Program Notes · Wiener Philharmoniker · 1 January 2026
Roses, Railways, and the Blue Danube: New Year’s Concert 2026
v3 · updated 30 September 2026 · 28 sources
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v3 · 30 September 2026 · Further reading added
- Added three recommended books: The Last Waltz, A Nervous Splendor, Johann Strauss and Vienna
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v2 · 30 September 2026 · Sources added; house-style edit
- Added 25 sources
- Removed em dashes
- Programme item 15 corrected from 'Olivenzweig' to Friedenspalmen, Op. 207 (the waltz actually played); note rewritten, dating claim dropped
- Blue Danube: now 'first sung in February 1867' (it was composed in 1866) and placed after the first, unannounced encore rather than as 'first of two encores'
- Fahrbach Zirkus described as the unannounced first encore
- Radetzky March: added Custoza and the 1946 Krips tradition; trio tune note
- Johann Strauss II bio: debut given as 1844 instead of 'at nineteen'; mother's encouragement removed; 'unofficial anthem' hedged
- Ziehrer bio: unsupported commercial training, Schönfeld-Marsch and Die Landstreicher claims removed; Hofballmusikdirektor year (1908) softened; regiment and dates (1885-1893) added
- Eduard Strauss bio: 1862 debut and 'three decades' removed; orchestra disbanded 1901, archive burned 1907 (not at the dissolution); work count softened
- Suppè bio: 'Belgian descent' corrected to Italian and Austrian; died in Vienna, not near it
- Galathée premiere placed in Berlin; operetta's love-music source of the overture's melody removed
- Indigo: 'famously weak libretto' and 'response to Offenbach' softened; recycling into Tausend und eine Nacht added
- Fledermaus-Quadrille: named tunes (misdescribed 'laughing' Brüderlein) removed
- Weinlich: orchestra founded 1868, Europe's first women's orchestra; Dörner 'noted scholar' removed
- Price: 'rare non-European' reworded; rediscovery dated to the 2009 St. Anne find; note on criticism of the arrangement added
- Josef Strauss bio: Delirien dropped, quote wording and work count adjusted
- Lumbye: railway identified as Copenhagen-Roskilde (Denmark's first); 'railway-themed thread' claim removed
- Strauss I: coronation year 1838; 'knew Paris well' changed to his 1837 French trip
- Donausagen: 'written at the height of his popularity' replaced by first NYC performance
- Eduard polka: 'famously crisp energy' claim removed
- Rosen aus dem Süden: premiere and title source added
- Egyptian March: first performance at Pavlovsk added
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v1 · 21 June 2026 · First published
Johann Strauss II (1825–1899)
Overture to the operetta Indigo und die vierzig Räuber (Indigo and the Forty Thieves)8 min
About the Work
The New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic, broadcast each 1 January from the golden Musikverein to tens of millions of viewers worldwide, is among the most cherished rituals in classical music; in 2026 it is led for the first time by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, making his debut on the podium of this most Viennese of occasions. The programme opens with the overture to Indigo und die vierzig Räuber, the work that marked Johann Strauss II’s first venture into the operetta theatre. Premiered at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien in February 1871, It arrived at a time when Viennese composers were answering the Parisian operettas of Offenbach, and it set an Arabian Nights tale loosely drawn from the story of Ali Baba. The critics were divided and the operetta did not hold the stage, but its music was prized, and Strauss later recycled much of it, most famously in the waltz Tausend und eine Nacht. The overture survives as a sparkling concert curtain-raiser, stitching together the score’s best tunes into a single exuberant sweep, an apt way to begin a morning devoted to the Strauss family’s art.
What to Listen For
Like most operetta overtures, this is a pot-pourri: a sequence of contrasting tunes rather than a tightly argued form. Listen for the way Strauss strings together brilliant marches, lilting waltz episodes, and quicksilver dance passages, each handed around the orchestra with his characteristic lightness. The waltz themes that will dominate the morning make an early appearance here, and the whole piece builds to a glittering, applause-courting close: Strauss the showman, setting the festive tone.
