Frühlingsstimmen
Encyclopedia
"Frühlingsstimmen" Op. 410, is a waltz
by Johann Strauss II
, written in 1882, for orchestra and solo soprano
voice.
. The famous coloratura
soprano Bertha Schwarz
(stage name Bianca Bianchi) sang this concert aria
at a grand matinée charity performance at the Theater an der Wien
in aid of the "Emperor Franz Josef
and Empress Elisabeth Foundation for Indigent Austro-Hungarian
subjects in Leipzig". The waltz was not a great success at its premiere, but was more successful when performed on Strauss' tour of Russia in 1886. A piano arrangement by the composer contributed much to its success beyond Vienna.
Bianca Bianchi was then a famous member of the Vienna Court Opera
Theatre and Strauss was sufficiently inspired to compose a new work, a waltz for solo voice, for the acclaimed singer. The result was his world-renowned "Frühlingsstimmen" waltz which celebrated spring and remained one of the classical repertoire's most famous waltzes. The piece is sometimes used as an insertion aria in the act 2 ball scene of Strauss' operetta Die Fledermaus
.
imitating birdsong and a pastoral scene. The plaintive and dramatic third section in F minor
probably suggests spring showers whereas the fourth section that follows breaks out from the pensive mood with another cheerful melody in A-flat major. Without a coda
, the familiar first waltz melody makes a grand entrance before its breathless finish, strong chords and the usual timpani
drumroll and warm brass flourish. A performance lasts between seven and nine minutes.
(1823–1895).
, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
, 1987 Vienna New Year's Concert
Waltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
by Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...
, written in 1882, for orchestra and solo soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
voice.
History
Strauss dedicated the work to the pianist and composer Alfred GrünfeldAlfred Grünfeld
Alfred Grünfeld was an Austrian pianist and composer.He studied under Höger, under Josef Krejčí at the Prague Conservatory, and under Theodor Kullak at the Neue Akademie der Tonkunst, Berlin. In 1873 he settled at Vienna, where he received the title of "Kammervirtuose"...
. The famous coloratura
Coloratura
Coloratura has several meanings. The word is originally from Italian, literally meaning "coloring", and derives from the Latin word colorare . When used in English, the term specifically refers to elaborate melody, particularly in vocal music and especially in operatic singing of the 18th and...
soprano Bertha Schwarz
Bertha Schwarz
Bertha Schwarz was a coloratura soprano opera singer of the late 19th century, often known by her stage name Bianca Bianchi. Her greatest successes were at Vienna....
(stage name Bianca Bianchi) sang this concert aria
Concert Aria
A concert aria is normally a free-standing aria or opera-like scene composed for singer and orchestra, written specifically for performance in concert rather than as part of an opera...
at a grand matinée charity performance at the Theater an der Wien
Theater an der Wien
The Theater an der Wien is a historic theatre on the Left Wienzeile in the Mariahilf district of Vienna. Completed in 1801, it has seen the premieres of many celebrated works of theatre, opera, and symphonic music...
in aid of the "Emperor Franz Josef
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...
and Empress Elisabeth Foundation for Indigent Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
subjects in Leipzig". The waltz was not a great success at its premiere, but was more successful when performed on Strauss' tour of Russia in 1886. A piano arrangement by the composer contributed much to its success beyond Vienna.
Bianca Bianchi was then a famous member of the Vienna Court Opera
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...
Theatre and Strauss was sufficiently inspired to compose a new work, a waltz for solo voice, for the acclaimed singer. The result was his world-renowned "Frühlingsstimmen" waltz which celebrated spring and remained one of the classical repertoire's most famous waltzes. The piece is sometimes used as an insertion aria in the act 2 ball scene of Strauss' operetta Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
.
Music
The waltz makes a grand entry in the key of B-flat major with loud chords preceded with the waltz's three beats to the bar ushering the first waltz's gentle and swirling melody. The second waltz section invokes the joys of spring with the fluteWestern concert flute
The Western concert flute is a transverse woodwind instrument made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a flautist, flutist, or flute player....
imitating birdsong and a pastoral scene. The plaintive and dramatic third section in F minor
F minor
F minor is a minor scale based on F, consisting of the pitches F, G, A, B, C, D, and E. The harmonic minor raises the E to E. Its key signature has four flats ....
probably suggests spring showers whereas the fourth section that follows breaks out from the pensive mood with another cheerful melody in A-flat major. Without a coda
Coda (music)
Coda is a term used in music in a number of different senses, primarily to designate a passage that brings a piece to an end. Technically, it is an expanded cadence...
