Wellen und Wogen op. 141 - Johann Strauss II

Wellen und Wogen (Waves and Billows, Waltz), walzer op. 141. Author: Johann Strauss II (1825-1899).
Painting: "The Sea at Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer" by Vincent Van Gogh.

During a concert tour of Germany in October and November 1852, Johann Strauss made a visit to Hamburg where he conceived the idea of composing a waltz suited more to the concert platform than the dance floor. This first tentative step in the further development of the waltz was entitled "Wellen und Wogen", a title admirably suited to the mood of this musical seascape. Although it excited no particular attention at its première on 9 October 1853 at a benefit concert in the Vienna Volksgarten, it drew comment from many corners upon its subsequent publication. Vienna's revered critic, the 'Music Pope' Eduard Hanslick, dismissed this and other Strauss "waltz requiems" of the period as "no longer appropriate to the dance". But Johann had achieved his aim, and must have been gratified by the opinion of the Theaterzeitung: "This 'Wellen und Wogen' does not have an electrifying effect only on dancing enthusiasts; these enchanting sounds also exercise an irresistible power of attraction on the colder and more demanding visitors to the soiree".

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