Jutta Vulpius - Josef Strauss: Dorfschwalben aus Österreich (Village Swallows waltz), High E-flat

For the 2021 holiday season, I'm posting a series through New Year's Eve of festive concert waltzes for coloratura soprano (a few of which, like this one, cross over into the "bird song" category as well).

THE SONGBIRD: The soprano featured here is Jutta Vulpius (1927 - 2016), a German dramatic coloratura soprano who became a star in Berlin in the 1950s. She was born in Erfurt and studied piano and voice in Weimar. After her debut in 1954 as Queen of the Night at the Komische Oper in East Berlin, she was booked regularly across Germany. In 1954 she sang in Bayreuth (Flower Maiden and Woglinde) and she performed at the Handel Festival in Halle until the 1960s. In 1956, she became a member of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, where she sang for 35 years. Vulpius appeared outside Germany in Barcelona, Rome, Lisbon, Cairo, London, Paris, Rome, Prague, and Moscow. She was made Kammersängerin in 1959 and is featured is several German-based studio recordings of works by Mozart, Bach, Handel, Lehar, Offenbach, and Weber. This recording from 1964 is conducted by Otto Dobrindt.

THE MUSIC: Josef Strauss was the son of Johann Strauss, and brother to Johann Strauss II and Eduard Strauss. All were Viennese composers in the 19th century who specialized in sophisticated waltzes and light music. Josef wrote nearly 300 works, the most long-lasting being the Pizzicato Polka and his waltzes Sphären-Klänge, Delirien, and Dorfschwalben aus Österreich -- which translates as the "Village Swallows of Austria." I believe it was strictly an orchestral work until 1930 when Paul Knepler added lyrics for it to become a vocal showpiece: "Frühling, Frühling, schöne Zeit!" and may have been introduced by Erna Sack.