Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
in St Petersburg
Estonian National
Symphony Orchestra Neeme Järvi
Johann Strauss II, c. 1865
3
5 Olga-Polka, Op. 196 (1857) 2:49
(Cäcilien-Polka)
Dedicated to the Grand Duchess Olga Feodorovna
Polka – Trio – Polka D.C. – Schluß
4
Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss (1827 – 1870)
9 Pizzicato-Polka, o. Op. (1869) 2:31
[ ] – Trio – Coda
Johann Strauss II
10 Grossfürsten-Marsch, Op. 107 (1852) 2:05
(Grand Dukes’ March)
Marsch – Trio – Marsch D.C. al Fine
5
Johann Strauss II
6
15 Hofball-Quadrille, Op. 116 (1852) 4:42
(Court Ball Quadrille)
1 Pantalon –
2 Été –
3 Poule –
4 Trénis –
5 Pastourelle –
6 Finale
7
18 Auf zum Tanze!, Op. 436 (1888) 2:50
(Let’s Dance!)
Schnell-Polka
[ ] – Trio – Finale
8
Strauss in St Petersburg
13
is this peasant music, so wonderful the Op. 289 (Persian March) was composed for
character and poetry of this work, that Johann’s 1864 concert season at Pavlovsk,
high and low in the audience stand with Strauss’s ninth consecutive ‘Russian summer’.
reverence before the orchestra to enjoy At first entitled Persischer Armee-Marsch
this exceptional work. (Persian Army March), the new work was
unveiled before the public at the Vauxhall
Johann Strauss II: Vergnügungszug pavilion on 11 July (29 June) – the name
The quick-polka Vergnügungszug, Op. 281 day of Peter and Paul, the patron saints of
(Pleasure Train) was the dedication dance St Petersburg – and proved the most popular
that Johann presented for the Ball of the of Strauss’s compositions in Russia that year,
Association of Industrial Societies, held in being played on no fewer than sixty-five
the Redoutensaal of the Hofburg (Imperial occasions. Particular interest attaches to the
Palace), Vienna, on 19 January 1864. The melody of the trio section, which quotes from
work was among those compositions, the ‘Persian Chorus’ in Mikhail Glinka’s
written for that year’s Vienna Carnival, opera Ruslan and Lyudmila (1842). Strauss
that he took with him to Pavlovsk for his 1864 dedicated his Marche persanne to the Shah
concert season. Russian audiences first heard of Persia, Naser al-Din (1831 – 1896), and
Vergnügungszug at the opening concert, on in return was awarded The Persian Order of
5 May (23 April), when it had to be repeated. the Sun.
Indeed, the lively and descriptive piece proved
so popular that it was played on no fewer than Johann Strauss II: Newa-Polka
thirty-three occasions during his five-month The 1867 waltz An der schönen, blauen
season. The polka captures the motion of Donau (By the Beautiful, Blue Danube) is
the flying wheels as the little ‘pleasure train’ one of several works by Johann Strauss II
hurtles along the tracks through the Austrian immortalising the world’s waterways. For his
(or Russian) countryside, the horn signal 1864 summer season at Pavlovsk, he chose
occasionally warning of its approach. to commemorate the river on which nearby
St Petersburg stands – the Neva. Strauss
Johann Strauss II: Persischer Marsch first introduced this polka française as an
The work published as the Marche persanne, encore item at his concert on 22 September
14
(10 September) and then featured it ‘officially’ to Russian audiences novelties from the
in the programme of his afternoon concert current year’s Vienna Carnival and Wein,
at the Vauxhall pavilion on 26 September Weib und Gesang! was performed as a purely
(14 September). Johann may have brought orchestral item in Pavlovsk for the first time
the Newa-Polka, Op. 288 (Neva Polka) on 7 August (26 July) 1869. It had to be
with him from Vienna, for his publisher repeated. In all, the work was played at least
there issued it two full months before the fourteen times that season, including encore
Russian world première. Wholly unclear, performances.
however, is why this printed edition bore the
composer’s dedication of such a distinctly Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss:
un-Russian polka to Queen Isabella II of Pizzicato-Polka
Spain (1830 – 1904). If his motive was purely Johann shared the conducting of his 1869
materialistic, then Strauss succeeded, for the Pavlovsk concert season – his eleventh – with
queen rewarded him by making the Viennese his brother Josef. Almost twenty-three years
maestro a Knight of the Royal Isabella Order. later Johann recalled:
I advised my brother Josef [...] to
Johann Strauss II: Wein, Weib und Gesang! compose something which would catch
Johann Strauss wrote his choral master waltz on in St Petersburg, and suggested he
Wein, Weib und Gesang!, Op. 333 (Wine, should prepare a pizzicato polka. He
Woman, and Song!) for the prestigious did not want to do it – he was always
Wiener Männergesang-Verein (Vienna indecisive – finally I proposed to him
Men’s Choral Association) and it received its that the polka should be created by the
première at the Association’s carnival-time two of us. He agreed to that, and just
‘Fools’ Evening’, held in the Dianabad-Saal, look – the polka caused a furore in the
Vienna, on 2 February 1869. When, in the true sense of the word.
