Willi Boskovsky
Encyclopedia
Willi Boskovsky was an Austria
n violin
ist and conductor, best known as the long-standing conductor of the Vienna New Year's Day Concert.
, and joined the Vienna Academy of music at the age of nine. He was the concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
from 1936 to 1979. He was also, from 1955, the conductor of the Vienna New Year's Day Concert, which is usually devoted to the music of Johann Strauss II
and his contemporaries. Along with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, he was also the chief conductor of the Wiener Johann Strauss Orchester
up until his death. A forerunner of this ensemble was the 19th-century Strauss Orchestra founded by Johann Strauss I
in 1835. He died in Visp
, Switzerland
.
In chamber ensemble he led the Boskovsky Quartet with Philipp Matheis (2nd violin), Gunther Breitenbach (viola) and Nikolaus Hübner (violoncello). The Boskovsky Quartet, together with Johann Krump (double-bass), Alfred Boskovsky (clarinet), Josef Veleba (horn) and Rudolf Hanzl (bassoon) formed the Vienna Octet. These ensembles made several famous recordings (see below).
with the violin
just as Johann Strauss I popularised this form of conducting waltz
es, polka
s and other dance music alongside Strauss' rival Josef Lanner
in the early 19th century. This tradition was also carried on by Johann Strauss II
and Josef Strauss
after their father's death. Boskovsky was extremely sympathetic to the Strauss style, and his renditions of the Strauss works invariably had the lightness of touch, easy grace, and subtle humor that suit the works to their best advantage. Apart from the Strauss family waltzes, Boskovsky recorded a 10-album cycle of the complete Mozart Dances and Marches, leading what Decca called the Vienna Mozart Ensemble (assorted members of the Vienna Philharmonic). Many of these recordings were included on the Philips/Polygram Complete Mozart series of CD's issued in the 1990s.
Boskovsky's New Year's Day 1979 concert was recorded live by Decca, the first commercial use of their proprietary PCM digital system. The resulting 2-LP set was well-received. Quoting Gramophone magazine: "This is a riotous issue ... the first recording to be manufactured and released in the UK utilizing digital recording ... astoundingly vivid and atmospheric ... the results are phenomenal." The album was most recently released as part of the Decca Legends series, remastered in 96k/24-bit PCM.
, among which are the following:
Willi Boskovsky plays the solo violin line in the Clemens Krauss
recording of Richard Strauss
's Ein Heldenleben (Decca LP ACL 241).
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist and conductor, best known as the long-standing conductor of the Vienna New Year's Day Concert.
Professional biography
Willi Boskovsky was born in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, and joined the Vienna Academy of music at the age of nine. He was the concertmaster of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
The Vienna Philharmonic is an orchestra in Austria, regularly considered one of the finest in the world....
from 1936 to 1979. He was also, from 1955, the conductor of the Vienna New Year's Day Concert, which is usually devoted to the music of 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...
and his contemporaries. Along with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, he was also the chief conductor of the Wiener Johann Strauss Orchester
Wiener Johann Strauss Orchester
Wiener Johann Strauss Orchester is an Austrian orchestra based in Vienna.The orchestra was formed under the auspices of Professor Oskar Goger and the ORF in 1966...
up until his death. A forerunner of this ensemble was the 19th-century Strauss Orchestra founded by Johann Strauss I
Johann Strauss I
Johann Strauss I , born in Vienna, was an Austrian Romantic composer famous for his waltzes, and for popularizing them alongside Joseph Lanner, thereby setting the foundations for his sons to carry on his musical dynasty...
in 1835. He died in Visp
Visp
Visp is the capital of the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland.-Geography:Visp has an area, , of . Of this area, 17.0% is used for agricultural purposes, while 59.7% is forested...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
.
In chamber ensemble he led the Boskovsky Quartet with Philipp Matheis (2nd violin), Gunther Breitenbach (viola) and Nikolaus Hübner (violoncello). The Boskovsky Quartet, together with Johann Krump (double-bass), Alfred Boskovsky (clarinet), Josef Veleba (horn) and Rudolf Hanzl (bassoon) formed the Vienna Octet. These ensembles made several famous recordings (see below).
