Cluj-Napoci International Strauss Festival, Romania, 2008
This year the Johann Strauss festival was held in the thriving University City of Cluj-Napoca which houses no less than 90,000 students during the term. The city is now well connected to other European cities and is having a brand new airport terminal.
A well prepared programme with lots of background had been prepared for the week in both German and Romanian. The opening concert was on Sunday 7 September with Christian Schulz conducting the Magyar Opera Orchestra of Cluj-Napoci in the Hungarian Opera House. As was to be expected the playing was to the very high standard that we have come to expect of Romanian provincial orchestras. The programme was not a run of the mill Viennese concert, the pieces being selected by Josefina Rodica, the President of the Romanian Strauss Society, who was our host for the week, and the music was connected in some way with the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the strong Hungarian influence in the city.
The programme was as follows:
- Overture: Manöverkinder - Ziehrer
- Waltz: Donausagen - Fucik
- March: Hoch Österreich op.371- Johann Strauss II
- Waltz: Dorfschwalben aus Österreich op.164 - Josef Strauss
- March: Viribus Unitis op.96 - Johann Strauss II
- March: Andrassy-Marsch op.286 (Arr. Béla Hary)
Interval
- Waltz: Krönungslieder op.226 - Josef Strauss
- March: Ungarischer Krönungsmarsch op.225 - Josef Strauss
- Waltz: Kaiserwalzer op. 437 - Josef 2
- Waltz: Goldene Träume (original orchestration) - Ivanovici
- Pf: La belle Rosemarie - Kurt Schmid
- Waltz: Blue Danube - Josef 2
Encores:
- Auf der Jagd ps
- Unter Donner und Blitz ps Johann Strauss II
Afterwards we all spent a very pleasant evening in the company of the Austrian ambassador to Romania and his daughter, and HRH Prince Paul of Romania and his American and Oxford educated wife Princess Lia who is of Romanian origin and once worked in the White House. The resulting dinner conversation was very interesting and we heard a lot about the "Prince Paul for Romania Foundation", who have just this year sponsored two music students to attend the Royal Academy of Music in London, and he has taken a leading role in promoting Romania's name internationally. Prince Paul is a direct descendent of King Carol II of Romanian and the rightful heir to the throne.
The following day we were taken to the salt mines in Turda, an hour or so out of the city. This is now a museum and features a huge underground cavern or hall, which is sometimes used to feature concerts and has become quite a tourist attraction. In the evening a well attended concert recital was given by Pauline Pfeffer accompanied by Adrian Stoica at the piano. The first half comprised songs by Korngold, Schumann, Wolf, Schubert and Richard Strauss. The second half was devoted to operetta with the exception of Liszt and Chopin piano solos by Adrian Stoica.
Pauline introduced a very interesting repertoire of operetta arias, one of which was a world premiere in modern times*. The songs she sang were:
- Süsse Melodie - Die verliebte Eskadron - Ziehrer
- Der Schani und die Fanny* op.328 Walzerlied - Ziehrer
- Was mir der Zurfall gab - A Night in Venice - Johann Strauss
- Gerne lade ich mir Gäste ein (Prince Orlovsky's song) - Die Fledermaus - Johann Strauss
- Sei gepriesen du lauschige Nacht - Die Landstreicher - Ziehrer
- Marie Louise Serenade - Will Meisl - recalling Joseph Schmitt and his famous song "Heut ist der schönste Tag in meinem Leben"
The concert received an enthusiastic reception and Pauline's change of 'role' - and dress as Prince Orlovsky was as impressive as it was different.
Tuesday was also a very busy day. We were taken on another tour, this time to an old castle under renovation called Schloss Bánffy, then to see the Armenian Church in nearby Gerla which used to have an Armenian community. We stopped at an open air restaurant in the town before visiting a very interesting working monastery high in the hills in the clear cool air.
Wednesday was "British day" as I had my lecture in the afternoon followed by Donald Mackenzie's organ concert. During the day we took the opportunity to walk around the some of the town and the Botanical Gardens. There were plenty of places to stop for a drink or a coffee, in fact it was impossible to get a bad cup of coffee in Cluj. My illustrated lecture, (The Romanian Connection) the text of which appeared in the summer edition of Vienna Music was given in the Music Academy. Donald's programme was varied and interesting and it went down very well. I'm sure most of the students had no idea that you could get so much out of an organ that was probably for most of its life used to Bach!
The programme was:- Schönfeld March - Ziehrer
- Rumänische Lieder waltz - Ivanovici
- Brandbrief Galop - Lincke
- Tik-Tak polka - JS 2
- The Nun's chorus - Strauss/Benatzky
- Lehar potpourri arr. D.MacKenzie
Interval
- Eljen a Magyar! Ps - JS 2
- Spirit of the Danube waltz - D.MacKenzie (New composition)
- Champagne Polka - JS 2
- Barcarolle- Offenbach
- Bahn Frei! - E.Strauss
- Kalman potpourri arr. D.MacKenzie
The following evening there was an excellent production of La Traviata at the Hungarian opera with Patrica Seymour in the leading role as Violetta. Once again many thanks and appreciation to Josefina Rodica and Traian Chebeleu for organising this year's festival.
Other Romania Strauss Festivals
2002 (Bucharest) — 2003 (Timisoara) — 2004 (Oradea) — 2005 (Bucharest) — 2006 (Bucharest) — 2008 (Cluj-Napoci)
