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André Rieu Thirty Year AnniversaryAlgemeen Dagblad Newspaper
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He has been around for a while and has gotten used to quite a few things, but still the chills run up and down André Rieu’s back when he hears his new sales figures. He has sold millions of CD’s and DVD’s all over the world. "The euphoric feeling I had when I experienced my breakthrough in 1994 with 'Strauss and Co' and the 'Second Waltz', is the same feeling I get when I hear that in Australia more of my records have been broken." If it had not been but for a few days, André Léon Marie Nicolas Rieu would have been born as an Amsterdam citizen. But a few days after his parents had moved to Maastricht, he was born on October 1, 1949. Two sisters were already there, and after André two more brothers and a sister arrived.
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From the very beginning music was very important in Rieu’s life. His father, André Rieu senior is amongst others, conductor of the Limburg Symphony Orchestra. The children grow up with classical music, symphonies, chamber music and opera. Rieu starts his violin lessons when he is five years old. Besides violin he plays piano, recorder and sings in the Saint Servaas church choir. Rieu considers the choir as an important learning platform. "I am convinced that the midnight Masses at Christmas and the Servaas processions were the foundation of my romantic approach to music. The beautifully decorated, filled to the brim church, the angel statues, the red habit with white surplice, these made a deep impression on me."
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After his school completion and for some time, Rieu is considering doing something in the architectural field. Building and technique are his hobby. After school he visits carpenters, bricklayers and roofers. He hammered cabinets, erected walls, built a full bathroom, including a well and garden house, and enthusiastically draws all possible buildings. Just like his brothers and sisters, Rieu ends up in the music, although the building and drawing continue to maintain a special interest. He is still very much involved in all his décor designs. The Schönnbrunn Castle design, with which he traveled over the world in 2008, is one of his most known examples.
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Shortly after the completion of his studies at the conservatorium in Brussels, he lands in a small salon orchestra. There he is exposed to Léhar’s, 'Silver and Gold'. This waltz makes a great impression upon him. "It was as if I entered into a new world. What a discovery as to how to play a waltz. During my studies I was never involved in this sort of music. I thought it was wonderful." Rieu is a violinist in the Limburg Symphony Orchestra, but he noticed how deeply the waltz has touched him. This is what he wants. He decides to go on with it, together with a few who think the same as he does.
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It is 1978 and the beginning of the five member Maastricht Salon Orchestra, Rieu’s first orchestra. The orchestra plays in homes for the elderly – it is all about making music – and in that circuit becomes a real hit. After the homes for the elderly, the next step is towards the theaters and concert halls. Rieu has to do his exceptional best in order to be noticed by the program directors. He sees the use of a record as an ideal manner in which to achieve this. But to cut records costs money and the Maastricht Salon Orchestra does not yet have the notoriety so that record companies come knocking at their door. All five orchestra members are making lists with the names of family, friends and acquaintances who might want to buy a record. If every orchestra member sells fifty records and several are sold during their concerts, the group could scrape up enough to cover the costs. (14,000 Guilders) A thousand records are created in the first production. As hot rolls they fly across the counter. There will be fifteen more additional reissues of "Rendez~Vous".
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It is 1978 and the beginning of the five member Maastricht Salon Orchestra, Rieu’s first orchestra. The orchestra plays in homes for the elderly – it is all about making music – and in that circuit becomes a real hit. After the homes for the elderly, the next step is towards the theaters and concert halls. Rieu has to do his exceptional best in order to be noticed by the program directors. He sees the use of a record as an ideal manner in which to achieve this. But to cut records costs money and the Maastricht Salon Orchestra does not yet have the notoriety so that record companies come knocking at their door. All five orchestra members are making lists with the names of family, friends and acquaintances who might want to buy a record. If every orchestra member sells fifty records and several are sold during their concerts, the group could scrape up enough to cover the costs. (14,000 Guilders) A thousand records are created in the first production. As hot rolls they fly across the counter. There will be fifteen more additional reissues of "Rendez~Vous".
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After having traveled around with continued success, Rieu had the feeling that more could be achieved. He just does not exactly know what. "I detected a growing discontentedness in myself" he says. "I was making a living as violinist in the Limburg Symphony Orchestra and found the repertoire very nice and interesting, but the atmosphere where the concerts were conducted bothered me. There was not much happening between the orchestra and the public. There was no contact, something we did have with the Maastricht Salon Orchestra.