Carl Michael Ziehrer (1843–1922)
Donausagen, Walzer, Op. 4468 min
About the Work
Donausagen (‘Danube Legends’) is one of Carl Michael Ziehrer’s most attractive concert waltzes, and 2026 was the first time it had been played at the New Year’s Concert. Its title places it squarely within the rich Viennese tradition of music inspired by the Danube, the river that Johann Strauss II had immortalised in The Blue Danube. Where Strauss evoked the river’s shimmering current, Ziehrer reaches toward its ‘legends,’ the folk tales and romantic associations that cling to its banks, lending the waltz a touch of storytelling colour. Cast in the standard Viennese mould (an evocative slow introduction, a garland of linked waltz sections and a rounding coda), it shows Ziehrer’s gift for broad, singable melody and his polished orchestration. The piece is a relative rarity at the New Year’s Concert, where Ziehrer appears far less often than the Strauss brothers, making its inclusion a welcome reminder of the breadth of Vienna’s dance-music heritage.
What to Listen For
Listen first to the introduction, which sets a reflective, almost narrative mood before the dancing begins, with Ziehrer painting the river’s mythic atmosphere. Then follows the chain of waltz tunes, each with its own character, swung in the elastic Viennese rhythm where the second beat arrives a fraction early. Note the warmth Ziehrer draws from the strings and the genial woodwind countermelodies, and the way the coda gathers the waltz’s best ideas for a satisfying final flourish.
Joseph Lanner (1801–1843)
Malapou-Galoppe, Op. 1483 min
About the Work
The Malapou-Galoppe is a brief, high-spirited dance from Joseph Lanner, the older master whose graceful, lyrical style helped invent the Viennese waltz tradition that the Strauss family would carry to its zenith. The galop, a fast duple-time round dance that swept the European ballrooms of the 1820s and 1830s, was a staple of Lanner’s output, offering a breathless contrast to his more refined waltzes. Pieces like this were written for immediate use on the dance floor, and their charm lies in their compactness and forward drive rather than in elaborate development. Lanner appears only rarely at the New Year’s Concert, and this galop was new to it in 2026, so its inclusion is a graceful nod to the founding generation of Viennese dance music, the world from which the Strausses emerged.
What to Listen For
This is short and quick, a burst of energy among the longer waltzes. Listen for the galloping duple rhythm that gives the dance its name, the bright orchestration, and the contrasting central trio section that offers a moment’s lyrical relief before the headlong music returns. Lanner’s writing is lighter and more transparent than the later Strauss style, a window onto the waltz’s earlier, more innocent youth.
Eduard Strauss (1835–1916)
Brausteufelchen, Polka schnell, Op. 1543 min
About the Work
Brausteufelchen (‘Little Fizzing Devil’) is a quick polka by Eduard Strauss, the youngest of the three Strauss brothers and the one most associated with the fast, fizzing polka schnell. The whimsical title, conjuring a tiny, effervescent imp, perfectly captures the genre’s character: brisk, sparkling, and over almost before it has begun. Eduard built much of his reputation on exactly this kind of piece, which he conducted at the head of the Strauss Orchestra. The polka schnell (‘fast polka’) is a New Year’s Concert favourite precisely because of its breathless gaiety, and it provides a welcome jolt of speed between the more expansive waltzes. Like much of Eduard’s output it is light entertainment of the highest craft, designed to delight rather than to instruct.
What to Listen For
Speed and sparkle are the whole point. Listen for the scurrying string figures and pert woodwind interjections that suggest the darting ‘little devil’ of the title, and for the abrupt dynamic contrasts and cheeky accents that pepper the dance. There is the usual contrasting trio in the middle before the opening material races back, and the piece ends as briskly as it began, a momentary burst of fireworks.
