The Music Society's ranks of Golden Caryatids continue to bear the weight of the world as they consider the future of the famous New Year's Concert. They were there when Clemens Krauss and the Vienna Philharmonic opened this musical event on December 31, 1939 in a hall covered in Nazi swastikas. And so it continued after the Second World War, when these attractive programs with short dance pieces and Viennese operettas from the 19th century on January 1st each became a showcase of Austria's cultural excellence.
These female pillars were also featured in Willi Boskovsky's first television program in 1959. The Austrian public broadcaster (ORF) then brought it to the screens of nine countries through Eurovision; today there are already more than ninety with a potential audience of more than a billion. And they have certainly been amazed to see the shy female presence on their stage, which practically only began about twenty years ago.
The New Year's Concert is the most popular music (and television) event on the morning of January 1st. And over the past four decades, it has become a popular rite to start the New Year, always with the help of RTVE. It follows an infallible formula that combines one of the best orchestras in the world, led by a famous conductor, with an attractive program of marches, polkas and waltzes by the Strauss family and their contemporaries.
Conductor Christian Thielemann, during rehearsals this Saturday.DIETER NAGL (DIETER NAGL FOR THE WIENER PHILHARMONIKER)
It is also characterized by the celebration in a beautiful room exquisitely decorated for the occasion. With ballet scenes in symbolic locations, an intermission documentary about the treasures of Austria and an outstanding audiovisual production. This year, the responsibility once again lies with the precise and analytical Michael Beyer, who has fifteen high-resolution cameras. In Spain it will be broadcast on La 1 on TVE from 11:15 a.m., seasoned with the comments of the music journalist Martín Llade. Two hours full of tradition and peppered with some innovations.
The Vienna Music Association opens its doors to us
The first thing we see every year after the Eurovision signal is the 1870 building designed by Danish architect Theophil von Hansen. A neoclassical jewel whose Golden Hall is also known for its legendary clear and physical acoustics. We see it adorned again by the art of the city gardeners of the city of Vienna, who try to find a visual symbiosis with what we hear. To do this, they used a sea of 30,000 anthuriums, carnations, roses and lilies, whose pink and pastel tones make the golden elements of the Vienna Room shine to the sound of music.
The unmistakable sound of the Vienna Philharmonic
The New Year's Concert Orchestra consists of the best musicians from the Vienna State Opera, which they joined after three years of testing. It was created 181 years ago to satisfy the philharmonic concerts of the Austrian capital. But it is characterized by a sophisticated and distinctive sonic personality that features vernacular variants of several instruments. An ideal combination of strings, wood and metal with percussion that perfectly matches the gold and matte colors of the room in which they play.
The ensemble is almost entirely composed of men, although in the last twenty years it has also included women, primarily in the string section. There are currently 24 within a group of 145 instrumentalists, although this number will increase considering that 8 of the 13 positions in the Orchestra Academy are currently held by women. In this edition of the New Year's Concert, the violinist Albena Danailova is again on the first stand next to the concertmaster and, among other things, the presence of Karin Bonelli and Andrea Götsch as second flute and second clarinet stands out.
Always a director and this year Christian Thielemann
The Vienna Philharmonic has not had a chief conductor since 1933. They usually invite the world's greatest conductors to every subscription concert, tour or festival. The New Year's Concert initially had a stable conductor (Clemens Krauss, Josef Krips, Willi Boskovsky and Lorin Maazel). But since 1987 it has changed every year. The first was Herbert von Karajan, followed by Claudio Abbado, Carlos Kleiber, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Seiji Ozawa, Mariss Jansons, Georges Prêtre, Daniel Barenboim, Franz Welser-Möst, Gustavo Dudamel, Christian Thielemann and Andris Nelsons.
Although it may not seem like it, the New Year's date with the Vienna Philharmonic requires a lot of experience because it is a risky litmus test for any conductor. And all of those mentioned have already conducted several of their subscription concerts. Considering that no woman has ever conducted one of these prestigious events for subscribers, it will be several years before a female director conducts the New Year's Concert. The women who have conducted the Vienna Philharmonic can still be counted on one hand, although their number will grow in 2024 with the debut of German Joana Mallwitz.
