The Festmusik der Stadt Wien or Festive Music of the City of Vienna is a striking example of the fact that Richard Strauss liked to write for brass instruments. This work is dedicated to the Vienna City Council as a thank you for being awarded the city's Beethoven Prize.
Richard Georg Strauss (June 1864 – September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his tone poems and operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt. Along with Gustav Mahler, he represents the late flowering of German Romanticism, in which pioneering subtleties of orchestration are combined with an advanced harmonic style. Born in Munich, the son of Josephine and Franz Strauss, who was the principal horn player at the Court Opera in Munich and a professor at the Königliche Musikschule. Strauss's compositional output began in 1870 when he was just six years old and lasted until his death nearly eighty years later. His first tone poem to achieve wide acclaim was Don Juan, and this was followed by other lauded works of this kind, including Death and Transfiguration, Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Also Sprach Zarathustra, Don Quixote, Ein Heldenleben, Symphonia Domestica, and An Alpine Symphony. His first opera to achieve international fame was Salome, which used a libretto by Hedwig Lachmann that was a German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. This was followed by several critically acclaimed operas with librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal: Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier, Ariadne auf Naxos, Die Frau ohne Schatten and Arabella. Other well-known works by Strauss include two symphonies, the Four Last Songs, Metamorphosen, an Oboe Concerto and two Horn Concertos. A prominent conductor in Western Europe and the Americas, Strauss enjoyed quasi-celebrity status as his compositions became standards of orchestral and operatic repertoire. He was chiefly admired for his interpretations of the works of Liszt, Mozart, and Wagner in addition to his own works.
During the Second World War, Strauss used to spend the winters in Vienna. In 1942, the Trompetenchor der Stadt Wien (Brass Choir from the City of Vienna) asked him to write a piece for them. This was a famous ensemble made up from the brass players of the three symphony orchestras in Vienna. The original was scored for 10 trumpets, 7 trombones, 2 tubas and Timpani, and is dedicated to the Vienna City Council. Strauss conducted the premiere on April 9 in the Vienna Rathaus. His Vienna Fanfare, a much shorter version of the work, was completed 10 days later. Because of the large forces required, Festmusik der Stadt Wien receives relatively few live performances. Conceptually it is modeled after the antiphonal works of Giovanni Gabrieli, showcasing two instrumental choirs passing musical material back and forth.
We hope this brass dectet plus timpani arrangement now allows this splendid and inspirational piece to reach a far larger audience.