Style
His style appealed to many Strauss listeners as he directed Strauss' music in the manner of the "Vorgeiger", i.e. directing the orchestraOrchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
with the violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
just as Johann Strauss I popularised this form of conducting waltz
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...
es, polka
Polka
The polka is a Central European dance and also a genre of dance music familiar throughout Europe and the Americas. It originated in the middle of the 19th century in Bohemia...
s and other dance music alongside Strauss' rival Josef Lanner
Josef Lanner
Joseph Lanner was an Austrian dance music composer. He was best remembered as one of the earliest Viennese composers to reform the waltz from a simple peasant dance to something that even the highest society could enjoy, either as an accompaniment to the dance, or for the music's own sake...
in the early 19th century. This tradition was also carried on 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...
and Josef Strauss
Josef Strauss
Josef Strauss was an Austrian composer.He was born in Vienna, the son of Johann Strauss I and Maria Anna Streim, and brother of Johann Strauss II and Eduard Strauss. His father wanted him to choose a career in the Austrian Habsburg military...
after their father's death. Boskovsky was extremely sympathetic to the Strauss style, and his renditions of the Strauss works invariably had the lightness of touch, easy grace, and subtle humor that suit the works to their best advantage. Apart from the Strauss family waltzes, Boskovsky recorded a 10-album cycle of the complete Mozart Dances and Marches, leading what Decca called the Vienna Mozart Ensemble (assorted members of the Vienna Philharmonic). Many of these recordings were included on the Philips/Polygram Complete Mozart series of CD's issued in the 1990s.
Boskovsky's New Year's Day 1979 concert was recorded live by Decca, the first commercial use of their proprietary PCM digital system. The resulting 2-LP set was well-received. Quoting Gramophone magazine: "This is a riotous issue ... the first recording to be manufactured and released in the UK utilizing digital recording ... astoundingly vivid and atmospheric ... the results are phenomenal." The album was most recently released as part of the Decca Legends series, remastered in 96k/24-bit PCM.
Ensemble recordings
The Boskovsky Quartet and Vienna Octet, in various permutations, made a number of well-known recordings for Decca RecordsDecca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
, among which are the following:
- DvořákAntonín DvorákAntonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
, Quartet no 3 E flat major op 51 (LXT 2601). (EMG Monthly Newsletter review September 1951). - Schubert, Octet in F major op 166 (LXT 2983). (EMG review December 1958). (Decca CD 466580).
- Schubert, 'Trout' Quintet, with Walter Panhoffer (LXT 2533). (issued by 1950, EMG review Feb 1959). (Pearl CD 0129).
- Schubert, 'Trout' Quintet, with Clifford CurzonClifford CurzonSir Clifford Michael Curzon, CBE was an English pianist.-Early life:Clifford Michael Siegenberg was born in London to Michael and Constance Mary Siegenberg...
(LXT 5433). (EMG review September 1958). - Beethoven, Septet in E flat major op 20 (78rpm, AX 306-10 (10 sides), Ace of Diamonds SDD 200). (issued by 1950). (Testament CD 1261).
- Brahms, Clarinet Quintet op 115. (LXT 2858; Testament CD 1282).
- SpohrSpohrSpohr is a German surname, and may refer to:* Arnold Spohr , Canadian ballet dancer, choreographer, and artistic director of German descent* Louis Spohr , German composer, violinist, and conductor...
, Nonet op 31 (LXT 2782). (EMG review May 1953). (Testament CD 1261). - Spohr, Octet op 32 (LXT 5294). (EMG review August 1957). (Decca CD 466580).
- MendelssohnFelix MendelssohnJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
, Octet in E flat major op 20 (LXT 2870). (EMG review February 1954). - KreutzerConradin KreutzerConradin Kreutzer or Kreuzer was a German composer and conductor. His works include the opera for which he is remembered, Das Nachtlager in Granada, and Der Verschwender, both produced in 1834.Kreutzer owes his fame almost exclusively to Das Nachtlager in Granada , which kept the stage for...
, Grand Septet in E flat major op 62 (LXT 2628). (EMG review December 1951). - PootMarcel PootMarcel Poot was a Belgian composer, professor, and musician. His father, Jan Poot, was Director of the Vlaamse Schouwburg in Brussels....
, Octet (LXT 5294). (EMG review August 1957). - Mozart, Clarinet Quintet in A major K 581 (LXT 5032). (EMG review June 1955). (Testament CD 1282).
- Mozart, Quintet in E flat major K 452 (LXT 5293). (EMG review April 1957).
- Mozart, Trio in E flat major K 498, with Walter Panhoffer (LXT 5293). (EMG review April 1957).
- Mozart, Divertimento in F major K 247 (lx 3105 (78 rpm)). (issued by 1953).
- Mozart, Divertimento in B flat major K 287 (LXT 5112). (EMG review September 1956).
- Mozart, Divertimento in D major K 334 (with Otto Nitsch, horn), (LXT 2542). (issued by 1950, EMG review Feb 1951). (Pearl CD 0129).
Willi Boskovsky plays the solo violin line in the Clemens Krauss
Clemens Krauss
Clemens Heinrich Krauss was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss.-Biography:...
recording of Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
's Ein Heldenleben (Decca LP ACL 241).