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The New Year’s Concert will invoke Beethoven
The New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic is the main media event of the classic. Its formula is masterful. One of the best orchestras in the world, one of the best directors of the moment and the music of the Strauss as a common denominator. It has a solid tradition, as evidenced by its 80-year history. And gathers in front of the tv to an average of 50 million viewers of nearly a hundred countries. Every year seems the same, but always different. On this occasion he directs, for the first time, the teacher Latvian Andris nelsons creek. He made his debut as choreographer of the Spanish José Carlos Martínez in the scenes pre-recorded ballet. You will hear nine compositions never before scheduled, including music of Beethoven, in commemoration of its 250th anniversary. And will palmearse, to finish, the March Radetzky, which this year will ring in a agreement released from troublesome adhesions nazis. All this, and much more, are covered in this guide.
Capital of classical music
you have to Discard imitations, as the main New Year Concert held in Vienna. The austrian capital is also of classical music. Here have lived and worked the major composers from the EIGHTEENTH century, such as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, but also Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler or Schönberg. It could almost be written the history of the music of the last 300 years without leaving their streets. But the image of Vienna as a musical capital classic has been the result of a successful construction of the cultural policy of austria. A shape model to counter its decline, after the fall of the austro-Hungarian Empire and its annexation to Hitler’s Germany. Each January 1, Vienna shines to the beat of the music of the Strauss. And, more specifically, of Johann Strauss the son (1825-1899), the composer most prolific and interpreted in this event.
Controversial origin
despite its undeniable beauty and glamour, this musical event has a origin grim. It arose out of the nazi propaganda in Austria annexed as a province of the Third Reich. Clemens Krauss directed his first edition, December 31, 1939, to the front of a Philharmonic orchestra of Vienna declared Judenfrei (“clean of jews”). But, since 1941, it takes place in their correct date. Victimhood austrian, evident in films such as Smiles and tears, shut out those origins of the nazis. And, after the Second World War, it became a showcase of cultural excellence of Austria. Today it forms part, also, of the traditions of the beginning of year in millions of homes around the world.
Golden Hall
The Latvian director Andris nelsons creek, in the rehearsal of the New Year’s Concert, on the 27th of December. FLORIAN WIESER EFE / EPA
it Is celebrated on the called Golden Hall of the Musikverein, the famous building of the concerts that built the Society of Friends of Music in Vienna, at the Karlsplatz. Was inaugurated, in January of 1870, and this year will celebrate its 150th anniversary. A design of the Danish architect Theophil von Hansen inspired by Greek classicism. What testifies to its decor, with those rows of caryatids, or the representations of Apollo and the nine muses on the ceiling. But also its shape, inspired by the golden section. A parallelepiped rectangular or “shoebox” that houses one of the best acoustic in the world.
A sea of flowers
the Golden Hall of The Musikverein is decorated annually with a spectacular array of floral. In the past they were a gift from the Italian city of San Remo, but since 2015 is in charge of the decoration Department of Parks and Gardens of the City of Vienna, which has for more than a century and a half to decorate the parks of the austrian capital. The room becomes a sea of 30,000 flowers. This year we have designed combinations of anthuriums, roses, lilies and orchids, which will dominate the pastel tones. From a delicate purple to pink to red to apricot, passing through light yellow, white, cream, and fresh green. All with the intention to highlight the brightness of this room.
Philharmonic viennese
The Latvian Mariss Jansons conducts the New Year’s Concert, January 1, 2016. HERBERT NEUBAUER AIA / APA
The Vienna Philharmonic is one of the best orchestras in the world. Came, in 1842, to meet the growing demand for concerts philharmonic in the city. Hence its name, since Wiener Philharmoniker literally means “Musical vienna”. It was founded by the composer Otto Nicolai with the best musicians of the orchestra of the Opera house, the Imperial (now State), constituted in an association self-managed. It is a very conservative with a sound that is unmistakably indigenous and elegant. It has a tradition of instrumental own, with different variants of other bands for the oboe, the horn or the timpani. And it is common to find among its members not only disciples of old members, but also of strong affiliations to family.
