"The Eccentrics". Through advertisements in several Viennese newspapers, Josef Strauss invited music aficionados to his charity concert to be held at Weghuber’s establishment near the Ringstrasse, then under construction. On 23rd August 1861, an unlikely choice for an outdoor concert date, a very large audience gathered in Weghuber’s coffee-house garden. Josef Strauss had promised two novelties, the waltz Die Sonderlinge and the Irenen-Polka, Op. 113. It seems that both works were presented, because on the occasion of the next festivity, the Hernals church festival, in which Josef Strauss participated with his orchestra, both the waltz and the polka were advertised only as ‘new’. We do not know what motivated Josef Strauss to entitle the waltz, The Eccentrics. In Vienna, by the word ‘Sonderling’ was and is understood a person with very peculiar characteristics, perhaps even a somewhat confused individual, regardless of gender. Nevertheless, the waltz does not deviate remarkably from the composer’s waltz scheme. After an effective introduction, it offers a melodious, gracious, almost playful little dance, which only in the second part becomes more emphatic. The work was played several times during the summer and autumn of 1861, but then gradually disappeared forever from the Strauss orchestra’s repertoire. It lent an interesting touch to a charity concert, but then it had to give way to new compositions, as established by the rules of the ‘waltz business’. It is always interesting, however, to rediscover once-forgotten works.
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Painting: Sortie des ouvrieres de la maison Paquin rue de la Paix
Artist: Jean Beraud
Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra, Kosice
Karl Albert Geyer
