It is almost that time of the year again, and the 2009 Peninsula Summer Music festival is going to be even bigger and better!
Ironwood features in a big way this year, with two concerts of very different repertoire.
Ironwoods first festival concert, called Viennese Soirée at 5pm on the 31st of December at Main Ridge Estate celebrates the new year with a fun filled program of works ranging from Mozart to Strauss Jnr to welcome the new year Viennese style. This is an interesting program for Ironwood, along side regular repertoire such as works by Mozart and Haydn, we will be exploring the vast amount of Viennese repertoire written in the early to mid 19th Century including works by Johann Strauss Jnr and Senior, Joseph Lanner, and Johann Schrammel.
Here is an excerpt from the program notes explaining these Viennese gems:
The early nineteenth century saw Viennese dance music gaining enormous popularity. Despite what we are used to hearing today, the first compositions were intended for small chamber groups in intimate settings. Joseph Lanner, along with Johann Strauss Sr were known as the original ‘Waltz Kings’ of Vienna. They began their careers as violinists in a string quartet playing in cafés, restaurants and parties. Lanner found much success as a composer, as did Strauss, and their friendship unfortunately transformed into rivalry. Lanner was equally as popular as Strauss in Vienna, and his Steyrische Tänze of 1841, based on folk melodies from the Austrian province of Steyermark (Styria), are amongst his best loved compositions.
Strauss Sr’s Bajaderen waltzes were composed in the peak of his popularity in 1832 and were dedicated to the crown prince of Spain. The melodies are based on Auber’s opera The God Brahma and the Bayaderes.
Johann Schrammel and Johann Strauss Jr represented the next generation of Viennese composer/performers. The former founded the famous Schrammel Quartet with his brother Josef. Their music, based on the folk melodies of old Vienna, became known as ‘Schrammelmusik’ and became famous throughout Europe. Johannes Brahms held Schrammel’s music in the highest regard and was often found in the audience at their public concerts. Kunst und Natur is based on ‘Wien bliebt Wien’ (Vienna is always Vienna) and was one of his most famous marches.
Johann Strauss Jr. was of course the most successful and celebrated composer of mid 18th Century Vienna. He started his career like his father as a chamber musician and before he had reached the peak of his fame, in 1852 when the Annen Polka was composed, he was writing for a relatively small group of instrumentalists. It was first performed in a bandstand in the Prater in Vienna during the festival of St Anne on the 26th of July 1852.
It has been fun putting a quirky program like this together and we know we are going to have a ball playing it!
If you would like a sneak preview, we will be playing some of these works during the ABC live broadcast this Sunday afternoon the 28th of December at 3pm in the Iwaki Auditorium, Melbourne. Please feel free to join us as entry is free, and or tune in your radio to 105.9 ABC Classic FM.
More soon about the other exciting concert Ironwood is playing in the Festival!
