Amazing to see the Happy Birthday to Marcel Prawy. As a young man, Prawy was personal assistant to my father, the Polish tenor Jan Kiepura. My father brought Prawy to the USA before the War. Later Prawy returned to Vienna had a big career as an opera impresario and TV personality. Prawy then invited my mother Marta Eggerth to Vienna numerous times for gala televised concerts. Marcel was a like a member of the family. Nice to see this wonderful clip. Marjan Kiepura
Alles Gute, Herr Kiepura! Ich habe Herrn Prawy oft in der Wiener Staatsoper gesehen. Er war eine Institution und Ihr Vater war ein großartiger Sänger! ❤
Terrific! I have never seen the Vienna Phil like this together with the marvellous Carlos Kleiber in such a humorous setting. Thank you for this as these clips of their rehearsals so rare, and new to me.
Englisch tanslation: C.K.: - "And... What am I supposed to do now?" Another voice [recording engenier, director, someone like that]: - " Now 'Tritsch-Tratsch'. It is for the ballet also, so we can..." C.K.: - "connect?" Other voice: - "... connect" C.K.: "So, no we play 'Tritsch-Tratsch'. And... and then right after that..." Other voice: - "And then right after that 'Happy Birthday'. " C.K.: - "Shall I conduct 'Happy Birthday'? [Noinses] Shall I conduct 'Happy Birthday'?" Voices from the orchestra: - "Oh yes please. Definitely. Very important..." C.K.: - "There is a fermata" [Laughter] C.K. Singing: - " Happy Bithday ... Dr. Prawy - Thats were the fermata is... On two." [Laughter] C.K.: - "The 'Tritsch-Tratsch Polka'... There is a recording with Toscanini. It is crasy. It is wild: [singing]. Especially the celli are fantastic. He was a cellist of course and so he really zeroed in on them. [Singing] A lot of pizzicato. It [the pizz.] is voluntary for you. Probably you take a... aha... yes... and then: [Singing] ok? A bit more there please, ok? And then it would be very nice: slightly brutal: [Singing] ok? This: [Singing] yes... ok... And now we will play this..." Another voice: - "... we'll record it..." [orchestra makes noises] C.K.: - "It is in one, is it? One: [Singing] Other voices: -"TV?" -"Can we already record this for the TV, please?" -"He said 'Yes' " [Orchestra plays 'Tritsch-Tratsch Polka'] [Happy Bithday] [C.K. congratulating] C.K. [in exaggerated viennese dialect]: "Thats it!"
Heinz Maijer: Thank you very much for taking the trouble to do this translation. I speak German (badly) and understand it (slightly less badly), but it is good to have the details and confirmation of what I thought I had heard!
(This is of course why, in a separate 🗨post, I +added the 📑outline of the 🎵Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka's form 🅰️🅱️🅰️ and the starting⏲times of each •section.)
Aside from the magic of Carlos Kleiber's conducting, I have loved hearing him speak a little bit of English at the end because I have read that it was in fact his first language.
Live from Austria: "Happy birthday, Herr Doktor Prawy". The age of baroque never ended in this southern realm. It probably insulted the man because in real life he was Herr Geheimer Hofrat Professor Doktor Magister Prawy Führerschein Klasse 3.
das schoenste video das man sich vorstellen kann!! super!! bitte weiter so mit noch weiteren videos von kleibers proben am musikverein! wahrscheinlich gibts das video der proben vom ganzen programm 1992. zur zeit viiiielen viiiielen dank!|
His mother tongue was actually English (his mother was American and he had dual citizenship and was partially educated in NYC). He always wrote in letters about "rehoissals"!! A funny man and a total joy. Total.
+Sue Smith Yes, I've read that both his English and Spanish were better than his German. His German is, however, flawless to my ear. Beyond that, actually. It is cultured, refined, musical, and beautiful German. Besides, all recordings that I have heard if him in rehearsals are of him speaking German. That's why I'm glad I understand German.
I'm reading everything I can and listening to all I can about Kleiber because I present 2 x 2.5 hour lectures next year on this wonderful man. Unfortunately, the official biography by Alexander Werner is not going to be translated into English any time soon. I emailed him and he told me this. Can you tell me what Kleiber's comments were here about Femata which caused the laughter (in the beginning when they're talking about "Happy Birthday"). I learned German because I lived in Vienna in 2011 for 12 months but never mastered it!!!!
+Sue Smith He tells them they are going to play Tritsch Tratsch, then go directly into Happy Birthday. He then basically asks them if he is supposed to conduct (dirigieren) Happy Birthday (a bit of a joke in itself), and then goes on to say (carrying on the joke about conducting that song as though it were a serious piece of music) that there is a fermata in Happy Birthday (that's when the orchestra laughs), going on to demonstrate in semi-seriousness just where and how the fermata is to be executed in Happy Birthday.
For anyone wanting a little more information about the birthday boy, see www.wienerphilharmoniker.at/orchestra/philharmonic-journal/year/2002/month/4/blogitemid/336
"Toscanini made a recording which is crazy. But what is particularly nice about it, is the cello part, with all the pizzicati". And then something about 'voluntary pizzicato' which I didn't quite grasp.
I'm sure you know of this, but since you spoke of your frustration that the Werner biography is not available in English, I'll mention it anyway. The best source in English about Kleiber is "Corresponding with Carlos" by Charles Barber. www.amazon.com/Corresponding-Carlos-Biography-Kleiber/dp/1442231173 There is also a dissertation by Carolyn Watson which focuses on his conducting technique but also has good biographical material: www.academia.edu/12015693/GESTURE_AS_COMMUNICATION_THE_ART_OF_CARLOS_KLEIBER
Well English was a main language for him . He was not brought up in Germany. Buenos Aires . Had an English speaking mother and went to English boarding schools