company of his brother Josef (1827 – 1870), Johann did not exaggerate. The records kept
the composer departed in early April for his by the viola player in the forty-seven-strong
1869 summer concert season at Pavlovsk, he orchestra at Pavlovsk show clearly that the
took the new waltz with him. Johann had Pizzicato-Polka, o. Op. was played (with
long since adopted the practice of introducing encores) no fewer than three times on the
15
evening it was first introduced to the Russian love with Olga Smirnitskaya (1837 – 1920),
public, 24 June (12 June) 1869, and was the the spirited twenty-one-year-old daughter of
most frequently performed piece that season. aristocratic Russian parents, whom he met,
most probably, in late summer 1858 (see
Johann Strauss II: Russische Marsch-Fantasie above, Abschied von St. Petersburg). Their
After a break of three years, Johann Strauss intense and genuine mutual attraction was
agreed to give another, albeit shorter, concert enhanced by the fact that Olga not only was
season at Pavlovsk in the summer of 1872 musically educated but also composed; indeed,
and signed a contract with the railway Johann orchestrated some of her pieces and
company in St Petersburg. He had already played them in his Pavlovsk concerts. In
begun composing some novelties for the October 1884, on the occasion of his fortieth
purpose, when he chose instead to accept a anniversary as conductor and composer, Johann
highly lucrative conducting engagement at received a congratulatory letter from Olga’s
the ‘World’s Peace Jubilee and International great friend in Russia, Pauline Swertschkova.
Musical Festival’ in Boston, USA. As a result, Inter alia she reminded Johann of his romantic
he had to pay punitive damages to the Russian summer adventure with Olga, adding:
management for non-fulfilment of contract. I hope you will not take it amiss that I
Johann did not return to Vienna until mid- include with my letter this little romance
October 1872 and it was his brother Eduard Erste Liebe, whose words probably refer
(1835 – 1916) who conducted the Strauss to the year [18]58.
Orchestra in the first performance of the This work, Olga’s enchanting romance Erste
Russische Marsch-Fantasie, Op. 353 (Russian Liebe, Op. 14 (Pervaya Lyubov / First Love),
March Fantasy) – one of those pieces Johann to a text by Nikolai Ogaryov (1813 – 1877),
had intended for Pavlovsk – at a ‘Grand dates from 1877 – 78 and remains a poignant
Summer Festival’ in the Vienna Volksgarten on reminder of a star-crossed love affair that once
10 September that year. burgeoned with such youthful passion beneath
the ‘white nights’ of St Petersburg.
Olga Smirnitskaya: Erste Liebe. Romanze
The dashing Johann Strauss was no stranger Johann Strauss II: An der Wolga
to affaires de cœur, but he fell completely in The sixty-year-old Strauss undertook his
16
twelfth and final visit to Russia in 1886 to concert, on 29 April (17 April), that he
conduct a series of concerts in St Petersburg unveiled his Marche des gardes à cheval
at the joint invitation of the ladies of the (March of the Horse Guards), written
‘Russian Society of the Red Cross’ and a as a tribute to the bodyguard of
children’s charity. Both institutions boasted Tsar Alexander III (1845 – 1894), in
the Tsarina Marie Feodorovna (née Princess whose riding school the concerts took
Dagmar of Denmark, 1847 – 1928) as place. Although ‘uniquely interesting’, as
patron. At his disposal was the eighty-strong a St Petersburg music critic opined, the
orchestra of the Imperial Russian Opera, work was no ‘cavalry’ march in the style
while the vast riding school of the Horse of the Grossfürsten-Marsch (see above).
