"Sympathy". Once Josef Strauss finally decided to help his brother Johann with the family business and to take over the duties related to the direction of the concerts and balls of the Strauss Orchestra, as well as the composition of the repertoires required for these, he quickly developed a very unique personal style. In this context, the Polka-mazurka complemented his own shy nature: in the melancholic strains of this originally Polish dance, he found an expression of his feelings. Josef Strauss, like no other composer of his era, was able to tie in the Mazurka with the local national dance, the Ländler. In his early works written in the Polka-mazurka rhythm, his preference for minor harmonies proves especially effective. Among this group of compositions is the Sympathie Polka-Mazurka, whose première had been announced for the first concert of the winter season in the Salon of the Volksgarten in October 1859. Josef Strauss, however, had already performed the work a week earlier, on 23 October 1859, during the final concert in Ungers Casino in Hernals, as a sort of dress rehearsal. It was obviously very important to Josef Strauss that this work be presented perfectly. His extra care bore fruit, as the report in the 31 October edition of the theatre trade newspaper Der Zwischenakt praised the Sympathie-Polka as "one of the loveliest Strauss pieces ever composed." With its reserved; simple and slightly elegiac grace, this Polka-mazurka has been fascinating audiences ever since. It belongs to those compositions of which Johann Strauss later said, "These melodies captured every fibre of Josef's heart and soul."
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Painting by Auguste Toulmouche
Wiener Philharmoniker
Zubin Mehta
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