After 85 editions and more than a thousand pieces performed, the New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic broke this Wednesday, for the first time, the male monopoly of her repertoire by including a work by the Austrian composer Constanze Geiger (1835-1890).
They have been just under six minutes that will remain in history. So brief, but important, has been the Ferdinandus-Walzer, a waltz composed by Geiger at age 12premiered in 1848 and which took center stage in the media recital dominated by the happy music of the Strauss family.
In this way, the concert directed by Riccardo Muti It included an innovation, for some very late, to its usual celebration of tradition with its optimistic and light waltzes, polkas and gallops.
Geiger, until now little known, stole the spotlight in this concert from the Strauss saga with a piece that, according to Muti, stands out for its great quality.
“I did not choose this waltz because it was the work of a woman, but because of its artistic value“said Muti during the press conference prior to the concert.
Although the renowned Italian director He insisted that neither he nor the Philharmonic were guided by gender issuesit is difficult not to see this decision as an attempt to adapt to the times a concert known for its conservatism.
The inclusion of Geiger in the most followed classical music recital on the planet – broadcast to almost a hundred countries – breaks a barrier in a concert that until now had had no female presence in the repertoire and that has never been conducted by a woman.
Only 15% of all the members of the orchestra are womenand they could only join the Philharmonic in 1997.
Geiger, who in addition to being a composer was a pianist and actress, maintained close ties with the Strauss family. The world premiere of his Ferdinandus Walzer It was directed by Johann Strauss Sr., who did not hide his admiration for her.
Despite his precocious and enormously talentedGeiger almost completely abandoned creation after marrying an aristocrat at age 25 and giving birth to her only child.
Another great protagonist of the concert was Riccardo Muti, who, at 83 years old, conducted this concert for the seventh time and established himself as the living conductor who has led the recital the most times.
The Italian maestro showed a vigor that defies age, conducting with his usual elegance and a sensitivity that enhanced the essence of this music, described by himself as “melancholic and joyful”.
The public and the philharmonic showed great complicity and affection towards the Italian conductor, who in his traditional New Year’s message wished “peace, brotherhood and love”.
Muti has left his mark on historic concert moments, such as this year’s performance of Geiger’s waltz, but he is also remembered for a more somber moment, when in 2021 he conducted the recital to an empty stalls due to COVID-19 restrictions. covid pandemic.
200 years of the ‘king of the waltz’
The third major protagonist of the 2025 concert was Johann Strauss Jr., a central figure in Viennese music, on the occasion of the bicentenary of his birth.
The concert included eight compositions by the ‘king of the waltz’, in addition to the traditional encore of The blue Danubeas well as pieces from the rest of the saga.
Austria will celebrate with numerous events the 200 years since the birth of the composer who already in his time was a kind of world-famous pop star.
As usual, the televised version featured performances of the Vienna Opera ballet as an accompaniment to some pieces from the program, choreographed for the first time by the British Cathy Marston.
Furthermore, in the pause between the two parts of the recital, a film titled “2025 – A Strauss Odyssey” was included, in which Thomas Strauss is inspired by the well-known film by Stanley Kubrick to investigate the work and life of his great-great-grandfather, Johann Strauss Jr.
The concert culminated, as tradition dictates, with the two most famous tips: ‘The Blue Danube’ and a ‘Radetzky March’ to the rhythm of the audience’s clapping.
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