Guards Regiment was transformed into a Recognising this fact, Johann’s publisher
concert hall for his performances. Among the in Vienna chose instead to rechristen the
musical novelties the composer brought with work Russischer Marsch, issuing it with
him was the particularly attractive polka- the composer’s dedication to ‘his Majesty
mazurka Mon salut (My Greeting), which Alexander III, Emperor of Russia etc. etc.’.
was played for the first time at the opening
concert, on 26 April (14 April) 1886, and Johann Strauss II: Auf zum Tanze!
loudly applauded. For Viennese audiences it On the evening of 3 March 1888 the ‘Strauss
underwent a change of name to An der Wolga, Palace’ in Vienna bustled with distinguished
Op. 425 (By the Volga), under which title it names from the arts, music, literature, and
was also published. society for a ‘brilliant soirée’ hosted by
Johann Strauss and his wife. After the meal,
Johann Strauss II: Russischer Marsch guests were handed a folded card containing
(Marche des gardes à cheval) a facsimile autograph twenty-one-bar quick-
The Russischer Marsch, Op. 426 (Russian polka especially composed for the event by
March), one of the Viennese maestro’s Strauss, together with the poem ‘Auf zum
‘characteristic marches’, belongs to that Tanze!’ (Let’s Dance!) by Ludwig Ganghofer
group of compositions that Johann Strauss (1855 – 1920), which gave its title to the new
wrote for his series of charity concerts in polka. The celebrated pianist Alfred Grünfeld
St Petersburg in 1886. It was at his third (1852 – 1924) was among the guests; everyone
17
followed as he dashed to the ballroom to Theatre Union, given to a young theatre
play the piece and general dancing ensued. professional for remarkable work on stage. In
The music was subsequently developed into 2010 she joined Estonian National Opera.
an exhilarating full-length orchestral quick- Olga Zaitseva has worked with renowned
polka, Auf zum Tanze!, Op. 436, and given conductors such as Vello Pähn, Risto Joost,
its first public performance by Eduard Strauss Lauri Sirp, Jüri Alperton, Andres Mustonen,
and the Strauss Orchestra in the Great Hall Arvo Volmer, Neeme Järvi, and Kaspar
of the Vienna Musikverein on 21 October Mänd.
1888.
Established in 1944 by an Estonian choral
© 2017 Peter Kemp
music legend, the conductor and composer
The Johann Strauss Society of Great Britain
Gustav Ernesaks, the Grammy award winning
Estonian National Male Choir has grown
Having studied with Pille Lill and Jaakko into a world-famous professional vocal
Ryhänen, the soprano Olga Zaitseva ensemble, having recorded for Deutsche
graduated from the Estonian Academy of Grammophon, Sony, Finlandia, Alba
Music and Theatre in 2012, and in Poland Records, GB Records, Virgin Classics, and
has participated in master-classes of Ingrid now Chandos Records. Under Mikk Üleoja,
Kremling, Elisabeth Wilke, and Yandwiga its Chief Conductor and Artistic Director,
Rappé. She has won numerous prizes: First the Choir has developed a repertoire that
prize at the ‘Song Has a Woman’s Face’ extends from the Renaissance to the present
singing competition in St Petersburg in time. During its long history, the Estonian
2008, a special prize at the Third and Seventh National Male Choir has performed all over
‘Opera, the Soul of Mountains’ international Estonia and the former Soviet Union, as well
competitions in Poland, respectively in 2008 as in many European countries, in Israel,
and 2012, and two special prizes at the second Canada, and the USA.
national vocalists’ competition dedicated
to Vello Jürna. She has also participated in The Estonian National Symphony
the Klaudia Taev Competition. In 2015 she Orchestra (Eesti Riiklik Sümfooniaorkester)
won the Crystal Shoe Award of the Estonian started out in 1926 as a small radio orchestra.
18
Over the years, it has become the most The head of a musical dynasty, Neeme Järvi
prominent orchestral ambassador of Estonia is one of today’s most esteemed maestros.
abroad, powerfully increasing its international Over his long and highly successful career
scope particularly in recent decades. Since he has held positions with orchestras across
2010, its Principal Conductor and Artistic the world. Artistic and Music Director of the
Director has been Neeme Järvi, who had Orchestre de la Suisse Romande from 2012
served as its Principal Conductor also from to 2015, he is currently Artistic Director of
1963 until 1979. The Orchestra performs the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra,
with esteemed conductors and soloists and holds titles with the Residentie Orchestra
from around the world, including of course The Hague, Detroit Symphony Orchestra,
Estonian musicians of the front rank. Its CDs Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and Royal
demonstrate a quality that has been recognised Scottish National Orchestra. He spent three
by several renowned music magazines and summers between 2013 and 2016 as Head
have won several prizes, including a Grammy of Conducting and Artistic Advisor of the
Award for the recording of cantatas by Sibelius. Gstaad Conducting Academy. He has enjoyed
Its home venue is the Estonia Concert Hall in recent engagements with European orchestras
Tallinn, which turned 100 years in 2013, and it such as the Berliner Philharmoniker,
has undertaken more than fifty concert tours, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and
notably three-week tours of Italy in 2003 and Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, as well as
the USA in 2009 and 2013. It has appeared at major orchestras in the USA and throughout
such prestigious festivals as Europamusicale in Asia.
