Vienna New Year’s Concert

The New Year’s Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic is primarily dedicated to the works of the Strauss dynasty (Johann Strauss (father), Johann Strauss (son), Eduard Strauss and Josef Strauss) and took place for the first time on December 31, 1939. Since the second concert (January 1, 1941) it has been midday on New Year’s Day. The New Year’s Concert program is now given three times: on December 30 as a preview for members of the Austrian Armed Forces ? Members of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, which makes up the Vienna Philharmonic, are exempt from Austrian military service?, on December 31st evening as a New Year’s Eve concert, and finally on January 1st as a New Year’s concert. It takes place in Vienna in the Golden Hall of the Wiener Musikverein. The floral decorations for the New Year’s concert have traditionally been a gift from the city of Sanremo since 1980. While the music program always includes works from the Strauss dynasty, each year there is a focus on other composers such as Lanner or Joseph Hellmesberger. The event now also has a highly ritualized component. Encores follow after the two main parts. In front of the blue Danube, the audience interrupts the raised baton with applause. Now the orchestra wishes the (worldwide) audience a united Happy New Year. At this point, on January 1, 2007, Zubin Mehta welcomed Bulgaria and Romania as part of the European community.

 As a conclusion, the concert waltz An der Schönen Blaue Donau (Strauß, Sohn, Op. 314, 1867) and the Radetzky March (Strauß, Vater, Op. 228, 1848) are traditionally played – but both only with appropriate applause (which is never lacking). as a second and third encore. In 2005, the Radetzky March was not played in memory of the victims of the December 26, 2004 tsunami in Asia. At the Radetzky March, the audience traditionally claps along to the beat after conducting. Since 1959, the New Year’s Concert has been broadcast live by the ORF in over forty countries around the world. 

As a result, the concert became the epitome of Viennese musical culture worldwide and a cult experience on television screens. For some works, thematically related images are displayed as background music for the television broadcast. Live danced ballet interludes are also shown again and again from Schönbrunn Palace for television viewers. In 2007, pre-recorded ballet pieces from the baroque garden of Schloss Hof were played for the first time. The ballet of the Vienna State Opera, the Volksoper, the Bavarian State Opera and international guest stars dance. In 2007, after 1990, 1995 and 1998, Zubin Mehta conducted the New Year’s Concert for the fourth time. English director Brian Large has directed the pictures since 1991. The two dress rehearsals are also traditional, with one reserved for members of the Austrian Armed Forces. In 2006, one of the dress rehearsals was broadcast live for the first time on the ice rink of the Vienna Ice Skating Club.

1. Strauss: “On the beautiful blue Danube”
2. Strauss: “Emperor’s Waltz”
3. Strauss: “Roses from the South”,
4. Strauss: “Trich-Tratsch” – Polka
5. Brahms “Hungarian Dances”
6. Dvorak “Slavic Dances”
7. Glinka: “Ruslan and Ludmila”
8. Tchaikovsky: “Swan Lake”
9. Rossini: “William Tell”
10. WA Mozart: “The Marriage of Figaro”
11. WA Mozart: “The Magic Flute”

And much more…