Johann Strauss II (1825–1899)
Fledermaus-Quadrille, Op. 3636 min
About the Work
The Fledermaus-Quadrille distils the most famous of all Viennese operettas into a single dance. Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus (‘The Bat’), premiered at the Theater an der Wien in April 1874, is the supreme masterpiece of the genre. It is a champagne comedy of disguises, flirtations and a revenge prank that ends in laughter, and its score overflows with irresistible tunes. As was the custom, Strauss arranged its highlights into the dance forms of the ballroom, and this quadrille gathers the operetta’s melodies into the five contrasting figures of that elegant set dance. The quadrille, a French import that became a fixture of Viennese balls, threads together a sequence of lively episodes, each in a different tempo and mood. Hearing the well-loved Fledermaus melodies recast as dance music is part of the New Year’s Concert’s particular pleasure, a reminder of the seamless traffic between Strauss’s theatre and the ballroom.
What to Listen For
A quadrille comes in five (sometimes six) short numbered figures, each with its own tempo, so listen for the music’s frequent changes of gear. The fun lies in spotting the tunes: melodies from the operetta flash past in quick succession, recast to fit the steps of the dance. The effect is a witty, fast-moving medley, a love letter to Die Fledermaus in miniature.
Johann Strauss I (1804–1849)
Der Karneval in Paris, Galopp, Op. 1003 min
About the Work
Der Karneval in Paris is a brilliant galop by Johann Strauss I, the founding father of the dynasty, and it carries the round number Op. 100, a milestone in his prolific output. The galop, a fast and furious duple-time dance, was one of the elder Strauss’s specialities, and this one wears its French inspiration openly, evoking the giddy whirl of a Parisian carnival. Strauss I had taken his orchestra to France in 1837 and absorbed its theatrical brilliance into his own style. Pieces like this, written for the dance floor, were meant to send couples spinning at headlong speed, and their irresistible momentum has kept them alive in the concert hall long after the ballrooms fell silent. As one of the rarer appearances of the dynasty’s founder at the New Year’s Concert, it offers a glimpse of the energetic style on which the whole Strauss empire was built.
What to Listen For
This is fast, bright, and unrelenting. Listen for the driving galop rhythm, the festive brass and percussion that conjure carnival revelry, and the contrasting trio that briefly relaxes the pace before the headlong rush returns. The orchestration is more robust and direct than the silkier style of the elder Strauss’s sons: this is the sound of the waltz tradition in its vigorous early days.
Franz von Suppè (1819–1895)
Overture to the operetta Die schöne Galathée8 min
About the Work
The overture to Die schöne Galathée (‘The Beautiful Galatea’) is one of Franz von Suppè’s most delightful curtain-raisers. The one-act operetta, premiered in Berlin in 1865, retells the ancient myth of Pygmalion, the sculptor who falls in love with his own statue, which Venus brings to life. Here it becomes a sparkling comedy, for the animated Galatea proves fickle and headstrong rather than the ideal he dreamed of. As with so many of Suppè’s stage works, the operetta itself is now rarely performed, but its overture has taken on an independent life, prized for its irresistible blend of lyrical warmth and theatrical brilliance. It is a model of the form: an arresting opening, songful lyrical episodes, and a whirling, accelerating finish guaranteed to bring the house down. Its appearance at the New Year’s Concert widens the morning beyond the Strauss family to embrace the broader world of Viennese light music.
What to Listen For
Suppè’s overture unfolds as a sequence of vivid contrasts. Listen for the bold, attention-grabbing opening; a tender, song-like central melody of real beauty; and the gradual acceleration into a brilliant, headlong final section. The orchestration is colourful and theatrical, with prominent solos for cello and woodwinds amid the festive tutti, a compact drama in sound that builds inexorably to its exhilarating close.
