Song’ from The Merry Widow
Duration 6 mins
Frühlingsstimmen Duration 8 mins
Csárdás from Ritter Pásmán Duration 5 mins
‘Laughing Song’ from Die Fledermaus
Duration 4 mins
JOHANN STRAUSS II
Egyptian March Duration 5 mins
Persian March Duration 6 mins
LEHÁR
‘Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiss’
from Giuditta Duration 4 mins
SPONSORED BY
JOHANN STRAUSS II
The Gypsy Baron – Overture Duration 8 mins
Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka Duration 5 mins
This concert will end at
approximately 9.30pm.
Hobart Autohaus
Launceston BMW
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra concerts are broadcast and streamed throughout
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45
Light Cavalry – Overture
MARKO LETONJA
LORINA GORE
Marko Letonja is Chief Conductor and
Artistic Director of the Tasmanian
Symphony Orchestra, and Music Director
of the Orchestre Philharmonique de
Strasbourg. Born in Slovenia, he studied at
the Academy of Music in Ljubljana and the
Vienna Academy of Music. He was Music
Director of the Slovenian Philharmonic
Orchestra from 1991 to 2003 and Music
Director and Chief Conductor of both the
Symphony Orchestra and the Opera in Basel
from 2003 to 2006. He was Principal Guest
Conductor of Orchestra Victoria in 2008 and
made his debut with the TSO the following
year. His many opera engagements have
included Pique Dame at the Grand Théâtre
de Genève, Nabucco at the Semperoper
Dresden, Il dissoluto assolto/Sancta Susanna
and The Makropulos Case at La Scala Milan,
La traviata for Opera Australia, Rigoletto
for the West Australian Opera, Madama
Butterfly at the Staatsoper Berlin,
Die Walküre at the Opéra du Rhin, and Die
Walküre, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung at
the Teatro São Carlos in Lisbon. He returned
to La Scala in 2012 for a season of Les
contes d’Hoffmann. Recent engagements
include Romeo ét Juliette at the Arena di
Verona and Pique Dame at the Vienna State
Opera. He will return to the Vienna State
Opera in coming seasons for Pique Dame,
Boris Godunov and Les contes d’Hoffmann.
Lorina Gore is a regular performer
with Opera Australia, where her roles
have included the Queen of the Night
(The Magic Flute); Fiakermilli (Arabella);
Amina (La sonnambula); Lisa (La
sonnambula); Leila (The Pearl Fishers);
Tytania (A Midsummer Night’s Dream);
Honey B (Bliss); Marzelline (Fidelio);
Oscar (A Masked Ball); Yum-Yum
(The Mikado); Niece (Peter Grimes);
Despina (Così fan tutte); Musetta
(La bohème); Nanetta (Falstaff); and
Woglinde (the Ring cycle). In 2010 she
performed as Pip in Jake Heggie’s MobyDick for State Opera of South Australia,
for which she received a Helpmann Award
nomination. Her international performances
have included the title role in Lucia di
Lammermoor for Iford Arts; Fiakermilli
(Arabella) for Garsington Opera; Giulia
(La scala di seta) for Independent Opera;
Blonde (The Abduction from the Seraglio),
Agilea (Teseo) and Sandrina (L’infedeltà
delusa) for English Touring Opera; and
Norina (Don Pasquale) and Violetta
(La traviata) for New Zealand Opera.
Lorina Gore studied at the Australian
National University in Canberra and the
National Opera Studio in London and has
been the recipient of numerous prestigious
opera awards. She has recorded highlights
from Der Rosenkavalier with Yvonne Kenny,
and selections from Handel’s Rodelinda
conducted by Richard Bonynge, both for
ABC Classics. She will perform the roles
of Violetta and Musetta for Opera Australia
in 2015.
Born in Split, Suppé was whisked away
by his mother to her hometown of Vienna
following the death of his father in 1835.
It was in Vienna that his career in music
took off. Suppé wrote a vast quantity of
music for the stage, mostly operettas.
These included Light Cavalry, Flotte Bursche,
and Morning, Noon and Night in Vienna.
The two-act operetta Light Cavalry is today
best known for its overture. A real tubthumper, it draws together a range of styles
and idioms including trumpet fanfares,
military marches and a melody ‘in the
Hungarian style’.
