"Heart Tones". For the 1865 medical students' ball, which was held on 17 January in the Sofiensaal, Josef Strauss wrote the traditional dedication waltz. In this composition one already detects the nervous unrest of a new age; in the fifth waltz, unease and fearful agitation are clearly distinguishable. Perhaps this circumstance can be explained by the fact that at the time he wrote this work Josef already had a premonition that he would suffer a new episode of his serious ailment, which did indeed lead to fainting spells during the carnival seasons of 1865. It is not known whether the ball guests, that is, the students of medicine at the university of Vienna to whom the waltz is dedicated, interpreted the waltz correctly and perhaps even possibly diagnosed Josef's condition. In any case, the ball reporters merely mentioned the Herztöne waltz.

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Painting: The Doctor's Visit
Artist: Jan Havicksz Steen

Slovak State Philharmonic Orchestra, Kosice
Christian Pollack