Women in the orchestra
conservative ideology of this orchestra has incurred controversy for his sexist and racist. Until 1997 they were not allowed any woman to touch it, but today has 15 members female of right among its 145 musicians, and even account, since 2011, with one woman among its four first violins, the Bulgarian Albena Danailova. But this year, you won’t see in the first stand, where it will act as concertmaster, the violinist Volkhard Steude. Yes we will see, on the contrary, several members of the orchestra between the first stands of the violins seconds, as is the case of Patricia Hood-Koll, daughter of the violist Heinrich Koll, recently retired. The rise of women between the shelves of the Vienna Philharmonic is still very slow. Is due, in good measure, to the fact that each new admission must pass a test period, after having obtained a seat in the Orchestra of the State Opera. And also, according to its chairman, to the new additions not do it “because whether or not they are women, but because they are the best instrumentalists”.
The director Andris nelsons creek
The Vienna Philharmonic lacks senior director. Invited to one of the most prestigious in the world for each concert of compost, tour or festival. And the New Year’s Concert is a good example. Although in the past is counted initially with a director stable for this appointment (as Clemens Krauss, Josef Krips, Willi Boskovsky, and Lorin Maazel), since 1987 we propose a director that is different for each edition. The alternation began with Herbert von Karajan and it has been followed by Claudio Abbado, Carlos Kleiber, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Nikolaus Harnthis software, Seiji Ozawa, Mariss Jansons, Georges Prêtre, Daniel Barenboim, Franz Welser-Möst, Gustavo Dudamel, and Christian Thielemann. In 2020 debuts the Latvian Andris nelsons creek (Riga, 1978), which is the holder of the Boston Symphony and Gewandhauskapellmeister in Leipzig. Nelsons creek made her debut with the Vienna Philharmonic, in October 2010, and has established itself since then as one of its main directors. Combines a talent overflowing with a natural simplicity, and has recorded, between 2017 and 2019, the complete symphonies of Beethoven for Deutsche Grammophon.
The Strauss and contemporaries
the tradition of The New Year’s Concert is related to the members of the family Strauss, the main dynasty of composers of dance music and operetta viennese NINETEENTH century. The most relevant was Johann Strauss son, but also added works of his brother, Josef, the more imaginative a musical level, the family patriarch, Johann Strauss, and, to a lesser extent, Eduard, the youngest of the saga. This edition we will listen to works by all of them. Predominates Johann son, with six of the 19 compositions. This year you will hear three waltzes yours with a lot of character, as Where bloom the lemon trees (introduced in 1951 by Krauss and touched for the last time, in 2013, with Welser-Möst) and Abrazaos, millions of beings! (that first ran Krauss, in 1950, and Barenboim, finally, in 2014) and Enjoy life (that sounded with Krips in 1947, and Jansons went the last time, in 2012). Less traditional is the polka Festival of the flowers-Maazel has been the only one that has been included, in 1996). However, the waltz most well-known will be On the beautiful blue Danube (as a tip, since 1945, in which they introduced Krauss) next to the polka quick Tritsch-Tratsch (directed in 1943 by Krauss and by Jansons, in 2012, in version coral with the singing Boys of Vienna).
This year will mark the 150th anniversary of the death of Josef Strauss. And for that reason we have scheduled five of his works. Three are new in the Concert of New Year: the exquisite waltz love Greetings, the pompous March of Liechtenstein and the polka French Cupid. It will also be yours polka fast that opens the encores: In full flight, which introduced Boskovsky, in 1972. But the best composition by Josef Strauss will be the last of the program: the waltz Dynamos (Mysterious forces of attraction), which inspired Richard Strauss to his “Ohne mich…” at the end of the second act of the opera Der Rosenkavalier (introduced by Krauss in 1949, and is not heard, from 2014, that was led by Barenboim). Also not be missing music in the small of the Strauss, Eduard, with two compositions that are new in the New Year’s Concert and giving a sample of his mastery as a creator of polkas. To highlight the polka fast suddenly over the polka mazurka Flower of frost. And the patriarch of the Strauss, Johann the father, so only you will hear, in the end, the popular March Radetzky.