PROGRAM NOTES
ARTIST PROFILES
46
Franz von Suppé (1819-1895)
Josef Strauss (1827-1870)
Sphärenklänge (Sounds of the Spheres)
Second son of Johann Strauss I and younger
brother of Johann Strauss II, Josef Strauss
was an architect and mechanical engineer
by profession. He pursued musical activities
in his spare time until his older brother
suffered a nervous breakdown in 1853,
which temporarily put him out of action.
Josef agreed to step up as interim conductor
of the famous Strauss Orchestra. His earliest
compositions also date from this time.
Josef presumably enjoyed his time on the
podium for he shared conducting duties
with his older brother for the better part
of the next decade (that said, Johann
Strauss II resented his brother’s new-won
fame and tried, for a time, to push him out
of the limelight). But, sadly, he was destined
not to have a long life and died at the age
of 42, most probably from a brain tumour.
Josef Strauss’s original compositions
number approximately 300 and he wrote
many more arrangements of works by other
composers (most of which do not survive).
This work, Sphärenklänge is notable for its
refined orchestration and subtle treatment
of waltz idioms.
47
‘Vilja Song’ from The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow (original title: Die lustige
Witwe) was the work that brought Hungarianborn Lehár to international attention. Premièred
in Vienna in 1905, it soon went on to conquer
the stages of the world. Up to that point
Lehár had eked out an existence as a military
Johann Strauss II (1825-1899)
In this number, the ‘merry widow’ of the title,
Hanna, sings what she claims is a national folk tale
– the story of the wood nymph Vilja, who enchants
a young huntsman and leaves him besotted.
Es lebt’ eine Vilja, ein Waldmägdelein,
Ein Jäger erschaut’ sie im Felsengestein!
Dem Burschen, dem wurde
So eigen zu Sinn,
Er schaute und schaut
auf das Waldmägdlein hin.
Und ein niegekannter Schauder
Fasst den jungen Jägersmann,
Sehnsuchtsvoll fing er still zu seufzen an!
Vilja, o Vilja, Du Waldmägdelein,
Fass’ mich und lass’ mich
Dein Trautliebster sein!
Vilja, O Vilja, was tust Du mir an?
Bang fleht ein liebkranker Mann!
There lived a Vilja, a wood-maiden,
A hunter spied her in a rocky cliff!
The fellow, became
So strangely affected,
He looked and looked
At the little wood-maiden.
And a never known shudder
Seized the young hunter,
Longingly he began quietly to sigh!
Vilja, O Vilja, you little woods-maiden,
Take me and let me
Be our dearest true love!
Vilja, O Vilja, what are you doing to me?
Fearfully begs a lovesick man!
Das Waldmägdelein streckte
die Hand nach ihm aus
Und zog ihn hinein in ihr felsiges Haus.
Dem Burschen die Sinne vergangen fast sind
So liebt und so küsst gar kein irdisches Kind.
Als sie sich dann satt geküsst
Verschwand sie zu derselben Frist!
Einmal hat noch der Arme sie gegrüsst:
Vilja, o Vilja, Du Waldmägdelein,
Fass’ mich und lass’ mich
Dein Trautliebster sein!
Vilja, O Vilja, was tust Du mir an?
Bang fleht ein liebkranker Mann!
The woods-maiden stretched
Out her hand to him
And pulled him into her cliff-dwelling.
The lad almost lost his senses, ( for)
Thus loved and kissed no earthly child.
As soon as she was sated with kissing
She disappeared at that moment!
Just once did the poor lad wave to her:
Vilja, O Vilja, you little woods-maiden,
Take me and let me
Be our dearest true love!
Vilja, O Vilja, what are you doing to me?
Fearfully begs a lovesick man!
Translation by Lea Frey
48
The Egyptian March was written in 1869.
It was precisely at this time that Egypt was
flavour of the month in Europe with the
opening of the Suez Canal in November of
that year. Predictably, the Egyptian March
flirts with minor-key sonorities – the
augmented second interval, which forms
part of the minor scale, had long been used
as a signifier of the ‘Orient’. Another ‘exotic’
colour is the unusually prominent role of
the sharpened fourth degree of the scale.
bandmaster and enjoyed only moderate success
as a composer of operetta. But all that changed
with The Merry Widow.
