Maestro Alexis Hauser on things Viennese: Interview in the Montreal Gazette
(This article, written by Arthur Kaptainis,Ěýappeared in the Montreal Gazette on November 5)
ĚýThe question arises before, and indeed during, any Viennese-themed concert of the type given Sunday afternoon by the OSM: To schlepp or not to schlepp?
I refer not to the transport of instruments to the Maison symphonique, nor the arrangement of chairs on stage, both of which are inevitable. I mean the characteristic dragging (“schleppen” in German and its familiar Yiddish cognate) of the second beat in Viennese waltzes, which is said to be essential to the lilt of this music, though not necessarily easy to capture.
Even the definition of “das Schleppen”Ěý(hereafter called the schlepp) is open to debate. Most define it as the early arrival of the second beat, rather than an extension of this beat. Some Viennese musicians claim to hear the schlepp in practical terms as the late arrival of the third beat.
Our one-two-three leader in this afternoon concert will be Alexis Hauser, professor of conducting at ÎŰÎ۲ÝÝ®ĘÓƵ University’s Schulich School of Music, and Viennese by birth.
“Naturally, I have grown up with the second beat ever so slightly played ahead, as it is played instinctively by Viennese orchestras without thinking about it,” he tells me in an email.
“Surely, this treatment is authentic Viennese, stemming from the 19th century. You wouldn’t dream of doing it in a waltz-tempo minuet of the 18th century or in a 19th-century Tchaikovsky waltz.
“However, if overdone — and the nuance is very small — it would become a caricature, missing the point. And, in my opinion, the point isĚýto energize a stereotypical accompaniment figure thatĚýwould appear boringly repetitive otherwise, while keeping a steady pulse.”
Hauser’s observation about the risk of monotony is easily confirmed by the simple mental exercise of summoning up the tune of the most famous of all concert waltzes — Johann Strauss Jr.’s An der schönen, blauen Donau Op. 314, a.k.a. the Blue Danube — in quick, regular time. Music boxes sometimes perpetrate this travesty.
Not such a good piece without the schlepp.
Hauser theorizes that this peculiar rhythmic adjustment evolved because in Viennese waltz music, the melody often does not involve the second beat. Alexander Rapoport, a Viennese-trained composer, suggests the influence of the dance itself, which calls for the foot to lift on the second beat and descend gently.
In some cases, the schlepp does not apply. A waltz with running eighth notes, such as that of Die Fledermaus’s Overture, which is heard on the Sunday program, neither needs nor can sustain a second-beat adjustment. Indeed, when I hit the “play” button in my head and start those running eighth notes, there is a substantial pause on theĚýthirdĚýbeat before the end of the first four-bar phrase.
To invoke a traditional Viennese expression: Ay, caramba.
Conductors have the right to approach the waltz problem differently. In her biography of the late Georg Tintner, a conductor of Viennese birth and upbringing who was well known to Canadians, Tanya Buchdahl Tintner claims that her husband used “far less rubato than is traditional, and there was none of the stretched-out notes one usually hears in works such as The Blue Danube.”
Tintner’s view on the schlepp, she writes, was that “if it isn’t in the blood you can’t teach it.” I find this hard to reconcile with my own memory of his magical performance with the OSM on Sept. 15, 1992 of Johann Strauss’s The Emperor Waltz, which he regarded as “a work of genius.”
Whatever Tintner’s doctrine, his biographer is willing to confirm that when this conductor led waltz music, “the authentic Viennese flavour was there, the gentle lilt, the spirit of the city at its genial best.” No doubt about that.
Rhythm is not the only animating component of a Viennese waltz. Despite the endless arrangements this music has been subjected to, Hauser is an admirer of the original orchestrations by Johann and Josef Strauss. (Johann’s younger brother is represented on the program by The Dragonfly Op. 204.)
“(The originals) create the typical sound instantly,” he says. “The orchestration is part of a composer’s special style, how the sound is balanced by different instruments. A look at the Die Fledermaus Overture gives us right away evidence that Johann was a geniusĚýwith an unlimited diversity of colours, no less than Mozart.”
Another prodigious orchestrator was Richard Strauss, who, though unrelated to Johann’s clan, extended and revitalized the waltz tradition in his opera Der Rosenkavalier. We shall hear the 1945 suite from the 1911 opera.
Not all the music on the OSM program, titled Viennese Splendour, is in waltz time. One off-brand item is Richard Strauss’s Duet-Concertino, featuring OSM principal bassoon Stéphane Lévesque and principal clarinet Todd Cope (both of whom happen to be alumni of the New World Symphony in Miami Beach) as soloists.
Another is Haydn’s Symphony No. 100, “Military,” an ingratiating work that is martial only in its colourful use of bass drum, cymbals and triangle.
“I have to say that I am thrilled to have also a Haydn symphony in this program,” Hauser says, “as he really was the father of many more genres besides string quartets and symphonies for which he is usually credited.” Hauser perceives Haydn as one of the main agents who brought music of folk flavour into the realm of great art.
AT A GLANCE
Alexis Hauser conducts the OSMĚýSunday, Nov. 8 at 2:30 p.m. atĚýthe Maison symphonique. Tickets costĚý$42 to $200ĚýviaĚýosm.ca.
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Hauser will also be heard with his own ÎŰÎ۲ÝÝ®ĘÓƵ Symphony OrchestraĚýon Friday, Nov. 13 and Saturday, Nov. 14 atĚýPollack Hall, 555 Sherbrooke St. W. The program includes John Rea’s Over Time; Brahms’s Double Concerto, with Schulich School profs Axel Strauss (no relation) on violin and Matt Haimovitz on cello; and Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. This program goes on the road to Koerner Hall, an excellent facility in Toronto, on Nov. 17.
The Pollack concerts start at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $20.30,Ěý$13.70 for students and seniors, viaĚýmcgill.ca/music/events.