The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s annual New Year’s concert is a tradition that goes back to 1939. It was then that the conductor Clemens Krauss, a great advocate of the music of the Strauss dynasty (Johann Sr., Johann Jr., Josef, Eduard, Johann III, Eduard II), led the orchestra in what was dubbed a “Special Concert.” Trivia buffs take note, the performance took place on December 31st, so the New Year’s concert actually had its beginning on New Year’s Eve. The first concert to actually take place on New Year’s Day was in 1941 with Krauss on the podium.
When Krauss died in 1954 the baton was passed to violinist Willi Boskovsky, who led the concert until 1979. In 1980 it was up to Lorin Maazel to uphold the tradition and he did so until 1986. Since then the conductors have been Herbert von Karajan, Claudio Abbado, Carlos Kleiber, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Mariss Jansons, Georges Prêtre and Daniel Barenboim. Jansons returns to the podium this year and a live recording of the concert will be available right here at Ariama on January 24, 2012.
Ariama editor Craig Zeichner spoke with Dr. Clemens Hellsberg, violinist and President of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra about the concert and its history.
Ariama: What makes the New Year’s concert and the music of the Strauss dynasty so special?
Hellsberg: First of all, it’s the date. For all of us the beginning of a new year is connected with special expectations, with hope and optimism. But it’s also the music. The music of the Strauss dynasty brings together all these feelings. It would be a big mistake to consider this music light classical, because it’s music with many dimensions, and It knows about the dark and tragic parts of human life, but it never despairs. If the music did not have that many dimensions it would not be great music and would not have survived.
Ariama: I think the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra plays this music better than any orchestra. It’s almost a birthright.
Hellsberg: Not all of us in the orchestra are Viennese or Austrian, but most of us studied in Vienna and were raised here musically. The music comes from the heart of Vienna as an expression of the old Habsburg monarchy, but it's an idealized vision of it. In German we always speak of “the good old times,” but I’m sure the good old times never existed. The only moments in which they did were in the music of the Strauss dynasty. There is an ideal symbolized in this music which in reality never existed. But as human beings we dream about ideals, and maybe never reach them with the exception of the arts. The Strauss music helps us to fulfill these dreams of ideals that we all have. It represents timeless values that are highly estimated now and will be in the next 200 years.
Ariama: Do you have memories of the first time you played the New Year’s concert?
Hellsberg: For me it’s like it was yesterday. It was very special because I grew up with this concert when I was a boy, I was seven years old when it was first broadcast on Austrian television. The first time I played it was in 1978 and it was with Willi Boskovsky, the legendary concertmaster who conducted the concert consecutively for 25 years. He was symbolic of this concert and he shaped an era.
When I entered the Goldener Saal in the Musikverein for that 1978 concert and it started, I couldn’t believe that I would sit there and play. At the end we played the Blue Danube Waltz on New Year’s concert day with the Vienna Philharmonic in the Goldener Saal in the Musikverein! It was an absolute dream. Despite the fact that I’ve played the concert maybe 25 or more times since, it’s always the same feeling and leaves the same impression.
Ariama: Hearing you speak of Boskovsky and thinking of the tradition of Clemens Krauss, the orchestra has had Austrians, Germans, two Italians and conductors of other nationalities on the podium.
Hellsberg: It is similar to the orchestra itself. Not all of us are Austrian. But the point it is that we speak the same musical language. The conductors of the New Year’s concert, in some respects, speak our musical language. Whether its Zubin Mehta who studied and was raised musically in Vienna; or Mariss Jansons who grew up in St. Petersburg, (a city with a great Strauss tradition and which the Strauss brothers Johann and Josef visited several times), and grew up in this tradition and completed his studies in Vienna. There was also Seiji Ozawa with whom, over the years, we developed such a mutual understanding. All the great personalities and artists have sensitivity for a special musical language. It’s always a great feeling and experience to join with such admirable artists in this common language.
by Craig Zeichner, Ariama Editor
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