New Year Concert from Vienna

[Pamela Moberg]

This concert is an annual high-light, and I hope many of you watched it.

I had had some info and knew they were going to do the "Cachucha", wondering who would dance it. To my great consternation - nobody. Of course I realised that they wouldnt possibly use the original costume - which I have seen at the Esterhazy Castle. The designer of the dancers' costumes had done a good job, very tasteful.The choreography was quite in keeping with the general atmosphere of those old palaces. The dancers were good too, gone are the days when the dancers were rather, well to be blunt, fat. There has been a great influx of dancers from Russia and it shows. The choice of music was good too, there were of course the standard waltzes and marches, but also a few things not so well known by the general public. One of my favorites, the Spanish march, was played, I might be wrong, but I think it was composed for the visit of a Spanish head of state to St. Petersburg.

And the flower display was stunning. It is supplied by the same firm in San Remo, Italy, which supplies the flowers to the Nobel ceremony in Sweden.

[dirac]

Thanks, Pamela. I did watch the broadcast, as I do every year. I always enjoy it. In all honesty I'm fine with just watching the orchestra and so I generally find the dancing a bit de trop, but I don't feel strongly about the matter either way. The only thing I really objected to this year was the design of the ballgowns worn by the girls - the front was cut away so you could see their legs and it just looked as if you were getting a peek at their knickers - a sort of Easy Access Ballgown for the convenience of the gentlemen. The dancing itself was agreeable.

[bart]

Is this the Cachucha made famous by Fanny Elssler? I ask because I recently watched a video of Carla Fracci dancing the piece AS Elssler, in the video The Ballerinas. Can you tell us something about the performance and how and where it was staged?

Another question: do they still close the program with an encore of the Radetzky March? The vision of all those sleek, well-groomed, no-nonsense Viennese burghers sitting stiffly in their seats and clapping in strict 4/4 time was always a highlight of those concerts. For me, at least.

[Mme. Hermine]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbPR2Q5SCfA

[bart]

THANKS, Mme. Hermine. Your smilies seemed to be clapping in time with the music. AND they were really beaming.

Why, oh why, do I keep thinking of those films of Party Congresses in the old Soviet Union -- annual gatherings held in vast spaces usually called something like the Great Hall of the Workers -- in which every single delegate can be seen raising the right hand in unison to signal a vote of "YES."

[kfw]

The vision of all those sleek, well-groomed, no-nonsense Viennese burghers sitting stiffly in their seats and clapping in strict 4/4 time was always a highlight of those concerts. For me, at least.

For me too. I look forward to finishing the program at dinner this evening. But this year as always, the dancing in those grand spaces, and on the staircase no less, left me cold. To each his own.

[Mel Johnson]

Is this the Cachucha made famous by Fanny Elssler? I ask because I recently watched a video of Carla Fracci dancing the piece AS Elssler, in the video The Ballerinas. Can you tell us something about the performance and how and where it was staged?

According to the program, this wasn't "La Cachucha" from "Le Diable Boiteux", but the "Cachucha-Galopp" by Johann Strauss, Sr. It's famous from Gerald Arpino's "Kettentanz". The original Cachucha is in 3/4. The Strauss rendition of it is, of course for a Galop, in 2/4. The original Cachucha melody is is quoted by, of all people, Louis Moreau Gottschalk in at least one of his Spanish characteristic pieces.

There's a funny caricature of Fanny Elssler's brother Johann, who was a singer and conductor, but who always lamented his lack of celebrity when compared to his sisters! The artist recommends he trade a little more heavily on the family name, and shows him, burly and bearded, onstage in the Cachucha costume. He looks like Bluto in a dress!

[Pamela Moberg]

Oh Bart, oh no - definitely not It is quite obvious that you havent been to Musikverein where the concert is held. I have been and it is the most magnificent concert hall you possibly could imagine - all gilded like most palaces of old Vienna - and very impressive, just look at the ceiling! Those old politruks of the Soviet era used to hold their conventions in what in Europe is nick-named "Stalin gateaux", buildings that are fairly ornate exterior wise, but terribly dull on the inside. I do recommend a visit to Vienna - it is just out of this world. You would enjoy it, I'm sure.

Re: Cachucha. Well, it is a "trad", The story has it that Mme. Elssler was in Spain and she heard the tune played by some gypsies, she liked it and had it noted down. Since it became popular, and it was very popular indeed in the 19th century, many people claimed the credit for having composed it, but it really is a folk tune. In those days it was danced by everybody, even done in drag in Stockholm - Johansson describes it in one of his letters, he said he nearly puked

Oh well, Dirac, we seem to differ, I didnt feel that way at all, I thought the muted colors and the exclusive materials very fine. Wouldnt it be a bore now, if everyone had the same taste... Did you see the televised concerts back in the sixties? Or as it is Eurovision it might not have been broadcast in USA. I can assure you that the standard of dancing and the costumes have improved immensely since then.

Program is different every year, but the final is always Radetsky march. In my theater ballet school, it was always played for grand battements so you can imagine I know it by heart.

[Mme. Hermine]

I like this one from 1987, with Herbert von Karajan: