Before their planned departure for Russia on 7 April, Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss joined forces with brother Eduard Strauss to present a "Farewell Concert" on Sunday 4 April 1869 in the Blumen-Säle der Gartenbaugesellschaft (Floral Halls of the Horticultural Association) on Vienna's Parkring, in close proximity to the Palais Coburg. The event attracted an audience of around 3,000 people, and the Neues Fremden-Blatt (6.04.1869) declared that "this public attendance in such extraordinary numbers is the best yardstick for the widespread popularity enjoyed by the Strausses. Moreover, the public did not stint in its applause, and not only did the waltz 'Königslieder' and the polka-mazurka 'Fata morgana' by Johann Strauss, as well as the waltz 'Huldigungslieder' by Josef Strauss - extremely successful compositions performed for the first time - have to be repeated several times, but also the older pieces by the Strauss brothers enjoyed the most favourable reception".
The two new waltzes - Johann's Königslieder and Josef's Huldigungslieder - were in fact sharing more than just their respective premières: the two works also shared the same royal dedicatee - his Majesty King Luis I of Portugal (1838-89). Luis, who reigned from 1861 until his death in 1889, was a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Braganza in Portugal, founded in 1836 by his father, Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Kohary (1816-85), who became Ferdinand II, the titular King of Portugal. Luis Philip thus belonged to that group of regents connected with the House of Coburg for whose far-flung members the Strauss family dedicated numerous compositions, commencing with Strauss Father's waltz Huldigung der Königin Victoria von Grossbritannien op. 103 (1838) and concluding with Johann III's Krönungs-Walzer op. 40 (1902), written for King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. In 1862 Luis I married Princess Maria Pia of Savoy (1847-1911), a daughter of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, and the couple had two sons, Carlos and Manuel.
Quite why the two Strauss brothers chose this specific date on which to honour Luis Philip remains unclear: we may rule out birthday celebrations, since the King was born on 31 October 1838, and he was not visiting Vienna at the time of the concert. Moreover, a renowned authority at Lisbon's Palácio Nacional da Ajuda, Signora Dottora Graça Mendes Pinto, has been unable to determine any contemporary event involving King Luis I which might have given rise either to the dedications or to the particular choice of date for the first performance.
Painting: Bernardo Bellotto -Das kaiserliche Lustschloß Schönbrunn, Ehrenhofseite (1758/61)
Moscow State Symphony Orchestra & Maestro Pavel Kogan
15 сен 2024
