"Winter's Tale". During the Carnival of 1859, the title of one of Josef Strauss’s most interesting waltzes, namely Wintermärchen, appeared for the first time on the Strauss orchestra’s programmes. The existence of this work was first published in an invitation which was extended by the Strauss brothers, Johann and Josef, to their charity ball to be held on 7th March at the “Sperl” establishment and which appeared in the Fremden-Blatt on 1st March 1859. This invitation affords music lovers a notion of the context in which Josef Strauss performed his splendid Wintermärchen waltz. Regarding the work itself, including the occasion on which it was first heard, no further announcement was made. The simple piano score of the work does not provide any clues. Based on the master copy, it appears, however, that Josef Strauss had intended to compose another concert waltz. Such was indeed his intention, for following the Perlen der Liebe, Op. 39, concert waltz the publisher Carl Haslinger was not willing to issue another work of this description, so he finally arranged it so that the master copy contained both a concert as well as a dance version. The long, fascinating introduction, reminiscent in its orchestral textures and harmonies of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt, and the meticulous coda were intended only for concert use. In the Strauss concerts for the 1859 season, the concert version was performed repeatedly. The Strauss orchestra retained exclusive possession of the scores. Other orchestras could not perform the waltz, as the publisher, Haslinger, did not publish the orchestral score. The Wintermärchen waltz eventually disappeared completely from the Strauss orchestra’s programmes, as well.
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Painting: Winter in Warsaw
Artist: Wladyslaw Chmielinski
Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra, Kosice
Michael Dittich
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