Pleasure Train

There was a real need for dance novelties to be performed at the fashionable Viennese carnival balls. A true challenge hence for Johann Strauss, the waltz king, and his brothers. The galop “Pleasure Train” was premiered on Jan. 19, 1864 in the Redoutensäle and dedicated to the Associations of Industrial Societies. In the course of time, this galop became one of the mostly performed orchestral works of Johann Strauss, Jr.

The “Pleasure Train” was arranged for band by Otto Wagner (1924-1999). Following his basic musical education in native Saxony, he began his studies in 1940 both in Berlin and Leipzig. Among his teachers was Professor Hans Felix Husadel, at that time Principal Senior Director of Music, German Air Force. After the war he was active as an orchestra and theater musician.

He became interested in wind music in 1967 and was industrious in that field as conductor, clinician, adviser, and above all as composer and arranger. It was his cooperation with the renowned Leipzig Radio Wind Orchestra that created his international reputation. And, last but not least, his subtle arrangements of Viennese music made him become a respected expert in this special realm of light music.