Description of the attraction
The monument to Johann Strauss was opened on July 12, 2003 in the Pavlovsky Park. The history of the park is inextricably linked with the name of the "King of Waltz". In the middle of the 19th century. here, according to the project of A. Stakenschneider, a music pavilion was erected, it was also called "kurzal" or recreation hall. Also at the pavilion there was a restaurant and a garden with fountains, as well as a large concert hall, which was designed for about a hundred people. It was here that Johann Strauss spoke.
The monument to Strauss was donated by the Austrian Republic in honor of the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg. The idea of the memorial image of Strauss belongs to Svetlana Kudzi, an actress of the theater of musical comedy, its leading soloist, the best "Bat" of the theater, the best Adele. In 1999 in Vienna, while filming a film about the composer, the actress drew attention to the bronze figure of Strauss. The actress decided that a similar monument should also decorate Pavlovsk. She turned to the Union of Concert Figures for help. Many people took part in making the monument appear on the St. Petersburg land. Among them, and the authors of this idea, and diplomats, and professor at the Vienna University of the Arts, sculptor Gero Schwanberg, who oversaw the creation of a copy of the statue of the composer. This project was brought to life by the employees of the SU-305, the Kort firm, the Tsarskoye Selo energy company, the Pushkinskoye gardening enterprise, the department of housing and communal services, construction and ecology.
The monument was unveiled as part of the Big Waltz festival. The donated sculpture is a copy of the Strauss monument erected in 1907 in Vienna. The author was a friend of Johann Strauss, the sculptor Edmund Helmer. The sculpture of a musician with a violin depicts him at the moment of his creative rise. This monument is not just a tribute to the memory of the great composer, but also a reminder of the golden age of the soaring waltz and numerous balls.
The first Russian tour of Strauss dates back to 1856. For 10 years, Johann Strauss conducted the Pavlovsk Summer Concerts. Under his leadership, the orchestra has reached a high level of excellence. The famous music critic and composer A. N. Serov wrote that he had never heard such virtuoso waltzes performed as directed by Johann Strauss.
During his Pavlovian tours, the Austrian guest did a lot to popularize Russian music. He gladly included the works of M. I. Glinka and A. N. Serov into their programs. Under the direction of Strauss, one of the first public performances of Tchaikovsky's works took place: in 1865, the orchestra under the direction of Strauss played the work of the young composer "Dances of the Hay Girls".
The Austrian composer, in turn, also experienced the deepest influence of Russian musical culture. He later recalled the years he spent in Russia with particular fondness, and Pavlov's impressions were for him a source from which he drew his creative inspiration, embodied in wonderful melodies. Here he met and fell in love with twenty-year-old Olga Smirnitskaya, who tried her hand at composition and poetry, but they were not destined to be together. The marriage, which did not take place due to class prejudices, left a deep mark in the fate of the brilliant virtuoso, enriching the treasury of world musical culture with the graceful waltz "Farewell to St. Petersburg". Strauss also dedicated the polka "Olga" and the joke waltz "Road Adventure" to this novel.
Thanks to his Russian tours, the musician managed to find a stable and solid financial position, which helped the musician overcome his humiliating dependence on the powerful.
Together with the monument to the genius of waltzes, Pavlovsk honors his musical heritage. Every year young musicians take part in the Strauss Festival, bringing to life the image of the "dancing conductor".
Description added:
P 05.04.2017
The monument is located NOT in the park, but outside of it.
