Spreading joy with the ‘fantastic music’ of Johann Strauss
Never look down your nose at the music of Johann Strauss, Jr.
Johannes Brahms certainly didn’t. As the story goes, Strauss Jr.’s stepdaughter once asked Brahms to autograph her fan whereupon Brahms scribbled down the opening melody of her stepfather’s “On the Beautiful Blue Danube” followed by the words “Unfortunately not by Brahms.”
And it’s a good thing Niels Muus never looked down his nose at the music of the Strauss family. Otherwise, he’d likely never have made it in the conducting biz.
Born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in 1958, Muus moved to Denmark with his parents when he was a tyke. He graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Music, Aarhus in 1982, a year after snagging the Jacob Gade Prize given to the most promising young Danish musician and worth 50,000 Danish krone ($10,155 today, but around $7,100 back then). After further studies in Bologna, Salzburg and Paris, Muus cut his teeth in opera houses in Germany where it was a good thing he didn’t look down his nose at the music of you-know-who.
“My early experiences as conductor were in German opera houses, where Strauss and operetta was a natural part of the daily life,” wrote Muus in an email to The Spec from his home in Vienna. “By the way, it is my deepest conviction that the only way to develop as conductor is through this opera and operetta experience.”
For the past 25 years, Muus has been working in Austria, first as principal conductor at Innsbruck’s Tiroler Landestheater, then as casting director at the Volksoper Wien. At present, he’s the artistic adviser for the Mozarthaus Vienna, music adviser for the Musikfestival Steyr, and a professor at the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna.
With that CV, no wonder executive producer Attila Glatz has Muus on his roster of conductors for his Salute to Vienna concerts. Last year, Muus lead the STV concerts in Chicago and Ottawa. Saturday, Dec. 30 at 2:30 p.m., Muus will lead the STV in FirstOntario Concert Hall before heading to Toronto for New Year’s Day.
The Strauss Symphony of Canada, a pickup orchestra consisting of professional players from the Hamilton-Kitchener-Toronto area, has been assembled for the occasion. But will they play Strauss’s music tastefully in the appropriate style?
“Any orchestra can, under the right guidance, play the Strauss works wonderful,” wrote Muus. “There is nothing called ‘correct.’ We have to spread joy (gioja) with this fantastic music.”
When rehearsing non-Austrian orchestras in Viennese waltz or operetta repertoire, Muus has one important tip for the musicians in front of him.
“Look at me and forget being correct,” wrote Muus.
When asked if he was aiming to have the orchestra perform Strauss’s waltz rhythms in the echt-Viennese manner, Muus responded, “Let the audience decide.”
So, audience members, here’s what you need to know to decide. In three-four “oompa-pa” waltz time, the first “pa” is played a hair earlier than expected. That tiny tweak is the difference between a graceful Viennese waltz and the rigidly stiff “oom-pa-pa” rhythm you might hear in, say, a beer tent in Munich in late September.
At previous STV concerts in Hamilton, presiding guest conductors have provided some levity from the podium. Will Muus follow suit?
“Coming from the same country as Victor Borge …” he wrote.
Though not all Danes are like the late comedian-pianist, we’ll take that as a “yes.”
So, expect plenty of Viennese joy from Strauss Jr.’s “Overture to Die Fledermaus,” “Overture to the Gypsy Baron,” and “Explosions Polka,” plus Vienna-based soprano Lilla Galambos and tenor Thomas Weinhappel in duets such as “Lehár’s “Lippen schweigen,” and Kálmán’s “Komm mit nach Varazdin,” plus champion ballroom dancers in Strauss’s “Mein Lebenslauf ist Lieb und Lust,” the Kiev-Aniko Ballet in Strauss Jr.’s “Rathausball-Taenze,” and much more.
An encore? Of course, it’ll be none other than “On the Beautiful Blue Danube,” which was premièred in Vienna 150 years ago. Spoiler alert: during this number, Muus may waltz across the stage with one of the orchestra’s violinists.
After the concert, you can waltz right over to the Convention Centre for complimentary strudel and coffee.
Lastly, to the readers of this column, a very merry Christmas.