Variationen über eine Wiener Heurigenmelodie ('Variations on a Viennese 'Heurigen' melody)
for violin, violoncello and piano, Op.9 (1914)

Duration: 8'
First published by N.Simrock, Berlin, 1921
Available from Boosey & Hawkes: in print (M221110718)

Performances (selection):

München, Dec.1922
Elberfeld, Apr.1923
Rudolf Kolisch/Wilhelm Winkler/Hans Gál, Vienna, Nov.1923
Breslau, Jan. 1925
Berlin, Nov. 1925
Vienna, Feb. 1926
Weissgärber/Mayr/Gál, Radio Vienna Feb.1927
Cremer, Langhof, Genz, Bad Elster, Aug. 1927
Hamburger Trio, Köln Radio, Mar. 1928
Hirsch-Kaufmann-Trio, Breslau Radio, Apr. 1928
Station Trio, BBC Radio Wales, May, 1929
München Radio, Jul. 1929
Essen, Mar. 1930
Mügge/Sprengler/Siber, Leipzig, Mar. 1930
Toni Alexi/Sophie Alexi/Alfred Morgenroth, Mainz, Nov. 1930
Stuttgart Radio, Dec. 1932
Steinbauer-Trio, Vienna, Jan. 1934
Wiener Kammertrio, Vienna, Dec. 1936
Odnoposoff/Krotschak/Schulhof, Vienna Radio, Feb. 1938
Gombrich/Sampson/Gál, Edinburgh, Jan.1939
BBC Radio, Jan.1939
Jessie Munroe/May Hope/Edith Vance, Edinburgh, 1943
Douglas Dickson/Joan Dickson/Gál, Edinburgh, Dec. 1945
Akademie, Vienna, Apr. 1960
London, Dec. Dec. 1970
Trio Motawa, Königsfeld, Sep. 1973, Wiedikon, Nov. 1973
Capricorn, BBC Radio, Aug., 1980, Oct. 1986; London, Oct. 1980
Mainz, Sep. 1980
Edinburgh, Sep. 1984
Elisabeth Perry/Moray Welsh/Anthony Goldstone, Manchester, Jun. 1989
Swiss Radio, Aug. 1990
Vienna, Oct. 1997
The Pierrot Lunaire Ensemble, Linz, Aug. 2002
Mainz, Nov. 2002
Ensemble Villa Musica, Neuwied, Oct. 2003

Gál wrote of the origin of the work:

"Over half a century ago, a hunchbacked extemporising singer by the name of Ungrad haunted the popular wine-houses of the Viennese suburbs. If you secretly slipped him a consideration with the necessary information he would improvise humorous and not necessarily polite verses to the melody of these variations, whose object was some lady or other, and such fun-poking attentions were generally not resented. The present piece was written on the day after such an occasion, as a penitential tribute to the victim. This was in 1914, between the Austrian ultimatum to Serbia and the outbreak of the First World War, and it is documentary evidence that the youth of the time greatly underestimated the seriousness of the situation. I have unfortunately forgotten the poems of the extemporising poet; but in any case they would probably have been unprintable."

The work was not published until after the First World War, when it was extremely popular. As one critic remarked:

"Hans Gál's 'Variations on a Viennese Heurigen Melody' are completely carefree, real Viennese folk-music. This is the Viennese Schubert, this is Austria with its love of song and its joy in music, seeking and finding expression in heightened fashion in the 'Heurigen'." [Breslauer Zeitung, 15.1.1925]

Or again:

"The novelty of the evening: 'Variations on a Viennese Heurigen Melody' proved to be a splendid thing. Hans Gál has scored a hit." [Die Tonkunst, Berlin. 1.12.1925]