Also frequently included works of composers, both his contemporaries and associated with the orchestra viennese as Joseph Lanner, Franz Lehár, Otto Nicolai and Franz von Suppé. This year will open the concert with another novelty: the varied overture from the operetta The vagabond, Karl Michael Ziehrer, composer a contemporary and rival of the Strauss, whose music rings in the New Year’s Concert sporadically since 1972. And will have a new director Josef Hellmesberger son, who replaced Mahler as conductor of the orchestra in vienna in 1901: their catchy Gavotte. Will also sound another galop Hans Christian Lumbye, the “Strauss Danish”, whose music introduced Jansons in the New Year’s Concert in 2012, and after Mehta, in 2015. It will touch your Galop of the postillón, which is also a novelty. But the most well-known work, among the composers contemporaries, will be heard at the beginning of the second part: the overture to the operetta light Cavalry from Franz von Suppé, one of the rivals of the Strauss and celebrated its bicentennial in 2019 (the introduced Muti, in 1997, and Welser-Möst repeated in 2013).
Beethoven, among other commemorations
In the New Year’s Concert also added to, exceptionally, some parts of a composer relevant to celebrate their anniversary. So it happened in 1991, with Mozart, in 1997 with Schubert, in 2009 with Haydn, in 2013 with Verdi and Wagner, and in 2014 with Richard Strauss. This year the main commemoration will be Ludwig van Beethoven, in his 250th anniversary, who lived in Vienna from 1792 until his death, in 1827. The quality of his symphonies, marked a before and an after, but also were the origin of this orchestra. And its technical difficulty forced them to create a professional set for concerts in Vienna with the best musicians of the Opera Imperial. This set is the Vienna Philharmonic, which included some musicians who premiered the Ninth symphony. This year has been scheduled, for the first time, music from Beethoven: six of their Twelve contradanzas, published in 1802, a collection of dances for Bonn and fragments of ballet. To note, the number 7 (the one we shall hear in the fourth place), which was intended as the finale of the ballet The creatures of Prometheus, premiered in 1801, and later became the theme of his Variations Eroica for piano, although it is more known as theme of the movement end of the Symphony no. 3.
But there are two other memorials in this edition of the New Year Concert. A is the 150th anniversary of the Musikverein, will be remembered with two of the three compositions written by the brothers Strauss for his inaugural ball, January 15, 1870. It is the case of the waltz Enjoy life, of Johann the son, as also of the polka mazurka Flower of frost, Eduard. But it is a pity that they have omitted the third: the polka French Greeting of the artists, Josef (introduced Boskovsky, in 1974, and Jansons went for the last time, in 2012). The other memorial is the anniversary of the Salzburg Festival, the summer residence of the orchestra but also the place where Clemens Krauss created this format as a monographic concert of waltzes, polkas and marches of the family Strauss, in 1929. In the hand programme it is indicated that the Vienna Philharmonic will be playing the waltz love Greetings, Josef Strauss, in a tribute to the festival, where he serves every summer since 1922.
Waltzes, polkas and marches
The program is always composed polkas alternated with waltzes and marches, along with excerpts orchestral operettas, viennese. The polka is a dance of origin, bohemian very popular in Vienna in the NINETEENTH century. This year we will listen to their three variants: the sparkling polka fast (as Tritsch-Tratsch, of Johann Strauss son), the elegant polka française (this year represented by Cupid, by Josef Strauss), and the stylized polka mazurka (this edition with the mellow Flower of frost, Eduard Strauss).
The waltzes are part of the musically most exquisite New Year’s Concert. Symphonic works longer and more elaborate than the polkas, which combine several waltzes located between a slow introduction and a coda ending. As is tradition, Johann Strauss son, you will hear the most famous of all the waltzes, On the beautiful blue Danube. But we also have scheduled two magnificent examples: the homage to Italy, Where bloom the lemon trees and Abrazaos, millions of beings!, titled with a verse from the ode of Schiller that Beethoven used in the movement chorale of his Ninth symphony, but, in reality, it is a gift to Brahms that hides a veiled reference to his Sonata for violin and piano no. 2, as it has revealed the concertmaster, Volkhard Steude. This year, one of the waltzes musically more interesting will be Dynamos (Mysterious forces of attraction), by Josef Strauss, which, apart from the aforementioned influence on Richard Strauss, is a masterpiece from beginning to end, where the essence of viennese coexists with echoes of Berlioz and Wagner.
