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BAYER, JOSEF BIOGRAPHY(1852 - 1913)
Opera house musicians have often found playing for
ballet performances something of a chore. Austrian symphonic composer Franz
Schmidt (1874-1939) was scathing when he related experience of playing cello under Court
Ballet Director, Josef Bayer: I liken him, in order not to
insult this rank, to an Austrian regimental music
sergeant only in so far as he possessed the arrogance and
coarseness of one in richest measure. His ability as
conductor and musician, however, would not have
satisfied the needs of the post of regimental music
sergeant by a long way. He was beneath all criticism and
was further devalued by the pitifulness and vulgarity of
his compositions.
Yet, in his line, Josef Bayer was a master of his craft
and for thirty years was musical head of ballet in
Vienna. Born there on 6th March 1852, he studied at the
Vienna Conservatory under Josef Hellmesberger senior
(1828-93), Anton Bruckner (1824-96) and Otto Dessoff
(1835-92) and was from 1870 until 1898 a violinist in
the Court Opera Orchestra. The peak of his career was
those thirty years in charge of ballet there from 1883
until his death in Vienna on 12th March 1913. During
that time he composed over twenty one-act ballets, many
other dance scenes and divertissements, and numerous
operettas and light music for other venues.
Perhaps by the time Franz Schmidt joined the Court
Opera orchestra, Bayers inspiration was running a little
dry. Certainly his greatest successes came in earlier
years. The first was in January 1885 with the ballet
Wiener Walzer (Viennese Waltzes), which portrayed the
evolution of the Viennese waltz over the previous
century, with favourite melodies woven into the score.
Its considerable success was overshadowed in 1888,
however, by what was to prove the Vienna Court
Operas greatest ballet creation ever. Originally entitled
Im Puppenladen(In the Doll Shop), it finally came to be
known as Die Puppenfee (The Fairy Doll) after its
central rle. It became the most overwhelmingly
successful ballet of its time in Vienna, and in all was
performed on over a hundred European stages. To this
day it holds a place in the schedules of the Vienna State
Opera (successor of the Court Opera), having been
performed there over eight hundred times in total.
Bayer consolidated his reputation with further ballet
scores without ever quite achieving the same acclaim
again. Still in 1888, sterreichische Mrsche (Austrian
Marches), a ballet after the manner of Wiener Walzer,
was staged in Prague. Then, a year later, the Vienna
Court Opera staged another one-act ballet, Sonne und
Erde (Sun and Earth). Among later ballet scores was
Rund um Wien (Around Vienna), produced at the Court
Opera in October 1894 to celebrate the golden jubilee of
the Waltz King Johann Strauss (1825-99) as conductor
and composer. Bayer also paid further homage to Johann
Strauss later, by arranging for performance the Waltz
Kings unfinished ballet score Aschenbrdel
(Cinderella)
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