Amouretten-Polka française, Op. 147 - Josef Strauss

"Amoretti". According to studies of classical antiquity, amoretti are those little winged love-gods which have come down to us from Roman mythology. Understandably, poets and storytellers of the Austrian monarchy also took up the term amoretti and embellished poems and novels with it. Even the title page of the first edition of this pleasant polka by Josef Strauss depicts a quartet of tiny amoretti fluttering over the earth. One of these graceful beings bears a violin which, in relation to his own size, is downright weighty. Josef Strauss performed the pretty, pleasing tone sketch that is his Amouretten-Polka before the Viennese public in the summer of 1863. It may be that he had already dreamt it up in the year 1862, when he conducted the concerts in Pavlovsk, near St Petersburg, in his brother’s place. That may be the reason why this work is not mentioned in his own notes, nor in those of horn-player Franz Sabay, who did not in fact travel to Pavlovsk. Another possibility is as follows: the Amouretten-Polka was announced as a new work for a concert on 27th June 1863 at the “Neue Welt”. Since there was no report on this event, one must believe the announcement in the Viennese newspapers. The work first appeared in print in November 1863.

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Painting by Hans Zatzka

Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra, Kosice
Arthur Kulling