PROGRAM NOTES
Franz Lehár (1870-1948)
Egyptian March
‘You’re the melody from a symphony
by Strauss, / You’re a Bendel bonnet, /
a Shakespeare sonnet, / you’re Mickey
Mouse!’ The ‘Strauss’ in Cole Porter’s
‘You’re the Top’ is most probably Johann
Strauss II, even though he was a composer
of waltzes, polkas and the like, and not
symphonies. The fact is, Porter would have
known that the name Strauss would have
meant ‘classical music’ to his audience.
Composer of ‘The Blue Danube’, ‘Tales
from the Vienna Woods’, and the operetta
Die Fledermaus, Johann Strauss II trained
(briefly) as a banker before following in
his father’s footsteps and becoming a
conductor and composer. (His father, Johann
Strauss I, was the composer of the ‘Radetzky
March’.) It turned out to be a wise move, as
he enjoyed a 50-year career in music and
became known as ‘The Waltz King’.
49
‘Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiss’ from Giuditta
Having made his name with The Merry Widow,
Lehár went on to compose a string of operettas
including Der Graf von Luxemburg (The Count
of Luxembourg), Zigeunerliebe (Gypsy Love) and
Das Land des Lächelns (The Land of Smiles).
50
Johann Strauss II
This song, ‘Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiss’
(My lips, they give so fiery a kiss), comes from his
last stage work, Giuditta, which was premièred
at the Vienna State Opera in 1934. Giuditta is
set for the most part in North Africa, where the
title character, who becomes a famous nightclub
performer, lives with her soldier lover, Octavio.
‘Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiss’ is one of the
songs that Giuditta performs as part of her act.
Ich weiss es selber nicht,
warum man gleich von Liebe spricht,
wenn man in meiner Nähe ist,
in meine Augen schaut und meine Hände küsst.
I don’t understand myself,
why they keep talking of love,
if they come near me,
if they look into my eyes and kiss my hand.
Ich weiss es selber nicht
warum man von dem Zauber spricht,
dem keiner widersteht, wenn er mich sieht
wenn er an mir vorüber geht.
I don’t understand myself,
Why they talk of magic,
you fight in vain, if you see me
If you pass me by.
Doch wenn das rote Licht erglüht
Zur mitternächt’gen Stund
Und alle lauschen meinem Lied,
dann wird mir klar der Grund:
But if the red light is on
In the middle of the night
And everybody listens to my song,
Then it is plain to see:
Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiss
Meine Glieder sind schmiegsam und weiss (weich),
n den Sternen da steht es geschrieben:
Du sollst küssen, du sollst lieben!
My lips, they give so fiery a kiss,
My limbs, they are supple and white,
It is written for me in the stars:
Thou shalt kiss! Thou shalt love!
Meine Füsse sie schweben dahin,
meine Augen sie locken und glüh’n
und ich tanz’ wie im Rausch den ich weiss,
meine Lippen sie küssen so heiss!
My feet, they glide and float,
My eyes, they lure and glow,
And I dance as if entranced, ‘cause I know!
My lips give so fiery a kiss!
In meinen Adern drin,
da rollt das Blut der Tänzerin
Denn meine schöne Mutter war
Des Tanzes Knigin im gold’nen Alcazar.
In my veins
runs a dancer’s blood,
Because my beautiful mother
Was the Queen of dance in the gilded Alcazar.
Sie war so wunderschön,
ich hab’ sie oft im Traum geseh’n.
Schlug sie das Tamburin, zu wildem Tanz,
dann sah man alle Augen glühn!
She was so very beautiful,
I often saw her in my dreams,
If she beat the tamburine, to her beguiling dance
All eyes were glowing admiringly!
Sie ist in mir aufs neu erwacht,
ich hab’ das gleiche Los.
Ich tanz’ wie sie um Mitternacht
Und fühl das eine blos:
She reawakened in me,
mine is the same lot.
I dance like her at midnight
And from deep within I feel:
Meine Lippen, sie küssen so heiss!
My lips, they give so fiery a kiss!
An den schönen, blauen Donau
(On the beautiful, blue Danube)
Nearly everybody recognises the Blue Danube
melody, the first of the chain of waltz
tunes that make up this elaborate, almost
symphonic composition. Like many of the
greatest ideas, it is marvellously simple,
based on the rising triad of a D major
chord. This comes with punctuation saying
immediately ‘Viennese waltz’, and continues
to delight for the 32 bars of its course.