The marches are usually scheduled for the beginning or the end of the concert. They are the works of chance linked to events or characters relevant, as the gear that we will listen to as a third work of the concert, Josef Strauss, and dedicated to the president of the Society Royal of Agriculture, prince Alois von Liechtenstein. To finish, you will hear the popular March Radetzky, composed by Johann Strauss father to honor the quarterback that quelled the uprisings in the north of Italy. There will also be an overture to open each one of the parts of the concert. It begins with the overture from the operetta The vagabond, of Ziehrer, a sparkling comedy of situation, whose success came to Broadway. And in the second part you will hear it referred overture to the operetta light Cavalry, of Suppé, with a famous galop, which represents the hussars.
The encores
it Is well known that with the envisaged program does not conclude the concert. There are always three tips, i.e., compositions that are added to the end and out of the program. In the New Year’s Concert has a special character because they are pre-established since 1958. That year Willi Boskovsky was determined that the inclusion of a polka fast varies from year to year (in 2020 will be In full flight, by Josef Strauss), followed by the waltz On the beautiful blue Danube and the March Radetzky to finish. In reality, the tradition of having these three tips was initiated by Josef Krips, in 1946, and was continued by Clemens Krauss in 1954, although it was Boskovsky who established it, especially after the start of the television broadcasts the New Year Concert, in 1959.
Happy new year
There are various traditions assigned to the public during the concert. One is the greeting of the new year performed by the director with the orchestra before the waltz On the beautiful blue Danube. Here it is common that they interrupt the music with applause at the beginning of the introduction of the waltz. It is usual for the director to say in German simply: “The Vienna Philharmonic and I wish…”; to which is liable for the orchestra: “Happy new year”. However, some directors, such as Maazel, Harnoncourt, or Muti, they have used this time to make a brief speech.
Palms in the ‘March Radetzky’, this year desnazificada
Another tradition of the concert is the slap measured the public in the March Radetzky, Johann Strauss father, with the ending. Many times they are done under the directions of the conductor. It is what has remained a musical event where the audience behaved in the past in a more free and natural. By the recording in the radio’s concert conducted by Clemens Krauss in 1954, we know that the spectators reacted with cheers to listen to their compositions favorite, and forced the orchestra to stop and start again. However, never palmeaba so subdued during the music. This tradition began in the era of Willi Boskovsky in the sixties, when it was established the March Radetzky as the end of the concert. The tradition continued with Lorin Maazel in the eighties and acquired letter of definitive nature when to the very Herbert von Karajan, turned to the audience, in 1987, to direct it.
But this year, the March Radetzky has been in the news for a information to be revealed in the daily web of the orchestra, on the 12th of December. The work was introduced by Krips as a tip in the New Year’s Concert in 1946, in an orchestral arrangement of the member of the nazi party, Leopold Weninger. Nikolaus Harnoncourt opened the 2001 edition with the original version, which has an instrumentation is much more reduced. But as a tip has always been played in the version published by Weninger, in 1914, the editorial Benjamin-Verlag. On the web clarifies that, with time, the musicians of the orchestra have been added to many supplements and variations to the referral agreement, especially in the percussion. For that reason, the orchestra decided to make this year a new version and discard of Weninger, whose past as an arranger official of the Third Reich is troubling them.
A festive touch of humor
During the years in which Willi Boskovsky conducted the New Year’s Concert (1955-1979) acquired their condition more festive and fun. It splashed costumes, gags and jokes. Its origin is related with the ingenuity of the percussionist Franz Broschek. It all began in 1959, when he decided to don a beard and whiskers of a party during the polca quick Eljen a Magyar, of Johann Strauss son. The joke amused both the audience that, going forward, was named “joker official” New Year’s Concert. Each year followed small role plays related to any work of the program. As soon as you wore cordovan to play the castanets, as was disguised as a blacksmith to touch on some of the anvils or dragged a plucked chicken before shooting a shotgun. The public went with it with the palms. For the March Radetzky I used to play the box at the side of the podium, dressed in garb of military austro-Hungarian monarchy. And it is possible that in this joke is the origin of the famous slap measured current in this work. Today it is common to include some detail different during each edition of the concert, even with the collaboration of the director of the orchestra. In this edition, nelsons creek will show the public his talents as a trumpet player, like they did in the past Willi Boskovsky and Lorin Maazel on the violin.
