"Walloon". Archduke Maximilian, the younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph, was sent as an emissary to Paris and Brussels in 1856. In Brussels, the Archduke was introduced to sixteen-year-old Princess Charlotte. In his report on his stay in Brussels, Maximilian mentioned not a word about the petite, highly intelligent, graceful young girl. On new year's eve 1856 the engagement came about, musch to the delight of young Charlotte, who saw in the imposing Archduke from Vienna her fairy-tale prince. On 28th July 1857 the marriage of Charlotte of Belgium and Archduke Maximilian took place in Brussels. At the imperial court of Austria, there was little jubilation, but nevertheless a celebration with fireworks was held as early as 21st July in the imperial Volksgarten on the Ringstrasse, hailing the engagement of the couple. Josef Strauss and military band leader Wilhelm von Asboth provided the music. josef Strauss presented his Wallonen-Marsch, specially composed for the evening. In a report on this concert, it was said of the piece that "it was enjoyes for its melodic rythms and had to be repeated". But not a word was wasted on the character of its dark march, apparently infused with motifs from those distant times when there were still Walloon (Romance-speaking ethnic people native to Belgium, principally its southern region of Wallonia) soldiers in the Holy Roman Empire. It is remarkable, that this dark wedding march appears to have foreshadowed the tragic fate of the couple. As emperor of Mexico, Maximilian was shot down in 1867, and Charlotte san into incurable mental illness, escaping only through her death in 1927.
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Paintings by Cesare Dell’Acqua & Franz Xaver Winterhalter
Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra, Kosice
Ernst Märzendorfer
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