, the familiar first waltz melody makes a grand entrance before its breathless finish, strong chords and the usual timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
drumroll and warm brass flourish. A performance lasts between seven and nine minutes.
Lyrics
The lyrics were created by Richard GenéeRichard Genée
Franz Friedrich Richard Genée was a Prussian born Austrian librettist, playwright, and composer.Genée was born in Danzig. One of his best known works was the libretto of Karl Millöcker's operetta Der Bettelstudent, which he co-wrote with Friedrich Zell .In 1876, Genée composed the operetta Der...
(1823–1895).
der Tauwind weht so lau; sein wonniger milder Hauch belebt und küßt das Feld, die Au. Der Frühling in holder Pracht erwacht, ah alle Pein zu End mag sein, alles Leid, entflohn ist es weit! Schmerz wird milder, frohe Bilder, Glaub an Glück kehrt zuruck; Sonnenschein, ah dringt nun ein, ah, alles lacht, ach, ach, erwacht! Da strömt auch der Liederquell, der zu lang schon schien zu schweigen; klingen hört dort wieder rein und hell süße Stimmen aus den Zweigen! Ah leis' läßt die Nachtigall schon die ersten Töne horen, um die Kön'gin nicht zu stören, schweigt, ihr Sänger all! Voller schon klingt bald ihr süßer Ton. Ach ja bald, ah, ah ja bald! Ah, ah, ah, ah! O Sang der Nachtigall, holder Klang, ah ja! Liebe durchglüht, ah, ah, ah, tönet das Lied, ah und der Laut, süß und traut, scheint auch Klagen zu tragen, ah ah wiegt das Herz in süße Traumerein, ah, ah, ah, ah, leise ein! Sehnsucht und Lust ah ah ah wohnt in der Brust, ah, wenn ihr Sang lockt so bang, funkelnd ferne wie Sterne, ah ah zauberschimmernd wie des Mondes Strahl, ah ah ah ah wallt durchs Tal! Kaum will entschwinden die Nacht, Lerchensang frisch erwacht, ah, Licht kommt sie kunden, Schatten entschwinden! ah! Ah des Frühlings Stimmen klingen traut, ah ja, ah ja ah o süßer Laut, ah ah ah ah ach ja! |
the mellow wind mildly blowing; his lovely mild breath revives and kisses the field, the meadow. Spring in all its splendour rises, ah all hardship is over, sorrow becomes milder, good expectations, the belief in happiness returns; sunshine, you warm us, ah, all is laughing, oh,oh awakes! A fountain of songs is rising, who has been silent for too long; from the brush sounds clear and light the sweet voice again! Ah, gently the nightingale lets stream the first notes, so as not to disturb the queen; hush, all you other singers! More powerful soon chimes her sweet voice. Oh, soon, oh, oh soon! Ah........ Oh, song of the nightingale, sweet sound, ah yes! Glowing with love, ah, ah, ah, sounds the song, ah and the sound, sweet and cosy, seems to carry a plaintive note, ah, ah rocks the heart to sweet dreams, ah, ah, ah, ah, most gently! Longing and desire ah, ah, ah lives in my breast, ah, if the song anxiously calls for me, from afar the stars twinkle, ah, ah in shimmering magic like the moons beam, ah, ah, ah, ah wavers trough the valley! As haltingly vanishes the night, the lark starts to sing, ah, the light she promises, shadows recede! Ah! Ah springs voices sound like home, Ah yes, ah yes oh sweet sound, Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah yes. |
Frühlingsstimmen in popular culture
- "Frühlingsstimmen" is probably best known today from its use by the American slapstickSlapstickSlapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
comedy team The Three Stooges in their short films Micro-PhoniesMicro-PhoniesMicro-Phonies is the 87th short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.-Plot:...
and Brideless GroomBrideless GroomBrideless Groom is the 101st short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.-Plot:...
. In the former short, it is sung by Christine McIntyreChristine McIntyreChristine Cecilia McIntyre was an actress who appeared in many movies in the 1930s and 1940s but is mainly known as the beautiful blonde actress who appeared in many Three Stooges shorts produced by Columbia Pictures....
. The idea for using it probably came from her, as she had sung it in an earlier 'soundie' sing-a-long short in which she featured. The audience was encouraged to keep quiet when McIntyre was singing the 'Voices of Spring' number. - Musical films with the name Frühlingsstimmen were made in Austria in 1933 (with music by Oscar StrausOscar Straus (composer)Oscar Nathan Straus was a Viennese composer of operettas and film scores and songs. He also wrote about 500 cabaret songs, chamber music, and orchestral and choral works...
