Eduard Strauss I
Brakes off / Quick polka
op. 238 (1886)
Thanks to his abilities as a conductor and manager Eduard Strauss made a substantial contribution to spreading the music of the Strausses. However, posterity does not pay tribute to such a role. What counts are an artist’s own creative achievements, and in this respect Eduard has always been overshadowed by his two brothers. However, when it comes to the quick polka Eduard does not need to fear any comparisons. A good example of this genre is provided by
Brakes Off
, op. 238, one of his most frequently performed pieces. It is thus all the more surprising that it is precisely in the case of this work that the circumstances of its composition and first performance are not clear.
The printed editions appeared in June 1886; a performance by the orchestra of Infantry Regiment no. 84, ‘Grand Duke of Hessen’, is known to have taken place in the Volksgarten in Linz in Upper Austria on 8 December 1885. The newspaper announcements for this concert note that the polka will be given its ‘first performance’, and this is the first mention of the work in the press.
Nevertheless, it seems inconceivable that the first performance of this quick polka should have been during such a concert, so that this note probably has only local validity.
The title
Brakes Off
suggests a connection to the world of railways, and thus the polka may have been first performed at the Railway Ball held in 1885 at the Sofiensäle rooms in Vienna on 5 February (and not, as Max Schönherr claims, at the Musikverein on 22 February). However, the reports of this ball mention only a new composition by the bandmaster Johann Nepomuk Král entitled
Drittes Läuten (When the Third Bell Sounds
). There is no mention of Eduard Strauss, and so it is not even certain that he and his orchestra performed at this ball.
Synopsis: Dr. Thomas Aigner
Translation: Dr. Leigh H. Bailey
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