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"Entrepreneurship is extremely exiting" says Rieu. "Sometimes you miss your objective, but that is the risk you take. All this tension is healthy. Thus it is never routine, you always try new avenues and develop yourself. Every time it is trying it out, feeling it out whether it succeeds or not. I do that together with Marjorie. She is my most important sounding board and has an infallible feeling whether something will work or not. I would not know what to do without her. Every new thing, every new trial is again a lesson." And in thirty years, Rieu has tried a lot of things, and has learned a lot of lessons. "I have never gone off half cocked. I think we did try once what the effect would be if there was no lighting in the hall. "Well, I tell you, the times that I tried that did not turn out too well. I want light; I want to see the hall."
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Apart from that, he does not think about the thirty years for a moment. Actually he does not feel much towards that, a jubilee. "The sad thing is that people often think that everything comes to a halt after that. But that is not about to happen. I will continue on for a long time with just as much pleasure as I had then and I have now. This success, and the dream, he has worked very hard for and he would like to emphasize that. It did not come to that all by itself. Sure, he was lucky at the proper moments, but luck is also something you can force upon yourself too. "I have known resistance and disappointment. No one took me or my ideas about music serious. TV producers and record makers laughed in my face. Classical musicians looked down upon me for years. With his Johann Strauss Orchestra, Rieu experiences great success and with the "popular classics" he gains ground in a large public, thanks to the performance of the three tenors (Pavarotti, Carreras and Domingo) at the 1990 world cup soccer. Rieu believes that because of that the time is ripe to go to Hilversum and try to get a foot hold with the broadcast companies and record makers. But doors remain closed: no interest, not interested, not this time, not commercial enough. Only the record company Phonogram, actually just one of the production managers, dares to give Rieu a try.
In August 1994, the single "Second Waltz" is released. One month later the CD "Strauss and Co" follows. Phonogram sells 25,000 copies just before Christmas. The Netherlands falls like a brick for the "Second Waltz" due to an interview with Frits Spits on Radio 3. That’s when Rieu launches the by his son Marc thought out slogan "Not house, but Strauss." (The word "house" here is used in Dutch and means "a modern house of music", not a normal house) appears to be a stroke of genius. This single although a pure classical waltz enters the tip parade, flies into the hit parade and lands within a couple of weeks in the top ten. In between Marco Borsato, The Prodigy, 2 unlimited and Bon Jovi. The airing of the television concert "Strauss and Co" by TROS in November attracts an unlikely high number of viewers and receives the highest appreciation since the Dutch soccer team won the 1988 European championship. Says Rieu, "It was very exciting, the TV airing. When the TROS told us how huge the success was, I could hardly believe it. "Rieu is still filled with pride; 850.000 copies of "Strauss and Co" were sold in one year. No one in the Netherlands has ever achieved that. Yes, I am very proud of that, even today." As far as Rieu is concerned, the breakthrough in 1994 was the high light in his career. Not the high light in his life, those are the births of his sons Marc and Pierre and his three grandchildren.
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.A few years ago Pierre entered the management aspect of the Rieu Empire and is responsible for the organization of concerts and tours. Marc chose his own career in the arts as a painter. It has not always been easy for a family man like Rieu. The family cannot travel along everywhere. At least not in person. Rieu keeps his loved ones always close by framed on the table in his dressing room, or on the nightstand in his hotel room. "I miss them" he confessed during an interview while his sons were attending secondary school. "And they miss me. You don’t know how much crying goes on. But we do not complain. I am and always will be a good father, but I cannot be there all the time. If this had happened to me sooner, I would not have done it. We agreed that life will be like this for a little while. "That’s why I really enjoy being home, in Maastricht. I need to have a real home, a place where I can retreat into an oasis of peace with my wife, children and the dog."
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.After his breakthrough the high points follow each other in an increasing tempo. Another peculiarity of the last thirty years? The performance in 2006 in Vienna in front of Schönbrunn Castle was in the bosom of the Viennese Waltz. "You feel there an indescribable vibration. No, it was not emotional. I turn emotions off as much as I can. I do not have time for those during my performance. You present then your utmost best, and so there is no place for emotions. Before and afterwards, most certainly. His performance in Vienna was such a huge success that Rieu has been asked to return for at least three years "They asked me, a Dutch artist to Vienna! That is emotional and I live in my own dream. This is what I dreamed about thirty years ago and everything has become reality. Even more than that and that it would become such a world success, no one could ever have dreamt that. The contact with people, bringing music closer to the people, which was, and is Rieu’s motivation. "That is what it's all about, that’s my motive and it has become even stronger in the past few years."