Josephine Weinlich (1848–1887)
Sirenen Lieder, Polka mazur, Op. 13 (arr. W. Dörner)5 min
About the Work
Sirenen Lieder (‘Songs of the Sirens’) is a polka-mazurka by Josephine Weinlich, the pioneering nineteenth-century conductor and composer who founded Europe’s first women’s orchestra. Its inclusion at the 2026 New Year’s Concert, in an arrangement by Wolfgang Dörner and heard there for the first time, marks a significant act of rediscovery, restoring to the concert hall a voice long lost to history. The polka-mazurka is a graceful hybrid dance: it weds the gentle lilt of the Polish mazurka, in a moderate triple time, to the Viennese polka tradition, producing music more lyrical and swaying than the brisk polka schnell. The evocative title gestures toward the alluring song of the mythological sirens, and the piece unfolds with an unhurried, singing charm well suited to its subject. That a work by Weinlich should now sound in the Musikverein is a quiet but meaningful expansion of the New Year’s tradition.
What to Listen For
Unlike the fast polkas elsewhere on the programme, this is a polka-mazurka: moderate in tempo and triple in metre, with a gentle, rocking lilt. Listen for the characteristic mazurka emphasis that falls on the second or third beat, lending the dance its slightly wistful sway, and for the singing, song-like melodies that justify the ‘siren’ of the title. Dörner’s arrangement clothes Weinlich’s tunes in idiomatic Viennese orchestral colour.
Josef Strauss (1827–1870)
Frauenwürde, Walzer, Op. 2778 min
About the Work
Frauenwürde (‘Woman’s Dignity’) is a concert waltz by Josef Strauss, the middle brother whose music is prized for its lyrical sensitivity and harmonic refinement. The title reflects the gallant, idealising spirit of its age, paying tribute to womanhood in the manner of nineteenth-century salon culture. Composed in Josef’s characteristically poetic vein, the waltz shows the qualities that led his brother Johann II to call him the more talented of the two: a gift for long, singing melody, subtle modulations, and an orchestral palette of unusual delicacy. Where Johann’s waltzes tend toward brilliance and extroversion, Josef’s often carry a tinge of wistfulness, a shadow of melancholy beneath the dance. Frauenwürde follows the classic Viennese design of an atmospheric introduction, a chain of contrasting waltz sections and a coda, but bears throughout the gentler, more inward stamp of its composer.
What to Listen For
Listen for the introduction’s reflective, almost yearning mood before the dance proper begins, and for the breadth and tenderness of Josef’s waltz melodies, which tend to sing rather than sparkle. Note the refined orchestration, with its warm strings and expressive woodwind lines, and the subtle harmonic touches that give his music its characteristic poignancy. The coda gathers the waltz’s most affecting themes for a glowing close that lingers rather than dazzles.
Johann Strauss II (1825–1899)
Diplomaten-Polka, Polka française, Op. 4484 min
About the Work
The Diplomaten-Polka (‘Diplomats’ Polka’) is a polka française by Johann Strauss II, a late work from a composer whose mastery of the smaller dance forms never flagged. Unlike the headlong polka schnell, the polka française (‘French polka’) is a moderate, graceful dance in a comfortable strolling tempo, more poised and elegant than its breakneck cousin. The title’s nod to diplomacy suits this air of suave refinement; one can imagine the measured, courteous bearing of statesmen at a court ball. Strauss wrote dozens of polkas in this genre, each a perfectly turned miniature, and they form an essential part of the New Year’s Concert’s variety, supplying moments of relaxed charm between the grand waltzes and the dashing fast polkas. This one displays the Waltz King’s effortless melodic invention working at modest scale.
What to Listen For
The polka française moves at a comfortable, swaying pace. Listen for its even, unhurried two-beat rhythm and the gentle, almost conversational character of the tunes. Strauss decorates the melody with elegant woodwind touches and graceful turns of phrase, and the central trio offers a contrasting strain before the opening returns. The mood throughout is one of polished good humour rather than excitement: courtly poise set to music.
