"Cyclops". During the Carnival season of 1860, Josef Strauss took his inspiration from the underworld, as had Jacques Offenbach two years before, upon accompanying the legendary singer Orpheus across the mystic River Styx. Strauss, who trained as an engineer, was fascinated by the Cyclopes, Uranus’s three sons according to Greek mythology, whose task it was to forge Zeus’s thunderbolts. The title page of the piano edition of the polka shows the scenario that inspired the composer. In the depths of a smoking volcano, the three Cyclopes (Brontes, Steropes, and Arges, as described by the writer Hesiod) are forging glowing arrows. A porter arrives with new material. It seems, however, not to have been a difficult task for ‘Pepi’ Strauss to forge his Cyclopen-Polka, which is so rich in special effects. After a four-bar introduction, there follow two sets of eight bars containing the first polka motif, succeeded by thirteen bars containing the second motif, which was not the norm. With the repetition of the first motif, the first part comes to an end. Two sets of eight bars, which are repeated, respectively, form the Trio, and the "Polka da capo," brings it to an end. The usual finale has been omitted. The première of the Cyclopen-Polka had been advertised for the charity ball of the brothers Johann and Josef Strauss on 20th February 1860 at Sperl’s establishment in Leopoldstadt.
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Painting: The Cyclops
Artist: Odilon Redon
Date: 1914
Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra, Kosice
Christian Pollack
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