As he thought up this theme, Strauss
recalled a poem by Karl Isidor Beck, a love
poem to Vienna or to a woman in Vienna,
ending, ‘By the Danube, the beautiful blue
Danube’. Strauss had his title.
In its original form, the Blue Danube was for
orchestra and chorus and was first performed
by the Men’s Choral Society of Vienna in
1867. But it was repeated only once in this
form – a failure by the standards of the
famous and popular Johann Strauss. But
later in the year a performance by orchestra
alone at the Paris World Fair began the craze.
The Danube may not be blue except when
it reflects a cloudless sky, but Strauss’ most
famous waltz, as Egon Gartenberg rightly
says, made it blue for all the world.
The Gypsy Baron – Overture
Austrian statesman Prince Metternich
famously remarked that ‘Asia begins at the
Landstrasse’. In other words, Asia begins at
the east-facing road out of Vienna. It was
down that road that exotic peoples dwelt,
none more so than the Gypsies.
Gypsy music, or an approximation of it,
had long been popular in Vienna (Brahms’s
so-called Hungarian Dances are actually
appropriations of the Gypsy style). Johann
Strauss II was able to exploit the fashion
for Gypsy themes in his operetta The Gypsy
Baron, which was premièred at the Theater
an der Wien on 24 October 1885, on the eve
of the composer’s 60th birthday.
PROGRAM NOTES
Franz Lehár
The overture to The Gypsy Baron opens
with a forceful, rhetorical Gypsy flourish.
This gives way to snatches of melodies
here, more fully worked out themes there
(including a beguiling melody played by the
oboe), and frequent changes of mood and
tempo (typical of the two-tempo verbunkos
pattern). As you might expect from ‘The
Waltz King’, a waltz theme appears but
it soon gives way to a quick duple-metre
dance in the Gypsy style.
Listeners may imagine the beginning as
morning in the mist, with the rippling sound
of the play of waters on the river’s bottom.
The main body of the river is in the full
statement of the immortal theme, which
will return, after being followed by a string
of others – tributaries, each as inspired as
its predecessor. Strauss’ refined and subtle
scoring is most evocative in the introduction
and in the coda, with its nostalgic trumpet.
The world can’t get this music out of its
head – but why should it?
Adapted from a note by David Garrett © 2004
51
Frühlingsstimmen (Voices of Spring)
Composed in 1883, Voices of Spring features
the voice in the music as well as in the title.
It was written to show off the brilliance of Bianca
Bianchi, a coloratura soprano at the Vienna Court
Opera. As one reviewer recognised at the time,
Voices of Spring was ‘less a dance piece than a
52
concert piece’. Some found it too virtuosic,
too French and too trifling, but Voices of Spring
was well received and it was predicted that
sopranos of all languages would include the
work in their repertoire. Bianchi herself proceeded
to interpolate it in her opera performances,
including Rossini’s The Barber of Seville.
Die Lerche in blaue Höh’entschwebt,
Der Tauwind weht so lau,
sein wonniger milder Hauch belebt
und küsst das Feld, die Au.
Der Frühling in holder Pracht
erwacht, Ah! Alle Pein zu End’ mag sein.
Alles Leid entflohn’n ist es weit!
The lark soars in the blue sky above,
the dew-wind blows so warm,
its mild breath brings life,
and kisses the field, the meadow.
Spring in all her splendour
awakes, Ah! All pain may be at an end
All suffering is flown far away.
Schmerz wird milder
frohe Bilder
der Glaub’ an Glück
kehrt zurück.
Sonnenschein
dringt nun ein. Ah
Alles lacht! Ah – Erwacht.
Pain eases,
scenes of gladness,
faith in happiness
returns.
The sunshine
now breaks through.
Everything laughs. Ah – everything wakes.
Die Lerche, etc…
The lark, etc…
Da strömt auch der Liederquell,
der so lang schon schien zu schweigen:
Klingen hört dort wieder rein und hell,
süsse Stimmen aus den Zweigen, Ah –
Leis’ lässt die Nachtigall
Schon die ersten Töne hören
um die Kön’gin nicht zu stören
schweigt ihr Sänger all’!