Florence Price (1887–1953)
Rainbow Waltz (arr. W. Dörner)5 min
About the Work
The Rainbow Waltz is a charming dance by the American composer Florence Price, heard here in an arrangement by Wolfgang Dörner that adapts it for the Vienna Philharmonic’s distinctive sound. Its inclusion is one of the most striking gestures of the 2026 programme. Price, long overlooked and now widely celebrated, is the first American woman, and one of very few composers from outside Europe, to feature at the New Year’s Concert. The waltz reflects the side of Price’s art that delighted in shorter, genial character pieces alongside her symphonies and concertos, and it carries her warm, lyrical voice, rooted in Romantic harmony but inflected with an American melodic sweetness, into the heart of the Viennese tradition. To hear a waltz from across the Atlantic in the Musikverein is a quietly historic moment, widening a ritual long defined by the Strauss family to embrace a broader musical world.
What to Listen For
Listen for how Price’s melodic idiom differs from the native Viennese style: a gentle, songful lyricism with its own American flavour, even as the triple-time waltz rhythm anchors it firmly in the dance tradition. Dörner’s arrangement, made from a piano original, wraps Price’s tunes in the warm string sound of the Vienna Philharmonic; some scholars have objected that it strays a long way from that original.
Hans Christian Lumbye (1810–1874)
Københavns Jernbane-Damp-Galop (Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop)4 min
About the Work
The Copenhagen Steam Railway Galop is the most famous of Hans Christian Lumbye’s pictorial dances and one of the most delightful novelties in the entire light-music repertoire. Composed in 1847 to celebrate the opening of Denmark’s first railway, the line from Copenhagen to Roskilde, and first played at Tivoli three days later, it is a vivid musical portrait of a steam-train journey: programme music in miniature, written when railways were still a thrilling marvel of modernity. Lumbye, the ‘Strauss of the North,’ was a master of orchestral mimicry, and here he turns the whole orchestra into a locomotive, complete with whistles, the chuffing of the engine, and the steady acceleration and deceleration of the train. The galop’s giddy speed makes it the perfect vehicle for such effects. Its appearance at the New Year’s Concert brings a touch of Nordic wit to the Viennese morning.
What to Listen For
This is musical storytelling, so listen for the journey. The piece opens with the engine starting up (a whistle, the first puffs of steam, the gradual gathering of speed) before settling into a brisk, racing galop that depicts the train at full tilt. Note the imitations of the locomotive’s chugging rhythm in the orchestra and the whistle calls along the way, then the slowing and final hiss of brakes as the train pulls into the station. Charming, witty, and instantly evocative.
Johann Strauss II (1825–1899)
Rosen aus dem Süden (Roses from the South), Walzer, Op. 3889 min
About the Work
Rosen aus dem Süden (‘Roses from the South’) is one of Johann Strauss II’s most beloved concert waltzes, and one of several he fashioned from melodies in his operettas, in this case Das Spitzentuch der Königin (‘The Queen’s Lace Handkerchief’) of 1880. The title comes from that operetta’s romance ‘Wo die wilde Rose erblüht’, and the waltz was first played at the Musikverein in November 1880 under Eduard Strauss. Strauss, like Suppè, recognised that the theatre’s best tunes could enjoy a second life on the concert platform, and he reworked them into self-standing waltz sequences that have far outlived their parent stage works. Rosen aus dem Süden is a particularly rich example, its title evoking the warmth and fragrance of the Mediterranean south, and its melodies among the most generously lyrical the Waltz King ever wrote. The waltz unfolds with the breadth and confidence of Strauss at the height of his powers, a garland of memorable themes strung together with consummate skill. It ranks among the cornerstones of the New Year’s Concert repertoire and a perennial audience favourite.
