Vienna Boys Choir Comes to South Milwaukee

Classical Music triviaquestions: What do composers Mozart, Caldara, Biber, Salieri and Bruckner havein common? Or: What do composer Franz Schubert and conductors Hans Richter,Felix Mottl and Clemens Krauss share in common? There’s but one direct linkbetween these otherwise disparate musical talents: The first group all workedclosely with the Vienna Boys Choir during their careers, and the secondgroup once all sang with it as young men. As prestigious as this maymake the Vienna Boys Choir seem, their history goes even further.

Emperor Maximilian I ofthe Holy Roman Empire founded the Choir in1498, when he ruled that six boys should be appended to his court musicians.From that humble beginning, the Vienna Boys Choir can trace a continuousexistence to the present day. Until 1918 the Choir only sang for the imperialcourt, in cathedrals or for official state functions. Upon the post-World War Idisintegration of the Habsburg monarchy, the Vienna Boys Choir found itselflacking financial support. Thus, by 1926 they took their angelic voices ontopublic concert tours from which they have never ceased.

Today, the hundred 10-to 14-year-old members of the Vienna Boys Choir are routinely divided into fourtraveling choral groups, one of which arrives in South Milwaukee for a holiday-flavoredconcert Nov. 27. The opening act, however, comprises the unofficial publicdebut of Milwaukee’sown Bel Canto Boy Choir, a new ensemble led by Ellen Shuler and formedunder the auspices of the Bel Canto Chorus.

The works on the ViennaBoys Choir program encompass the group’s Austro-German roots, traditionalChristmas hymns and carols from around the world, as well as popular songs fromstage and screen. Pieces that emphasize the Vienna Boys Choir’s long traditioninclude Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming (15th century), Mozart’s LaudateDominum (1780), Verdi’s Laudi alla Vergine Maria (1898), Fauré’s Cantiquede Jean Racine, Op. 11 (1865) and Johann Strauss’ Tritsch-Tratsch Polka,Op. 214 (1858), with lyrics specifically penned for the Vienna Boys Choir byRosl Hujer. Christmas carols and hymns dominate the second portion of theprogram with works from France,Austria, Italy and Germany, as well as the classics “Silver Bells” and “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.”

At the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center onNov. 27.

The Austrian capitalalso takes center stage in the Waukesha Symphony Orchestra’s holidayconcert“Viennese Christmas.” The WSO with the choirs of Brookfield Central,Kettle Moraine and Oconomowoc high schools perform Strauss’ immortal waltz Onthe Beautiful Blue Danube, Op. 314, the Toy Symphony (of disputedpedigree), excerpts from Engelbert Humperdinck’s fairy-tale opera H%uFFFDnsel undGretel and Brahms’ Hungarian Dances, as well as selections from TheSound of Music by Rodgers and Hammerstein.

This concert takes placeat Elmbrook Churchin Brookfieldon Dec. 6.