Movies - Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald

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	Movies - Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald

Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald (English: Tales from the Vienna Woods) refers to several landmark works in Germanophone culture, including:

a waltz by Johann Strauss II;
a play by Ödön von Horváth; and
several film adaptations of the play.

Although Strauss originally used the contracted spelling G'schichten for his waltz, the name is also commonly cited as Geschichten, which is also the version by which the subsequent dramas have been known.

Waltz

Composed in 1868, G'schichten aus dem Wienerwald, op. 325 was one of six Viennese waltzes by Johann Strauss II which featured a virtuoso part for zither. The waltz's premiere that year reiterated the ascendancy that the dance had made from its humble village origins to become one of the pleasures of fashionable Viennese society, largely thanks to the performing and composing talents of the Strauss dynasty. Nevertheless, the title of Strauss' dance recalls the folk music of the inhabitants of the Vienna Woods.

Play

In allusion to Strauss' waltz, Ödön von Horváth wrote a play of the same name in 1931, for which he was honored with the prestigious Kleist Prize that year. This Volksstück (popular play) was based in the contemporary setting of Wachau, Josefstadt, and the Vienna Woods just before the Austrofascist takeover. It tells the fate of a naive young woman named Marianne, who breaks off her reluctant engagement with Oskar the butcher after falling in love with a fop named Alfred who, however, has no serious interest in returning her love. For this error, she must pay bitterly. Werner Pirchner composed the incidental music to the play.

Films

The play was filmed for cinematic release in 1961 and for television in 1964 by director Erich Neuberg, starring Johanna Matz (Marianne), Walter Kohut (Alfred), Helmut Lohner, Hans Moser (reprising his role of Marianne's father from the 1931 Berlin premiere), Helmut Qualtinger (Oskar) and Jane Tilden (Valerie), among others.

A 1979 remake was undertaken by director Maximilian Schell, this time featuring Birgit Doll (Marianne), Hanno Pöschl (Alfred), Helmut Qualtinger (Zauberkonig), Jane Tilden (Valerie), Adrienne Gessner (Alfreds Großmutter), Götz Kauffmann (Oskar), André Heller (Hierlinger) and Robert Meyer (Erich).

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald ]

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