Voller schon klingt bald ihr süsser Ton,
Ach, bald, Ah –
O Sang der Nachtigall
holder Klang, ah-ja
Liebe durchglüht, Ah –
Tönet das Lied, Ah –
süss und traut,
scheint auch Klagen zu tragen, Ah
wiegt das Herz in süsse Träume ein Ah –
leise ein.
There also flows a stream of songs
that for so long seemed to be silenced;
hear again the sounds both pure and clear
sweet voices from the branches, Ah! –
Gently the nightingale
lets her first song be heard;
so as not to disturb the queen,
hush you singers all!
Fully now soon her sweet song sounds,
Ah soon, ah –
O song of the nightingale,
lovely song, ah yes,
Love glows through, ah –
The song sounds, ah –
sweet and dear,
It seems to bring plaints as well, ah,
lulls the heart into sweet dreams, ah –
gently.
Sehnsucht und Lust, Ah –
Wohnt in der Brust,
Wenn ihr Sang lockt so bang
Longing and pleasure, ah –
dwell in the breast
when her song tempts so fearfully
Fundelnd ferne wie Sterne, Ah –
Zauber schimmert wie des Mondes Strahl,
Ah-wallt durch’s Tal!
sparkling far away like stars, ah –
Magic shimmers like moonbeams,
ah – reigns through the valley.
Kaum will entschwinden die Nacht,
Lerchensang frisch erwacht
Licht kommt sie künden,
Schatten entschwinden! Ah –
Hardly has the night vanished,
when the lark’s song wakes anew,
coming to tell of light,
and shadows disperse! Ah –
Die Lerche, etc…
entfloh’n ist’s heut’ gar weit. Ah –
Des Frühlings Stimmen klingen traut, Ah
Ah- o süsser Laut, Ah-ha!
The lark, etc…
today has flown far away. Ah –
Voices of spring sound so dear, ah
ah – o sweet sound, ah – yes.
Abridged from a note by Yvonne Frindle © 2002
Translation: Symphony Australia © 2002
PROGRAM NOTES
Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II
Csárdás from Ritter Pásmán
A csárdás is a Hungarian dance in two
contrasting sections: the first slow, the
second fast and wild. A ‘csárda’ is a country
inn but there is no reason to believe that the
csárdás originated as a rustic dance. It was
more likely invented by aristocrats. Franz
Liszt was among the first to popularise the
dance in his piano music.
Ritter Pásmán is Johann Strauss’s only
opera (his works for the stage are mostly
operettas). That said, it was not particularly
successful in its opening season in 1892
(it was premièred at the Vienna Court
Opera) nor has it entered the repertory
since. Nevertheless, the csárdás from
Ritter Pásmán has enjoyed success as
a concert work.
53
‘Laughing Song’ from Die Fledermaus
Viennese operetta was created indirectly by
Frenchman Jacques Offenbach. When his
works arrived in Vienna in the late 1850s their
tremendous reception led to demand for homegrown product, to which various composers
responded with mixed success. Vienna’s theatre
producers believed that great rewards awaited if
Strauss, ‘The Waltz King’ – who at this point had
led Viennese popular taste for 20 years – could
be talked into writing operetta.
Strauss wrote 16 operettas, but from investing
so much of his working life he got a rather
poor return. This was because the operettas
were usually concocted primarily as an excuse
to string together waltzes and polkas, the most
catchy of which would then be extracted as
dance numbers. Their dramatic integrity was
virtually nonexistent. Although well received
and produced across Europe, their inherent lack
of theatrical interest ultimately consigned them
to oblivion. Moreover, Strauss never had a very
secure sense of stagecraft, and consequently
was particularly hampered by his uninspired
librettists and asinine plots.
The glittering exception is Die Fledermaus,
to whose sparkling libretto Strauss responded
with unalloyed brilliance. Eisenstein is supposed
to be commencing a short sentence in prison,
54
but decides to attend a ball instead and
surrender himself the following morning.
He doesn’t mention this to his wife Rosalinde,
and she likewise fails to mention her utilising
his absence to entertain Alfred, an old flame.
To keep this reunion private, Rosalinde gives her
maid Adele the evening off. This greatly pleases
Adele, who has acquired an invitation to the
ball. When Eisenstein leaves, the police arrive
and arrest the unfortunate Alfred, who gallantly
impersonates Eisenstein to protect Rosalinde
from embarrassment.