In this edition, Christian Thielemann (Berlin, 64 years old), who directed in 2019, returns for the second time. The German director will be the brand new successor to Daniel Barenboim at the helm of the Berlin State Opera next season. He was previously artistic director of the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra as well as the Deutsche Oper Berlin. He has been working with the Vienna Philharmonic since 2000 and has recorded a complete set of Beethoven's nine symphonies as well as another current one of Bruckner's eleven symphonies with this orchestra. He has two books about his musical experiences with Beethoven and Wagner, although his most important musical portrait was written twenty years ago by Klare Warnecke. A musician who avoided historicist euphoria and instead turned to the German tradition of Wilhelm Furtwängler and Herbert von Karajan. It must be acknowledged that his musical stature falls short of both. And his conducting shines more with the Bavarian Strauss (Richard) than with the Viennese Strauss scores, judging by what was heard in 2019.
Johann Strauss is the protagonist again
The tradition of the New Year's concert is related to the already mentioned dynasty of composers of Viennese dance music and operetta of the 19th century: founded by the patriarch Johann Strauss together with his three sons Johann Jr., Josef and Eduard. Last year Welser-Möst gave Josef Strauss an unusual prominence, but this year we are returning to normality, with a clear dominance of works by Johann Strauss Jr. in the program (7 out of 18). There is also no shortage of compositions by his brothers Josef and Eduard, which were evenly distributed (2 of 18). And Johann Sr.'s only work is the ubiquitous Radetzky March at the end.
The New Year's Concert also includes works by other contemporary composers or composers related to the Vienna Orchestra. This year the fire will open with a novelty by Karl Komzák Jr., the March of Archduke Albrecht, which belongs to the Czech equivalent of the Strauss dynasty. But this work was written in Vienna in 1887, when Komzák Jr. was working as a bandmaster of the 84th Imperial Infantry Regiment. Also included is another novelty by the “Danish Strauss” and great gallop composer Hans Christian Lumbye, with an example from 1849 that has a more than appropriate title: Happy New Year!
More interesting is the other novelty of the first part of the concert: the beautiful waltz “For All” by Josef Hellmesberger Jr., who was chief conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic between 1901 and 1903. He is also included in the second part: the Polka Estudiantentina of his ballet La perla de Iberia, which combines Wagnerism with Spanish exoticism: a plot set in Zaragoza and in which the main role is played by the gypsy Paquita, who is on the run from the governor the city sinks into the waters of the Ebro, which sounds like an imitation of the Rhinegold and where the god Neptune himself is hinted at. And there is also no shortage of waltzes by Carl Michael Ziehrer, a contemporary composer and rival of Johann Strauss Jr. and Eduard Strauss. “Wiener Bürger”, which was first played at the New Year’s Concert in 1972, will be heard again this year.
This edition also contains a piece by Anton Bruckner as a special celebration of his 200th birthday: an orchestral arrangement of his early Cuadrilla, WAB 121 for piano four hands, made by Wolfgang Dörner. This is somewhat similar to what has been done for other anniversaries in the past, such as Mozart in 1991, Schubert in 1997, Haydn in 2009, Verdi and Wagner in 2013, Richard Strauss in 2014 and Beethoven in 2020. .
The usual, but with news
The 2024 New Year's Concert program includes a wide selection of compositions never before performed at this popular musical event (9 out of 18). It is also strange that a composition written by a woman was also never performed. The first part notes a fondness for Paris, possibly related to the upcoming Summer Olympics. There are two compositions by Johann Strauss Jr. that have their origins in the French capital: the famous Viennese Bonbons Waltz, which combines Viennese elegance with Parisian joie de vivre and has been heard at the New Year's Concert since 1955, and the novelty Polka from Le Figaro , a thank you to the editor of the French newspaper, whose score was published in the July 30, 1867 issue.
This alternation of waltz and polka is the basic rule of this popular concert. This year there are five waltzes, two in the first part and three in the second. These are the longest and most complex symphonic works in which several waltz sections are combined between a slow introduction and a concluding coda. Apart from the aforementioned waltzes by Hellmesberger and Ziehrer and the aforementioned Viennese Bombones by Johann Jr., the two most interesting waltzes are Delirios by Josef Strauss, which has been heard at this event since 1944 and begins with an allusion to influenza fever inspired by “Der Poacher” by Carl Maria von Weber and the Ischler Waltz, one of the two posthumous waltzes by Johann Strauss Jr. and new in the New Year’s Concert.
The waltzes alternate with shorter pieces such as polkas, dances of Bohemian origin that were very popular in 19th century Vienna. This year there are examples of its three variants: the lightning-fast polka (like Without Brakes by Eduard Strauss, which closes the first part, and Nueva Polca Pizzicato by Johann Jr. with the characteristic pinched sound of the string), the elegant French polka ( this edition with the above-mentioned novelty of the polka from Le Figaro) and the stylized and harmonious polka-mazurka in ternary time (this time represented by another novelty: The Hohe Brunnen by Eduard Strauss, in connection with the inauguration of the Hochstrahlbrunnen or Hochstrahlbrunnen on the Schwarzenbergplatz in Vienna.