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I’ve noticed the last few years. The pleasure I can give the people, the happiness that music brings them. That I can bring more happiness to the people when I play in a stadium than in a hall is evident." In performances I create an atmosphere where nice serious pieces belong. Timing is very important. With me people are allowed to laugh, but also cry with emotion. And I make jokes because classical music must leave its ivory tower." Also inside the orchestra this secret remains. He brings his orchestra emphatically into action, brings people into the spotlight, allows them the applause and lets them shine. The atmosphere on stage is relaxed, musicians are laughing amongst themselves, tell jokes and are obviously enjoying what they do.
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Rieu performs in stadiums and arenas, where on an average for one concert about ten thousand tickets are sold. Multiply that by 100 or 150 for one year. "If I had played in smaller venues during my tour in Australia, I would have needed six months to reach the same amount of people as I did with the stadium tour in a few weeks. It was just by accident that it turned out as large as it did. And in the meantime it has become so big that smaller simply cannot be done any more." But whether he plays in a smaller venue or in a stadium of 30,000, Rieu has the talent to make contact with everyone. "I hear and see everything. That is a sensitivity I have had all along. People in row 20 fall over in amazement when I tell them I saw them. The people feel that contact too, whether they are in the first row or sit way up in the rafters. That’s why I do it, for the people. Not for me. I do not stand there trying to be interesting in being a star with an attitude of "Look, here I am. On the contrary, that has always been a thorn in my side with many musicians. Besides, people see through that real soon. Just my sincerity and love for the music and the public appeals to the people."
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.After his breakthrough the high points follow each other in an increasing tempo. Another peculiarity of the last thirty years? The performance in 2006 in Vienna in front of Schönbrunn Castle was in the bosom of the Viennese Waltz. "You feel there an indescribable vibration. No, it was not emotional. I turn emotions off as much as I can. I do not have time for those during my performance. You present then your utmost best, and so there is no place for emotions. Before and afterwards, most certainly. His performance in Vienna was such a huge success that Rieu has been asked to return for at least three years "They asked me, a Dutch artist to Vienna! That is emotional and I live in my own dream. This is what I dreamed about thirty years ago and everything has become reality. Even more than that and that it would become such a world success, no one could ever have dreamt that. The contact with people, bringing music closer to the people, which was, and is Rieu’s motivation. "That is what it's all about, that’s my motive and it has become even stronger in the past few years."
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I’ve noticed the last few years. The pleasure I can give the people, the happiness that music brings them. That I can bring more happiness to the people when I play in a stadium than in a hall is evident." In performances I create an atmosphere where nice serious pieces belong. Timing is very important. With me people are allowed to laugh, but also cry with emotion. And I make jokes because classical music must leave its ivory tower." Also inside the orchestra this secret remains. He brings his orchestra emphatically into action, brings people into the spotlight, allows them the applause and lets them shine. The atmosphere on stage is relaxed, musicians are laughing amongst themselves, tell jokes and are obviously enjoying what they do.
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Rieu performs in stadiums and arenas, where on an average for one concert about ten thousand tickets are sold. Multiply that by 100 or 150 for one year. "If I had played in smaller venues during my tour in Australia, I would have needed six months to reach the same amount of people as I did with the stadium tour in a few weeks. It was just by accident that it turned out as large as it did. And in the meantime it has become so big that smaller simply cannot be done any more." But whether he plays in a smaller venue or in a stadium of 30,000, Rieu has the talent to make contact with everyone. "I hear and see everything. That is a sensitivity I have had all along. People in row 20 fall over in amazement when I tell them I saw them. The people feel that contact too, whether they are in the first row or sit way up in the rafters. That’s why I do it, for the people. Not for me. I do not stand there trying to be interesting in being a star with an attitude of "Look, here I am. On the contrary, that has always been a thorn in my side with many musicians. Besides, people see through that real soon. Just my sincerity and love for the music and the public appeals to the people."
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ANDRÉ RIEU
Born: Oct. 1st 1949 in Maastricht.
Education: Gymnasium B, Afterwards Conservatories in Liege, Maastricht and Brussels.
Career: Played in the Limburg Symphony Orchestra (1977-1989). Afterwards founded the Maastricht Salon Orchestra (1978-1987). and the Johann Strauss Orchestra (1978-present). His debut album "Rendez-Vous" from 1980 , was a success. The big break through came in 1994 with the Second Waltz by Dmitri Sjostakovitsj. In 2009 Rieu was in 6th place on the worldwide list of best selling artists, ahead of Britney Spears (7), Metallica(11) and Beyonce (12).
Private Life: Married to Marjorie since 1975, father of Pierre and Marc, grandfather of three.
Our Thanks To Ineke for sending this Newspaper Article and John for Translating it.
