Description
The Austrian composer Johann Strauss II (1825 – 1899), known in his lifetime as ‘The Waltz King’, was a prolific composer, writing not only waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, but also several operettas and a ballet.
Hot on the heels of Strauss’s eternally popular Die Fledermaus came another operetta, Cagliostro in Wien (Cagliostro in Vienna) 1875 (from which Auf der Jagd – ‘On the Hunt’ originates). It is curious, then, that there is no hunting scene in the operetta!
Strauss commonly extracted musical material from his larger works to create standalone concert pieces. Auf der Jagd is a galloping, fast polka which depicts very vividly a hunt in full cry complete with a ‘gunshot’- one of those attention-grabbing sound effects that Strauss was fond of using. In this arrangement the ‘gunshot’ is actually a party popper (activated by the flute), but this is optional and the players are cued to stamp their feet instead if a party popper is not used.
This piece has been a firm favourite at the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra’s New Year’s Day concert for many years, particularly as an encore.
This piece was revised in 2025, transposing it down into G major and replacing the Clarinet in A with a Clarinet in Bb.
