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PEOPLE WANT A WALTZ KING! STRAUSS'S SUCCESSOR? No.22/25.09
- victorshramko
- Sep 25
- 4 min read
Categorization is the process of grouping elements (things, concepts, people) into categories based on common or differentiating characteristics. It is a fundamental cognitive skill that allows us to organize and understand the world around us.
There must be some order
Humans, from the very beginning of the appearance of thought processes, try to categorize, organize, and understand the world around them. We're 'trying', because there is no end to this process. As in the Universe, so in our lives too.
Music Has So Many Names
We divided music into, e.g., sacred and secular, courtly and folk. Later, into 'serious' and popular. The middle class contributed to the emergence of chamber music but growing audience for symphonic. Popular music was called salon music, later jazz, rock, pop, all background, etc...
One of the most popular musicians over the years is a figure who doesn't quite fit into strict categorization. André (Leon, Marie, Nicolas) Rieu, born in 1949 in Maastricht, Netherlands (formerly Holland). The city is mentioned in ancient documents as far back as the year 575. It borders Belgium (mostly with the Flemish region). André was the 3rd of six children of his parents.
A Musician from the Cradle
His dad was a conductor of the Maastricht Symphony Orchestra. Then, showing early promise, André began studying violin at the age of five. He was fascinated by the orchestra since childhood. 'My father was a conductor, and I grew up listening to his concerts.' His parents were very strict about their son's classical music education. The young man studied violin at the Conservatoire Royal in Liège and at the Maastricht Conservatory. He completed his training at the Royal Music Academy in Brussels with Premier Prix Distinction.
Music Should Bring Joy
However, in adulthood he moved away from his father's musical style. 'I noticed that, when father played waltzes as encores, the audience seemed different. They smiled. They started to move in their seats. This music still had a magic power to move people. That made a big impression on me.' He reacted quite differently to the pop music of the 1960s. 'I was very abnormal. I just didn't notice the Beatles and Rolling Stones'.
In 1977 he married Marjorie Kochman, a language teacher and also a composer. They have two sons. (Pierre is now the producer of his father's music empire.) True to his impressions from previous years, he established in his hometown the first Salon Orchestra, consisting of five musicians. He expanded it slowly as the audience grew. Being a foreigner, he felt free to play with the waltz tradition.
Strauss Became His Guru in Music & Life
He sometimes re-arranges the hallowed Strauss' Waltz, but he's insisted on being faithful to the spirit, not to the letter. „Strauss himself used different forces on tour, depending on the size of the hall. I always remember Herbert von Karajan's remarks that we have a responsibility to do more than obey the dots on the page. We have to make these works live.
'Strauss was the first pop-music Superstar. He had a contract with several halls in Vienna to appear for half-an-hour each night. So he would conduct in one, jump into his 'caleche' (carriage) and drive really fast to the next. So when people say: 'How can you combine being a violinist with running an orchestra and business?' I say: 'Well, if Strauss could do it, so can I'.
His Strauss Won Against Michael Jackson
In 1987 Rieu's ensemble grew up so much that he established also in his hometown The Johann Strauss Orchestra. They perform classical works with a distinctly unorthodox frivolity, joking with the audience and performing all sorts of antics. He led his Orchestra throughout Europe, America, Japan, and Australia. Winning a number of top awards, incl. two World Music Awards. Their recordings have gone gold and platinum in many countries. NB. It is often not the easiest in one's own home. In the Netherlands, the well-known Phillips Co was not willing to record Waltzes by Rieu. Finally, when he showed dogged determination, they agreed. 'It was a turning point. Our first recording there beat Michael Jackson's album in Europe', he triumphed.
Waltz King: Maestro for the Masses, if not the Critics
Chutzpah & charm are clearly part of Rieu's successes. André Rieu with his orchestra gives 100 concerts per year. He speaks 6 languages. He lives in a small castle once inhabited by...d'Artagnan. His net worth is estimated at $40 million. He owns, among other businesses: a production co, a travel agency, a sewing workshop (costumes!)
His team has grown from an initial 12 members to 150. Both the greatest artists and the small, touching winners of TV shows perform with him as guests. And millions of spectators, often singing and dancing together during the concerts. Enthusiastic & happy!
This year's tour incl. Malta, Abu Dhabi, Cologne, Frankfurt, Oberhausen, Cluj, Ljubljana & Budapest. Plus annual Vrijthof Concerts in Maastricht throughout July & August. These concerts are broadcast in European cinemas as 'Andre Rieu. Dance the Night Away'. (Like Pygmalion or – My Fair Lady)
Enough words.
Let us play: André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra live in Malta
Written by
Cezary Owerkowicz
Co-founder of Kuwait Music Academy and
Director of Treasure of Talents Festival in Kuwait