) and 1952 (with music by Alfred UhlAlfred UhlAlfred Uhl was an Austrian composer, violist, music teacher and conductor.-Biography:Uhl studied with Franz Schmidt at the Vienna Music Academy, receiving a diploma in composition with honours in 1932. He subsequently worked as Kapellmeister of the Swiss Festspielmusik in Zürich...
). - The piece is featured in Oshare Majo: Love and Berry/Love and Berry Dress Up and DanceOshare Majo: Love and Berryis a cross between an arcade game and collectible card game from Sega, targeted toward girls usually between ages six and twelve years. The game was first shown in amusement arcades on October 30, 2004, and becoming very popular among the target market in late 2005 through 2006. Game machines were...
in the "Ball" stage. - Gloria JeanGloria JeanGloria Jean is an American singer and actress who starred or co-starred in 26 feature films between 1939 and 1959. She also made radio, television, stage, and nightclub appearances.-Career:...
sings the song in her operatic style during a scene in the 1941 film, Never Give a Sucker an Even BreakNever Give a Sucker an Even BreakNever Give a Sucker an Even Break is a 1941 Universal Pictures comedy film starring W.C. Fields. Fields also wrote the original story, under the pseudonym "Otis Criblecoblis". Fields plays himself, searching for a chance to promote a surreal screenplay he has written, whose several framed sequences...
, attempting to complete the song as a variety of soundstage mayhem occurs. - In the 1949 Looney TunesLooney TunesLooney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
short "Chariots of FurChariots of FurChariots of Fur is a seven-minute Looney Tunes short released in 1994 by Warner Bros. It features Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner and was directed by Chuck Jones, who created the pair in 1948. As in other shorts of the Road Runner series, Wile E. tries to catch his potential prey through use of...
", "Frühlingsstimmen" is on the soundtrack for a gag featuring a giant coil spring. - Brian MayBrian MayBrian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
samples part of the waltz for "The Millionaire Waltz", on Queen'sQueen (band)Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
1976 album A Day at the RacesA Day at the Races (album)A Day at the Races is the fifth album by British rock group Queen, released in December 1976. A Day at the Races was the band's first completely self-produced album, and the first not to feature producer Roy Thomas Baker. Recorded at Sarm East, The Manor and Wessex Studios in England, A Day at the...
. - It is heard in the background in an early scene of the 1937 Jean RenoirJean RenoirJean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s...
film La Grande IllusionGrand Illusion (film)Grand Illusion is a 1937 French war film directed by Jean Renoir, who co-wrote the screenplay with Charles Spaak. The story concerns class relationships among a small group of French officers who are prisoners of war during World War I and are plotting an escape.The title of the film comes from a...
. - An excerpt from this piece can be heard in the Tom and JerryTom and JerryTom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...
films Little RunawayLittle RunawayLittle Runaway is a 1952 one-reel animated cartoon and is the 68th Tom and Jerry short directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby. It was animated by the usual team of animators who worked under Hanna and Barbera, credited to Ed Barge, Kenneth Muse, Irven Spence and...
(1952) and Mice FolliesMice Follies (1954 film)Mice Follies is the 85th one-reel animated Tom and Jerry short, created in 1953 directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and produced by Fred Quimby with music by Scott Bradley. The cartoon was animated by Kenneth Muse, Ed Barge, Irven Spence and Ray Patterson with backgrounds by Robert Gentle...
(1954). - DisneyThe Walt Disney CompanyThe Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
used the waltz for a FantasiaFantasia (film)Fantasia is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by Walt Disney Productions. The third feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film consists of eight animated segments set to pieces of classical music conducted by Leopold Stokowski, seven of which are...
-esque clip entitled "Dance of the Goofys" in the 2002 film Mickey's House of VillainsMickey's House of VillainsMickey's House of Villains is a direct-to-video film produced by The Walt Disney Company. It is a film adaptation of the Disney Channel animated television series Disney's House of Mouse, starring Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Daisy Duck and Disney Villains that have appeared in...
.
External links
, sung by Kathleen BattleKathleen Battle
Kathleen Battle , is an African-American operatic soprano known for her agile and light voice and her silvery, pure tone. Battle initially became known for her work within the concert repertoire through performances with major orchestras during the early and mid 1970s. She made her opera debut in...
, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian orchestra and opera conductor. To the wider world he was perhaps most famously associated with the Berlin Philharmonic, of which he was principal conductor for 35 years...
, 1987 Vienna New Year's Concert
Vienna New Year's Concert
The New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic is a concert of classical music that takes place each year in the morning of January 1 in Vienna, Austria...