television broadcast
The ORF, the public company broadcasting austrian, broadcast the concert live on the first of January. Broadcast television started in 1959, both in Austria and in nine countries through Eurovision (Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Holland, Italy, the then Federal Republic of Germany, Sweden and Switzerland). Spain came first between 1962 and 1970, and then from 1973 onwards without interruption until our days, always in Spanish Television and via Eurovision. For its 62nd relay will return to the German Michael Beyer at the address, which is already practiced in the editions of 2014 to 2016. A filmmaker of style, precise and analytical that will, once more, of 14 high-definition cameras. In Spain, the relay of the ORF will be able to see through The 1 in HD, but also in the web of RTVE and in the international Channel (and listening Classical Radio station along with other stations like Radio 5 or Radio Outside). It will start at 11.15 with the head of Eurovision and the famous prelude to Te Deum Marc-Antoine Charpentier. And will have this year with the comments of the journalist musical Martín Llade. The concert has two parts, with an interval of about 25 minutes. The first part, which will last until approximately 11.50, it’s usually something more serious and conventional. In fact, until 1992, not be relayed more than the second part, which will start at 12.15 and tends to be more eye catching and attractive, to include the best music, next to the scenes pre-recorded ballet.
Documentary film for the intermediate
Since 1992, the 25-minute interval are used to issue a short documentary about the natural and cultural treasures of Austria. It is done in a format that does not require speech spoken to be thought to issue in many countries. On this occasion we will see, from the 11.51, a documentary dedicated to Beethoven in its 250th anniversary, titled Swirls of leaves of Beethoven. The filmmaker Georg Riha returns as director, after his film, 2018 and is dedicated to the art nouveau. We will see several different sets of instrumentalists of the Vienna Philharmonic, this time located in various places related with the life and work of Beethoven in Austria, Baden, Gneixendorf and Vienna. The documentary starts, in the NINETEENTH century, in the House Beethoven-Pasqualati. Used as a thread a few sheets of sheet music flying from one location to another. And they end up forming a new composition, as in the TWENTY-first century.
Ballet color-Spanish
Since the New Year’s Concert it began broadcasting on television in 1959, has always had some scene in a ballet. They are led by the soloists of the Ballet of the Vienna State Opera, and feature a guest choreographer. This year will be, for the first time, a Spanish: the director and choreographer until 2019 for the National Carrier, José Carlos Martínez (Cartagena, 1969), National prize for Dance in 1999, and former solo dancer of the Paris Opera, where he began with Rudolf Nureyev. In this edition we look at two performances of ballet, both in the second part of the concert, shot at the end of August, under the direction of Michael Beyer. The first will be the waltz I Abrazaos, millions of beings!, Johann Strauss son. Five pairs of dancers will be placed in different locations of the Winter Palace of Prince Eugene, the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Finance. At present, this palace has become the scene of the negotiations for a coalition government in Austria between the Popular and the Green. The second scene of the ballet set to coincide with the six contradanzas of Beethoven, as another tribute to his 250th anniversary. On this occasion, two couples will dance following in the footsteps of the composer in Pfarrplatz and Döbling. The costume, which on occasion has been charged with a designer is important, as was the case in 2010 with Valentino, will be this year, for the second time, designer English Emma Ryott, a model maker of opera and ballet with extensive experience who has participated in 2016.
And to assist in 2021
tickets to attend the New Year Concert are sold by lottery through the website of the Vienna Philharmonic and a year in advance. To participate in the sweepstakes it is essential to register on the web, between 1 and 29 February 2020. The orchestra viennese makes it easy lately with all the information about the sweepstakes in a downloadable file in PDF, written in English. It has even enabled an online support center, which also includes a wide array of frequently asked questions, in German and English. The winners will be able to purchase tickets for the three opportunities in which can be seen live at this concert. The general rehearsal on the 30th December, at 11.00, for a price that ranges between 20 and 495 euros; for the Concert of Saint Sylvester or new year’s Eve 31 December, at 19.30, the price of which ranges between 25 and 860 euros, or for the New Year’s Concert from the first of January, at 11.15, with entries ranging from 35 to 1,200 euros.