What to Listen For
Listen for the broad, songful introduction that sets a glowing, romantic mood before the dancing begins. Then comes the chain of waltz melodies, each more memorable than the last; Strauss’s invention here is at its most generous and flowing. Note the elastic Viennese rhythm, the lustrous string sound, and the way the coda gathers the waltz’s loveliest themes into a warm, expansive farewell. This is the Waltz King in his fullest lyrical bloom.
Johann Strauss II (1825–1899)
Egyptischer Marsch (Egyptian March), Op. 3355 min
About the Work
The Egyptischer Marsch (‘Egyptian March’) is one of Johann Strauss II’s most colourful and exotic miniatures, first performed at Pavlovsk, near Saint Petersburg, in 1869. The work reflects the period’s fascination with the Orient, heightened that very year by the opening of the Suez Canal, which turned European eyes toward Egypt. Strauss, ever attuned to the public mood, responded with a march that wraps a brisk military tread in ‘Eastern’ atmosphere, a piece of nineteenth-century musical exoticism that makes no claim to authenticity but delights in evoking a fantasy of distant lands. Its most celebrated feature is a passage where the orchestral players are asked to sing a wordless vocal refrain, a touch of theatrical fun that always charms audiences at the New Year’s Concert. Light, vivid, and faintly comic, the march is a perfect example of Strauss’s gift for turning the day’s headlines into irresistible entertainment.
What to Listen For
Listen for the ‘exotic’ colouring with which Strauss conjures his imagined Orient: piccolo, percussion, and decorative turns of phrase suggesting distant climes over a steady march rhythm. The highlight comes when the orchestra’s musicians lift their voices in a brief, wordless sung refrain, a delightful surprise that breaks the instrumental texture. The whole piece is brisk, bright, and good-humoured, exotic spice atop a jaunty parade.
Josef Strauss (1827–1870)
Friedenspalmen (Palms of Peace), Walzer, Op. 2078 min
About the Work
Friedenspalmen (‘Palms of Peace’) is a concert waltz by Josef Strauss, the most poetic of the three brothers, and its title, the palm branch as an emblem of peace, sets a gentle, conciliatory tone. It belongs to the rich body of waltzes in which Josef brought his characteristic refinement and emotional depth to the Viennese dance. Where his brother Johann’s waltzes tend to dazzle, Josef’s often probe a more inward, sometimes melancholy world, achieved through subtle harmonies and an unusually delicate sense of orchestral colour. Friedenspalmen shows these qualities in abundance, its peaceful title matched by music of tenderness and grace. Less frequently heard than the great Strauss waltzes, it rewards attention as a fine example of the lyrical gift that led many to regard Josef as the most musically subtle of the family. Placed at the end of the printed programme, it deepens the morning’s tribute to the quieter genius among the Strauss brothers.
What to Listen For
Listen for the gentle, peaceful mood that pervades the work, from its reflective introduction onward. Josef’s waltz melodies sing with a tender, slightly wistful quality, and his orchestration favours warm, transparent textures over brilliance. Note the subtle harmonic shadings that distinguish his style, and the way the coda draws the themes together into a serene, glowing close.
Philipp Fahrbach the Younger (1843–1894)
Zirkus, Polka schnell, Op. 1103 min
About the Work
Zirkus (‘Circus’) is a fast polka by Philipp Fahrbach the Younger, played at the New Year’s Concert for the first time in 2026, as the first, unannounced encore. The piece comes from the broad world of Viennese dance music that flourished around and alongside the Strauss dynasty, where many capable composers supplied the city’s tireless appetite for waltzes and polkas. Its title promises exactly the right spirit for a polka schnell: the bustle, sparkle, and high-spirited fun of the circus ring, all conjured in a brisk and breathless dance. As an encore, it lands at the point in the programme where the mood turns most exuberant, and its novelty adds an extra frisson of delight. Reviving a forgotten piece like this is part of the New Year’s Concert’s quiet mission to refresh and expand its beloved repertoire.
