Johann Strauss II: Controversen (Legal Disputes 法的論争) Walzer Op. 191 (1857) - 1st and 2nd versions

Johann Strauβ BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION (1825-2025) 祝ワルツ王生誕２００年
Johann Strauss II (1825-1899): Controversen (Legal Disputes 法的論争) Walzer Op. 191 (1857) - 1st and 2nd [8:52] versions
1st Performance (1st version): Tuesday January 27, 1857 - Juristenball (Law Students’ Ball 法学部学生舞踏会) in the Sofien-Bad(bath)-Saal - performed by the Strauβkapelle conducted by Johann Strauss II
1st version:
Source: 1st edition Piano Score published by Carl Haslinger, Wien Plate no. C. H. 11,995 (6.27.1857)
Performed by Dr. Taka S. Otagawa drive.google.c...
Recorded LIVE with some background noise (7.30.1977) at Herr Karasawa (唐澤俊三)* Residence, Yokohama, JAPAN
[* Founder/Director of the Tokyo Johann Strauβ Ensemble] Equipment: Top-of-the-line Yamaha Upright Piano, TEAC Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorder, Professional Recording Microphone
ANALYSIS of “The HISTORICAL PIANO RECORDINGS” by Herr Karasawa drive.google.c...
2nd version:
Source: Strauβ Edition Wien Score 1 10A 191 W
The Orchestral Performance (edited by The Pianist): Courtesy of Johannes Wildner-Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra (3.1990)
A unique feature of the main Waltz 1A theme (1st 3 bars) is that it comprises an augmented chord as: G → D major Augmented Chord (増和音) D+5 → G. In music an augmented chord is a chord (or triad) consisting of 2 major 3rds (an augmented 5th). The term augmented chord (triad) arises from an augmented chord (triad) being considered a major chord whose top note(5th) is raised, or augmented. Augmented chords sounds “dreamy” and somewhat “relaxed”, while diminished chords, consisting of 2 minor 3rds, sound “darker” and more “anxious”. Eduard Strauss frequently employed Augmented Chords in his works including: • Eduard Strauss: Carnev... • Eduard Strauss: Sleepi...
The music of the 32-bar Introduction would be one of the most "SERIOUS" MUSIC Johann II wrote. The 24-bar Andante Section sounds “Wagnerian ~ atonality (無調性) ” with frequent “Modulations” involving many Augmented chords as: Bars 1-2: Eb - Bb+5 - Eb, Bars 9-10: Cm - Eb+5 - Cm, Bars 13-14: Db - C+5 - Db, Bars 15-16: Db6 - D+5 - Eb, Bars 17-18: Eb - Bb+5 - Eb, Bars 15-16: Db6 - D+5 - Eb, Bars 19-20: Cm - C+5 - Fm, Bars 21-22: Fm - Ab+5 - Fm, and Bars 23-24: Db+5 - F#m-5 - D. The Andante grave Section (G minor) sounds “Beethoven-like”.
In the 2nd version of the Waltz 3B the dynamic marks are changed from “forte (f)” to “piano (p)” and the melody line of Bars 1, 5, 9, and 13 is changed to |♩+♪ ♩+♪|.
From the original Marco Polo CD NOTEs about op.191 [written by Herr PETER KEMP, Honorary Life President of The Johann Strauss Society of Great Britain]:
The sheer effectiveness and economy of Johann Strauss's orchestral writing is discernible in the Introduction to Controversen, the waltz he dedicated "to the Gentlemen Students of Law at Vienna University" for their ball held in the splendour of the Sofienbad-Saal on 27 January 1857, on which occasion Johann first conducted it with the Strauss Orchestra. In the space of just 32 bars, the composer portrays the mounting tension of a controversy gathering momentum as more and more voices join in the increasingly heated debate.
Not surprisingly, the waltz Controversen numbered among the dance novelties written for the 1857 Carnival which Johann took with him to Russia for his second season of concerts at the Vauxhall Pavilion in Pavlovsk, lasting from 14 May until 14 October. It is to be regretted that F. A. Zimmermann, a viola-player in the Strauss Orchestra, whom posterity must thank for keeping a series of diaries (preserved in the collection of the Wiener Stadt-und Landesbibliothek, Vienna) meticulously detailing the programmes of music performed during many of Strauss's summer seasons at Pavlovsk, did not participate in the 1857 concerts. For this reason, and because the St Petersburger Zeitung only rarely concerned itself with events at Pavlovsk, one must look elsewhere for confirmation of when Controversen was given its first performance before the Russian public. The precise date - 14 May 1857 - is revealed in a letter from the composer himself, written that same month to Carl Haslinger, his publisher in Vienna: "I am very happy with our reception by the Russian audiences... Controversen and Une Bagatelle [op. 187 • Une Bagatelle, Op. 187... ] also go down better than any other waltz or polka-mazurka, as a result my recent pieces which were played in the first concert, such as: Etwas Kleines [op. 190 • "Etwas Kleines" - Joha... ], Une Bagatelle, Controversen (I did not yet want to play any of the other new compositions • Johann Strauss II: Pa... • Johann Strauss II (182... ) once again allowed me to achieve a wonderful success".