The polka mazurka The Hohe Brunnen is also intended to express the Vienna Philharmonic's interest in environmental protection. In fact, the orchestra president announced at the press conference last Thursday, December 28th, that 100,000 euros had been donated to the Austrian Alpine Association (VAVÖ). Incidentally, Thielemann has gotten into the habit of planning a march to open the concert, the already mentioned March of Archduke Albrecht von Komzák Jr. And the second part also begins with the tradition, the overture of an operetta, in this case Asperilla, by Johann Strauss Jr., who has been a regular at this music event since 1947.
The three tips
It is known that the planned program at the New Year's concert does not represent the end of the matinee. There are always three tips, that is, compositions that are added at the end and outside of the program. They have a special character because they have been established since 1958: a fast polka that varies every year (in 2024 it will be the joke polka by Josef Strauss), followed by the most famous waltz, Next to the beautiful blue Danube, by Johann Jr .and the Radetzky March by Johann Sr. Coincidentally, this top triad is the same one that Carlos Kleiber conducted in 1989, perhaps in the best edition in the entire history of the New Year's Concert.
Two traditions in which the public intervenes
During the New Year's concert, two traditions are dedicated to the audience. One of them is the New Year's greetings, which the director recites with the orchestra before the waltz “Next to the Beautiful Blue Danube”. Here it is customary for the audience to interrupt the music with applause at the beginning of the waltz introduction. The conductor announces in German: “The Vienna Philharmonic and I wish you…”; and the orchestra adds: “Happy New Year.”
The other tradition is the rhythmic clapping in Johann Strauss Sr.'s Radetzky March, with which it ends. On many occasions it is performed under the direction of the orchestra leader. It is the remnant of a music event where the audience used to behave more freely and naturally.
The world is still not for jokes
During the years that Willi Boskovsky conducted the New Year's Concert (1955-1979), it reached its most festive and entertaining state. It was peppered with costumes, gags and jokes. Its origin is linked to the ingenuity of the drummer Franz Broschek, who performed hilarious dramatizations in some concert pieces. From now on, the directors were busy with funny, humorous winks. While Welser-Möst recognized last year that the world is not suitable for jokes, the situation has become significantly worse with the Arab-Israeli conflict. In fact, Thielemann showed in 2019 that he was not interested in this tradition of the New Year's concert either.
Discover Anton Bruckner
The concert consists of two parts with a break of approximately 25 minutes, during which a short documentary about Austria's cultural and natural treasures will be broadcast. It is carried out in a format that does not require spoken interventions as it is designed to be broadcast in many countries. On this occasion we will see a documentary film entitled Anton Bruckner from 11:50 a.m. A journey of discovery that commemorates the 200th birthday of the Austrian composer and was made into a film by Felix Breisach. In this film adaptation we travel to St. Florian Abbey near the city of Linz, where two singing children take us on a journey through the composer's life. We will visit his hometown of Ansfelden, the spa town of Bad Ischl, the Ars Electronica Center in Linz and also the Musikverein to hear various arrangements of his music played by members of the Vienna Philharmonic. And the documentary ends at the beginning in the Augustinian monastery, where the two children sing the beautiful motet Locus iste in front of the composer's grave.
Dancing bouquet where Franz Joseph fell in love with Sissi
The television broadcast of the New Year's Concert added pre-recorded ballet scenes starting in 1959. They play soloists from the Vienna State Opera Ballet and a guest choreographer. This year, Italian choreographer Davide Bombana has returned and Austrian costume designer Susanne Bisovsky will make her debut in the costumes. In the second part of the concert, the dancers perform in two pieces. We see the pair of soloists Ketevan Papava and Eno Peçi in the Ischler Waltz by Johann Strauss Jr. in the surroundings of the imperial villa in Bad Ischl, the summer residence where Franz Joseph I met his future wife, the Empress Sissy. The scene is intended to celebrate that Bad Ischl will be one of the three European Capitals of Culture in 2024. The other scene will coincide with the waltz “Wiener Bürger” by Carl Michael Ziehrer and will feature five couples. With them we visit the most symbolic places of Rosenburg Castle, such as the Marble Hall, the library or its gardens between the water lily pond and the falconry yard, where demonstrations of this falcon training practice still take place today.
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