The Guards Band Vienna made musical history by performing in the anti-war operetta “ Der tapfere Soldat” (The Chocolate Soldier)

 

The Operetta

In his roughly seventy plays, the Irish-born playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950) criticized social injustices and ideals that had lost their meaning. In 1925, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his most popular works was the comedy “Arms and the Man”, which was published in 1898 and appeared on German-speaking stages as “Helden”. Shaw’s play served as the basis for the operetta “Der tapfere Soldat” by Oscar Straus, which premiered in Vienna in 1808. By poking fun at heroic idealism and the glorification of war, the work advocates efforts to promote international peace.

The plot: During the Serbo-Bulgarian War of 1885, a Swiss civilian named Bumerli (Bluntschli in Shaw’s play) unexpectedly finds himself caught between the opposing armies. Against his will, he is forced into a Serbian uniform and flees, eventually taking refuge in the bedroom of the daughter of the Bulgarian commander-in-chief. In both the original play and its operetta adaptation, the absurdity of this predicament becomes a metaphor for the absurdity of war itself. Nadina, the commander’s daughter, undergoes a profound transformation in the course of the story. From a fervent nationalist captivated by heroic ideals, she gradually comes to reject war. In the end, she offers her hand in marriage to Bumerli, the very man she had initially despised as the complete antithesis of a hero.

 

The Anniversary Production

In 2008, under the patronage of Inge Prebil-Straus, the granddaughter of Oscar Straus, the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna marked the centenary of the premiere of  “Der tapfere Soldat” (The Chocolate Soldier) with a fully staged production of this rarely performed operetta, featuring its Classical Operetta Ensemble Vienna. Peter Widholz, the Society’s president, who was in charge of the overall artistic direction, also took on the part of Bumerli, Teresa Gardner appeared alongside him as Nadina.

Johannes Föttinger played Nadina’s fiancé, a boastful officer who fancies himself a hero, while Christine Marek appeared alongside him as Mascha, one of Nadina’s cousins. Hanna Remmer and Gerhard Schifko appeared in the comic roles of Nadina’s parents, while Ronald Tettinek, as Captain Massakroff, delivered a fitting parody of a militarist. Once again, Margit  Fussi was in charge of the musical direction. The elegant costumes were designed by Ingrid Nowotny, who received personal praise for her work from Hans  Tanzberger, the long-serving head of wardrobe at the Austrian Federal Theatres.

Following its acclaimed premiere on 15^th May 2008, held in an elegant setting characteristic of the period in which the work was composed, namely in the ballroom of the Amtshaus in Vienna’s Rudolfsheim district, the production embarked on a tour of Austria’s federal provinces, as had several other operetta productions by the Strauss Society before it. Just two days later, the first of these performances took place at Orth Castle in Lower Austria. Once again, Inge Prebil-Straus was in attendance. Shortly afterwards, she wrote to the president of the Strauss Society:

 

The Music-Historical Event

In the “Artists’ Quarter” of Wiener Neustadt, a district whose streets, a  park, and a music school are named after composers and conductors, a pedestrian bridge over the Kehrbach was named after Oscar Straus in 2009. This tribute to the composer subsequently prompted the city government to stage one of its operettas at the local municipal theatre. The Johann Strauss  Society of Vienna was commissioned to carry out the project. In 2012, the Society accordingly revived its 2002 production of “Rund um die Liebe” (All About Love). The great success of this rarity prompted the city administration to approach the Strauss Society once again with the request to stage another of Oscar Straus’s rarely performed works. The result was a memorable performance of “The Chocolate Soldier” (Der tapfere Soldat) at the Stadttheater Wiener Neustadt on 23^rd November 2012 – a performance that made operetta history. The Classical Operetta Ensemble Vienna performed with the original premiere cast in all but two roles. Barbara Spitzer appeared as Mascha, while Elke Schiestel took the role of Aurelia, Nadina’s mother.

The truly historic musical event, however, took place not on stage, but in the orchestra pit. For the first time in the history of international military music, an orchestra made up of soldiers accompanied a staged theatre production. Nothing of the kind had ever been attempted anywhere in the world. It was hardly surprising that the performance attracted enormous interest, drawing audiences not only from across Austria but also from abroad. A great number of distinguished guests were in attendance. Among them were City Councillor for Cultural Affairs Mag. Isabella Siedl , Inge Prebil-Straus, who had once again come with her family, Vienna’s military commander, Brigadier Mag. Kurt Wagner, Lieutenant General Christian Ségur-Cabanac, Colonel Gebhart Bauer, head of the military music division at the Ministry of Defence, and Colonel Prof. Mag. Anton Sollfelner, former Director of Austrian Army Music. All of them witnessed this baptism of fire for the Vienna Guards Band. The performance was conducted by Colonel Mag. Bernhard Heher, the serving Director of Austrian Army Music and chief conductor of the Guards Band. Under his assured and authentic direction, which brought out every subtlety of the Viennese classical tradition, the performance proved a triumph – not only for the orchestra, but for everyone involved and, above all, for the composer, Oscar Straus.

Of the numerous congratulatory messages received after the performance, the following excerpt from an email sent shortly afterwards to Colonel Bernhard Heher by one of the distinguished guests mentioned above, Lieutenant General Christian Ségur-Cabanac, may serve as an example:

“My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed this remarkable performance. We were deeply impressed both by the excellence of the singers and by the outstanding achievement of performing in a musical theatre production with a wind orchestra supplemented by strings. The quality of all the performers as consummate comedians was also truly impressive. I believe that this performance did great credit  both to the Johann Strauss Society and to its president, who was captivating in the leading role, as well as to the Guards Band.”

 

Significance

1.Significance for the Guards Band Vienna:
The Guards Band Vienna deserves the credit of having been the first military band worldwide to take part in a staged musical theatre production. The fact that it performed in an anti-war operetta makes this achievement all the more remarkable and adds to the honour it deserves.

2.Significance for the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna:
The Johann Strauss Society of Vienna has long been committed to reviving forgotten masterpieces and passing on the rich tradition of classical Viennese music to future generations by involving young musicians in its productions. With its initiative to engage a military band in one of its staged productions for the first time, the Society also made music history.
This marked the third time in its history, spanning three quarters of a century up to that point, that the Society had achieved a milestone in music history. It had first done so in 1995, when it embarked on publishing the world’s first and, to date, only complete scholarly edition of all the works of Johann Strauss. Then, in 2001, it became the first- and so far the only-institution in music history to launch a production cycle featuring all of the Waltz King’s original operettas. The Society successfully completed this cycle in 2013 (see the article on 2014 in this section).

 

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