No matter where you were or what you did, I hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve. Sorry I was so quiet for a while; I was away for a week with my mother and she doesn't have internet access, and when I got back to civilization I was so busy catching up on other stuff I didn't have a chance to blog at all. But now I'm here. And here's some fun music for the day.
The new year always makes me feel Viennese for some reason, and I crave waltzes and even operettas. And especially now, after such a stressful few months, I'm glad to leave 2013 behind, and I'm sure a bunch of my readers are as well. (My mom is burning all the 2013 calendars she can find.)
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Johann Strauss II, the composer of the above piece, was a composer of light works like waltzes, polkas, and operettas, but as many musicians and performers can tell you, light music is serious business. Getting the right dance rhythms right can be pain, and it takes a certain muse to successfully incorporate things like popping corks, train whistles, typewriters or meowing cats into your piece. Singers often say that operetta is a more demanding art form; not only do you need the vocal chops and some acting ability, but the ability to handle the vocal gymnastics often present in operettas more than in opera, plus the often-required comic timing...and dancing! (Much the same as how actors and critics will often point out that comedy is harder than drama, and that comic acting is seriously undervalued.)
So this year, as always, let's appreciate the lighter stuff as well as the more serious, as much as we can!
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