Johann Strauss II - Kaiser-Walzer (Emperor Waltz), Op. 437

Strauss often played in the glittering Imperial balls, conducting the orchestra and playing the first violin at the same time.   The majestic launch of this fascinating waltz presents the backdrop of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the hegemony of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph in 1888. Johann Strauss II was Music Director of the Dance Hesperides of the Imperial Court from 1863 to 1872 and composed on occasion for the celebration of an imperial anniversary. The ingenuity of the melody of the Emperor Waltz, which was originally orchestrated for a full orchestra, is such that it was easily adapted for the four or five instruments of a chamber ensemble by the Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg in 1925. This waltz is a tender and somewhat melancholic work, which at times turns its gaze nostalgically to the old Vienna. The waltz praises the majesty and dignity of the old monarch, who was fully devoted to his people. It begins with a majestic, magnificent march, which soon re

Georges Bizet - Introduction

Portrait of Georges Bizet.

In his short passage from the earth - he lived for only thirty-seven years - Georges Bizet never tasted the happiness of success. Yet this admiredly gifted composer also possessed a work, the opera Carmen, which was meant to be one of the most popular music compositions. The constant compromises he was forced to make have certainly been an obstacle to the enjoyment of the popularity he deserved.

His opponents outnumbered his supporters. But considering that Nietzsche proposed Bizet's music as an antidote to the sonic rationality, dogmatism and meticulousness of Wagnerian lyrical dramas, we understand that the acceptance or rejection of the French composer's music was primarily a matter of not as much objective value and assimilated disposition as prejudices and antagonisms.

In his short and not particularly bright life, some relatively time devoted to primary musical creation. He did not make the most of his abilities and facilities, but composed music full of freshness and charm with orchestrations of transparency and colorfulness at the same time, music full of soothing qualities but also triggering of excitement and emotion mechanisms.

And we must not forget, of course, that his masterpiece Carmen, a play watered down with theatrical realism, holds the place of the forerunner of Italian verism.



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