Munich, Musiksommer in Gstaad, the Baltic A prolific recording artist, Neeme Järvi
Sea Festival in Stockholm, and Il Settembre has amassed a discography of nearly 500
dell’Accademia in Verona. Commanding a recordings. He has been a star recording
repertoire that ranges from the baroque period artist with Chandos Records for over
to the present time, the Estonian National thirty years, his most recent releases, with
Symphony Orchestra has given the premiere orchestras such as the Orchestre de la Suisse
performances of symphonic pieces by almost Romande, Royal Scottish National Orchestra,
every Estonian composer, including Arvo Pärt, Estonian National Symphony Orchestra,
Erkki-Sven Tüür, and Eduard Tubin. Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, and
19
Jaan Krivel
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, including
discs of the three full-length ballets of
Tchaikovsky and works by Joachim Raff,
Kurt Atterberg, Saint-Saëns, and Martinů.
Whilst highlights of his extensive discography
for international record companies include
critically acclaimed complete cycles of works
by many of the great composers, he has also
championed less widely known composers such
as Wilhelm Stenhammar, Hugo Alfvén, and
Niels W. Gade, as well as composers from his
native Estonia, including Rudolf Tobias
and Arvo Pärt.
Neeme Järvi has been honoured with many
international prizes and accolades. Named
as one of the ‘Estonians of the Century’, he
holds various awards from his native country,
including an honorary doctorate from the
Music Academy of Estonia in Tallinn, and
honorary doctorates from Wayne State
University in Detroit, the universities of
Michigan and Aberdeen, and the Royal
Swedish Academy of Music. He has also been
appointed Commander of the North Star
Order by King Karl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.
34
11 Первая любовь First Love
В вечернем сумраке долина It was the evening dusk, the valley
Синела тихо за ручьем, Reigned blue and quiet over the stream,
И запах розы и ясмина The scented blooms of rose and jasmine
Благоухал в саду твоем; Filled your garden with their perfume;
В кустах прибережных влюбленно And in the bushes, there, beside the stream,
Перекликались соловьи. The nightingales in love sang to each other.
Я близ тебя стоял смущенный, And I was there, standing next to you,
Томимый трепетом любви. And I was shy, wracked by a fluttering love.
Уста от полноты дыханья My chest was full of urging breath
Остались немы и робки, That locked my lips and kept them timid,
А сердце жаждало признанья, While what my silent heart craved
Рука – пожатия руки. Was confession and your hand in mine.
Пусть этот сон мне жизнь сменила My life then let the noise of panicked colours
Тревогой шумной пестроты; Scramble in to succeed this dream;
Но память верно сохранила Yet still, my memory has kept
И образ тихой красоты, A truthful picture of that quiet beauty,
И сад, и вечер, и свиданье, The garden and the evening, the encounter,
И негу смутную в крови, And the uneasy bliss felt in my veins,
И сердца жар и замиранье – And how my heart was hot and frozen,
Всю эту музыку любви. The music, all that music made by love.
Ольга Смирницкая (1813 – 1877) Nikolai Ogaryov (1813 – 1877)
Translation: Surrey Translation Bureau
35
Neeme Järvi
H. Frederick Stucker
Olga Zaitseva
Also available
CHSA 5110
Suppé
Overtures and Marches
sr
38
Also available
CHSA 5158
A Festival of Fučík
sr
39
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40
Executive producer Ralph Couzens
Recording producer Tanel Klesment
Sound engineer Tanel Klesment
Editor Tanel Klesment
Mastering Rosanna Fish
A & R administrator Sue Shortridge
Recording venue Estonia Concert Hall, Tallinn; 1 May 2012 and 29 June – 2 July 2015
Front cover ‘The Johann Strauss Orchestra at a Court Ball’, coloured woodcut (1893)
after drawing by Theodor Zasche (1862 – 1922), now at Wien Museum, Karlsplatz /
AKG Images, London
Back cover Photograph of Neeme Järvi by Simon van Boxtel
Design and typesetting Cap & Anchor Design Co. (www.capandanchor.com)
Booklet editor Finn S. Gundersen
P 2017 Chandos Records Ltd
C 2017 Chandos Records Ltd
Chandos Records Ltd, Colchester, Essex CO2 8HX, England
Country of origin UK
41
STRAUSS IN ST PETERSBURG – Zaitseva / ENMC / ENSO / Järvi
CHAN 10937
18 Auf zum Tanze!, Op. 436 (1888) 2:50 Estonian National Symphony Orchestra
19 Russische Marsch-Fantasie, Op. 353 (1872) 3:37 Arvo Leibur leader
20 Alexander-Quadrille, Op. 33 (1847) 4:31
TT 82:49 Neeme Järvi