The Polka Mazurka Bellona was presented for the first time on 5th October 1860 at the final concert of the season in the Volksgarten. The title illustration of the piano score depicts Bellona, the Roman goddess of War, with a burning torch in her right hand and her left hand pointing upwards to menacing clouds above the earth. The misfortune of the campaign lost on the battlefields of Northern Italy in the year 1859 was not yet forgotten in Vienna. The bloody battles at magenta and above all at Solferino had already given rise to the founding of the red cross. In fact, the pleasant polka which was presented in the autumn of 1860 at the Volksgarten in connection with the Emperor Franz Josef's birthday heralds the feeling of a new beginning following defeat, and a powerful "hurrah, hurrah!", called out by the musician at the Finale reinforced the determination to face the future with enterprise and energy.

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Painting: Bellona with Romulus and Remus
Artist: Alessandro Turchi

K & K Philharmoniker
Matthias Georg Kendlinger