Turner-Quadrille, Op. 92 - Josef Strauss

"Athletes". In the years after the Revolution of March 1848, the athletics movement started by the Father of Athletics, Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, (1778 -1852) spread from Germany to the Danubian monarchy. Groups of young men devoted to body-building exercises sprang up, and the requisite athletic facilities were set up. Naturally, the female and male athletes organized social events and the 'First Viennese Athletic Club' was officially founded by 1861. In the summer of 1860 a festival was held, most likely on 13 August, at the 'Sperl' dance hall in Leopoldstadt. That a festival with unnamed organisers took place on this date is confirmed by newspaper accounts and also by the Strauss orchestra's cash ledger book. No reference to the organisation of an athletic club is to be found therein; it must have been the 'Sperl' festival on 13 August. The Turner-Quadrille, the piano score of which is dedicated to "The Athletes" on its title page, may have been played first in connection with this event. A mention in the Fremden-Blatt newspaper on 24 August includes the work among the novelties of the season, having had its premiere just a few days before. Moreover, on the programme for the Volksgarten concert, in which all the summer compositions of the zealous music director were listed, the Turner-Quadrille appears between the Lustschwarmer-Walzer (Merry Dreamer Waltz), op. 91, of 24 June 1860 and the Tag und Nacht-Polka (Day and Night Polka), op. 93, of 30 July 1860. (A somewhat earlier premiere for the Turner-Quadrille is also possible.) The work was made public, in any case, on 11 October 1860.

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Painting: Roman Athletes
Artist: Aniello Falcone
Date: 1640

Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, Bratislava
Michael Dittrich