What to Listen For
This is a polka schnell, so expect speed and sparkle. Listen for the circus atmosphere Fahrbach paints: perky woodwind figures, bright brass fanfares, and a sense of acrobatic bustle, perhaps even a hint of fairground colour. The dance races along with the usual contrasting trio in the middle before the opening material whirls back for a brisk, applause-courting finish. A delightful rediscovery to set the festive mood.
Johann Strauss II (1825–1899)
An der schönen blauen Donau (The Blue Danube), Walzer, Op. 31410 min
About the Work
An der schönen blauen Donau (‘On the Beautiful Blue Danube’) is the most famous waltz ever written and the unofficial anthem of Austria. Johann Strauss II wrote it originally as a choral piece for the Wiener Männergesang-Verein, which first sang it in February 1867, at a low moment for national morale after Austria’s defeat by Prussia; in its later purely orchestral form it became a worldwide sensation and the very symbol of imperial Vienna. By long tradition it follows the first, unannounced encore at the New Year’s Concert, and its opening is the most ritualised moment of the morning: the famous shimmering tremolo begins, the audience applauds in recognition, the music stops, and conductor and orchestra wish the world a happy new year before the waltz starts again. Few pieces of music are so universally loved or so bound up with a single occasion.
What to Listen For
Listen for the magical opening: a soft string tremolo like dawn over the river, from which the famous rising horn theme gently emerges: the most recognisable few bars in all of light music. After the traditional pause and new year greeting, the great chain of waltz melodies unfolds, each more glorious than the last, swung in the inimitable Viennese lilt. Note the long-breathed lyricism and the radiant orchestration, and the way the coda recalls the principal themes before its joyous final flourish.
Johann Strauss I (1804–1849)
Radetzky-Marsch, Op. 2283 min
About the Work
The Radetzky-Marsch is the traditional closing encore of the New Year’s Concert and one of the most famous marches ever written. Johann Strauss I composed it in 1848, naming it in honour of the Austrian field marshal Joseph Radetzky after his victory at Custoza. Its trio borrows an old Viennese tune said to have been sung by Radetzky’s returning soldiers. The march quickly became a symbol of the Habsburg empire and remains the elder Strauss’s most enduring work. It has closed the New Year’s Concert since Josef Krips brought it into the programme in 1946, and it has acquired a unique ritual: from the first famous strain, the audience claps along in time, the conductor turning to direct not the orchestra but the hall, modulating the volume of thousands of clapping hands. It is a moment of pure communal joy that sends the audience, and the worldwide television public, into the new year on a wave of high spirits, the perfect, irresistible conclusion to the morning’s festivities.
What to Listen For
You will know the famous main tune at once, and you will be invited to join in, clapping along as the whole hall does by tradition. Listen for the contrast between the brilliant, brassy march strain and the softer, more lyrical central trio, and watch the conductor turn around to lead the audience’s clapping, coaxing it louder and softer. It is less a performance than a shared celebration, and it brings the New Year’s Concert to its jubilant, hand-clapping close.
Further reading
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Accessible The Last Waltz: The Strauss Dynasty and Vienna
John Suchet, Elliott and Thompson 2017
Suchet tells the story of the Strauss family, Johann I, Johann II, Josef and Eduard, all of whom appear on this New Year’s programme.
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Accessible A Nervous Splendor: Vienna 1888/1889
Frederic Morton, Diversion Books 2014
Morton’s portrait of Vienna in 1888 and 1889, a city in which Johann Strauss II was a celebrity, gives the backdrop to the waltzes and polkas of this concert.
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Deeper Johann Strauss and Vienna: Operetta and the Politics of Popular Culture
Camille Crittenden, Cambridge University Press 2006
A scholarly study of Johann Strauss II’s operettas and their Vienna, including Die Fledermaus, whose tunes fill the Fledermaus-Quadrille.