While Strauss the elder wrote some popular tunes (not least this, his Radetzky March), it’s his first-born son, Johann Strauss II, who is revered as the ‘King of the Waltz’.
Like his son, Strauss senior made his living not just as a composer, but also as a conductor and violinist. He loved Vienna, having been born a stone’s throw from the famous River Danube, and he would regularly walk along the river as a child, enjoying performances from the wandering musicians who worked there.
The Radetzky March was composed in 1848 and is so named because of its dedication to Field Marshal Radetzky, a senior member of the Austrian army who successfully led an assault in Italy that same year. Nowadays, the piece is rarely heard without incessant clapping over the top; it’s always played to end the famous New Year’s Day concert in Vienna, with the audience encouraged to applaud the arrival of another year.
When it was first played in front of Austrian officers, they spontaneously clapped and stamped their feet when they heard the chorus. This tradition, with quiet rhythmic clapping on the first iteration of the melody, followed by thunderous clapping on the second, is kept alive today by audience members who know the custom when the march is played in classical music venues in an orchestral version prepared by Leopold Weninger (1879–1940). Conductors take great delight in conducting the audience, as much as the orchestra, with great gusto.
Up to today, the theme is used in numerous promotional jingles and at major sport events, in particular at football matches of the Austrian national team.
Come join in the fun and Let it Go with the FSSO to this remarkable popular classic and remember to Bring your #Shakers #Rattles #Drums#Whistles #Trumpets #Flutes
#LetItGoWithFSSO at Vrystaat Kunstefees 2018
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