At the ball, Eisenstein is surprised when he
thinks he sees his maid. Adele, however, rather
publicly points out how silly Eisenstein is to
mistake a lady such as herself for a maidservant.
She makes this clear in her ‘Laughing Song’.
Adapted from a note by Alastair McKean © 1999
Mein Herr Marquis, ein Mann wie Sie
My dear Marquis, a man like you
sollt’ besser das verstehn,
should know better than that.
darum rate ich, ja genauer sich
That’s why I say it’s important
die Leute anzusehn!
to take a closer look at people.
Die Hand ist doch wohl gar so fein, hahaha,
My hand is awfully elegant,
dies Füßchen so zierlich und klein, hahaha,
my little foot so petite,
die Sprache, die ich führe,
the way I speak,
die Taille, die Tournüre,
my waist, my bustle,
dergleichen finden Sie
you won’t find anything like that
bei einer Zofe nie!
on a maidservant!
Gestehen müssen Sie fürwahr,
You really must admit,
sehr komisch dieser Irrtum war!
it’s a very funny mistake!
Ja, sehr komisch, hahaha,
Yes, very funny, hahaha,
ist dies Sache, hahaha,
all this affair, hahaha,
drum verzeihn Sie, hahaha,
so forgive me, hahaha,
wenn ich lache, hahaha!
if I laugh.
Mit dem Profil im griech’schen Stil
My Grecian profile
beschenkte mich Natur;
was a gift of nature;
wenn nicht dies Gesicht schon genügend spricht,
If this face isn’t proof enough,
so sehn Sie die Figur!
then look at my figure!
Schaun durch die Lorgnette Sie dann, ah,
Then take a look through your lorgnette
sich diese Toilette nur an.
at my outfit.
Mir scheinet wohl, die Liebe
I really think love
macht Ihre Augen trübe
has clouded your eyes.
der schönen Zofe Bild
The image of your beautiful maidservant
hat ganz Ihr Herz erfüllt!
has so filled your heart,
Nun sehen Sie sie überall,
that you think you see her everywhere.
sehr komisch ist fürwahr der Fall!
The whole thing really is very funny!
PROGRAM NOTES
Johann Strauss II
Translation: Symphony Australia © 2003
55
Johann Strauss II
Marche persane (Persian March)
The Persian March was the hit of Strauss’s
1864 season with his orchestra at the
Russian summer resort town of Pavlovsk, near
St Petersburg. For his efforts, Strauss was
awarded the Persian Order of the Sun by the
Shah of Persia, Naser al Din.
Like the Egyptian March, the Persian March
demonstrates Strauss in ‘Oriental’ mode
(indeed, it predates the Egyptian March) and,
like the later work, relies to a large extent upon
use of the augmented second interval to provide
‘exotic’ colour. Strauss reprised the work in
Vienna later that year at a concert marking
the 20th anniversary of his career in music.
TEDDY TAHU
RHODES
SERIOUS SONGS
Music by Brahms-Glanert, Schubert and Barber
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra,
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra,
Australian String Quartet, Kristian Chong
Graben, Vienna
Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka
The polka charged into the ballrooms of Europe
from rural Bohemia. It may have originated in
Poland (‘polka’ being the Czech word for a Polish
woman) but the precise origins of the dance and
its name are not known. In any case, the polka
became tremendously popular in the 1840s and
was danced from Prague to St Petersburg, Paris
to Vienna, London to Calcutta. A round dance
(i.e. the dancers form a large circle), the polka is
most typically a lively dance but several varieties
56
developed in Vienna in the 1850s, including a
slowish variety and even one in triple time.
This work, the Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka, is most
definitely an example of the lightning quick
variety. It is one of Strauss’s most popular works.
Although the work always goes by its German
title, ‘tritsch-tratsch’ might be translated as
‘chit-chat’ – Vienna being a city that has always
loved gossip and intrigue.
Program notes © Robert Gibson 2014,
unless otherwise indicated.
Featuring the Australian debut recording of Detlev Glanert’s amazing
‘recomposition’ of Brahms’ Four Serious Songs and Max Reger’s
powerhouse arrangement of Schubert’s “Erl-King”.
Available at tso.com.au AND
TSO Box Office 1800 001 190
57