One of the most fascinating characters to emerge in the field of light Viennese music was composer Carl Michael Ziehrer. Although his name is practically unknown among music lovers in the United States, it was in America that Ziehrer made his reputation. As leader of the Viennese Hoch-und-Deutchmeister military band, Ziehrer found it difficult to make his mark in a popular music scene dominated by the Strausses. When the group played as Austrian representatives for the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, it was an immediate hit, despite stiff competition from John Philip Sousa's Band also appearing there. Ziehrer overstayed his welcome in Chicago and upon his return to Vienna, was promptly fired as a military bandleader, but this spurred him on to found his own orchestra. This led to a triumphant career that made Ziehrer the last great orchestra leader of old Vienna; he produced 23 operettas, more than 600 compositions, and even a few primitive recordings, an achievement even Johann Strauss II did not live to enjoy. With the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1914, Ziehrer's fortunes likewise declined sharply and, although he and
Franz Lehár managed to build the
Vienna Symphony Orchestra out of the ruins, Ziehrer ultimately died in poverty.
The business of retrieving Carl Michael Ziehrer's legacy, and regaining something of his reputation, has been a long and arduous process requiring considerable patience. Although a society to preserve and promote his music has been active since 1935, until 2003 Ziehrer's work has existed mainly in the shadow of the Strausses, as though the 1893 Chicago World's Fair never happened. The
Original C.M. Ziehrer Orchestra was founded in 2003 to help improve his fortunes, and while it is doubtful they will enjoy the international success that Dutch violinist
André Rieu has with his
Johann Strauss Orchestra, what the
Ziehrer Orchestra is doing is nevertheless admirable and more historically focused. Ziehrer Edition's Kaiserklänge aus Alt-Wien (Emperor-sounds of Old Vienna) is the fifth volume in a series devoted to Ziehrer's work and features a wide variety of efforts among its 16 selections. Here is a gavotte devoted to Princess Pauline Metternich (a patron of Wagner and subject of a famous portrait by Degas), three popular numbers from Ziehrer's 1907 operetta Ein tolles Mädel (The Crazy Girl), and the fast polka Sensations-Nachricht! (Sensational Message!), among others. To some, such obscure prospects might provoke little more than indifference, yet to others this is opening the door to a musical unknown that is irresistible. It is to be hoped that connoisseurs of Viennese light music -- perhaps even some of
André Rieu's fans -- will embrace this disc and the series to which it belongs. It is certainly worthy; the music-making is relaxed, even informal; the singing is good; and Ziehrer's accomplished style belongs in the top tier of the corpus of Viennese light music along with
Lehár and the Strausses.