ROYAL RIEU IN TEARS

King’s Waltz For The First King’s Day 

ROYAL RIEU IN TEARS

The Telegraaf, Privé by Wilma Nanninga: The tears flow over André Rieu’s bespectacled face. The sounds of his majestically orchestrated King’s Waltz are bringing him to tears. And the maestro of the violin is also being touched by the voice of the Dutch-Australian soprano Mirusia Louwerse, who sang "Don’t Cry for me Argentina" especially for princess Maxima. He sobs gently when playing his CD on his laptop while his orchestra plays "You’ll Never Walk Alone" later intended for Willem-Alexander. "I believe in a Monarchy." When I am in a Republic, I always say: "Elect a Queen, just like we did. Many of your problems would be solved. And I truly believe that."

André shows his sensitive face. It is the sensitive and intimate side of the otherwise happy Limburg concert master. The man who travels the entire world with an orchestra of at least fifty members has just returned from Canada, and is letting us listen to the specifically created music for the abdication.

On April 30, "Royal Rieu" will be performing on the Amsterdam Museum Square. He rubs his emotions from his eyes. "On stage I am in charge and I cannot afford such a misty look. But music really does that to me. Right now I am just letting it happen." The master violinist removed his shoes, and in a tailor’s style is sitting on top of a sleeping bag clad small couch in his dressing room, just prior to a performance for a charitable event. The lights in the star’s dressing room in the Beatrix Theater in Utrecht have been lowered. The atmosphere is intimate. "This is one of the three identical small couches" he says smilingly in an effort to change the mood. "Each one is in a different part of the world. They follow me because prior to a concert and right after dinner, I always take a nap in a familiar place. That way I can always feel at home. It is necessary. I always think about my health. Together with my son Pierre, we work out three times a week with weights. And then when my personal trainer comes by we move the cars out of the garage and we do our workout." 

André is not only emotionally affected by music, he still has problems with jet-lag after a long flight from Canada. On top of that and after a meeting with his financial advisors earlier this morning, he also has the responsibilities of his gigantic orchestra resting on his shoulders. "Everything is still running fine. Our company is healthy. But the responsibility for my fifty or so orchestra members sometimes weighs heavier than at other times. That depends on the frame of mind. We did very well in Canada. And the American tour went well, although I had hoped to earn more. The American market is always difficult, and I lost a lot to the concert organizers."

CRYING

"On the other side though, I was with David Foster a big promoter in Los Angeles and he told me that even the huge world stars in the region are changing over to smaller venues, simply because they cannot fill them. So there too, it is crying in the towels with the entertainment industries. And the audiences turn every dollar over twice. This silly Limburger is jealousy looked upon. We still fill huge stadiums with people who travel over 600 miles just to see our orchestra live. That is something to be proud of. The glass is therefore half full, and not half empty."

André stops for a minute and then explains: "The sales for our concerts in South America have slowed considerably. Because of that we did not perform for three months. But of course I continued to pay everyone’s salary. There are no less than thirteen couples in our orchestra. Entire families depend on their earnings. Everyone has a mortgage. That I continue to pay salaries is because I feel that it is necessary. With soap series on TV, the actors I believe have a yearly contract, and every now and then they receive unemployment, to prevent a permanent state of employment. I am old fashioned. I always want the best around me. So I continue to pay them, even though there is no work."

André van Duin enters the dressing room. He heard us talking about his namesake’s orchestra. "Great professionals. As Mr. Wijdbeens I participated a couple of times on the Vrijthof in Maastricht. (John’s note: To my knowledge, André van Duin has never performed on the Vrijthof with André, but he did perform with him in the Arena in Amsterdam) There I put André to the side and then conducted. The entire orchestra played effortless higher or lower notes. It was crazy. I tried that once with the Metropolitan Orchestra, but with those people it did not go as easily. And now we are going to do that again on the Museum Square. We will be there together, the two Andrés, along with Martijn Fischer who unprecedentedly plays André Hazes in the musical "She believes in Me." So, what will we be doing? Of course "Oranje Boven" (Orange on high), a Hazes-medley and André’s King’s Waltz.

Helicopter
André Rieu says, "I want to play that one at the beginning. When the royal helicopter takes off from Java Island. It is a medley of patriotic songs. It will erupt. First "In naam van Oranje doe open de Poort" (In the name of Orange, open the gate) then softly with piccolos "Oranje Boven" (Orange on High), then the Zilvervloot (Silver fleet) on the bagpipe." He starts the CD in his laptop again. In no time at all two Andrés are conducting in the dressing room.

The Limburg violin master composed the King’s Waltz spontaneously right after the British Royal House had requested a "Coronation Waltz". "Buckingham Palace" called due to the upcoming jubilee of Queen Elizabeth. I composed something very special for that. For those specialties I always work together with my first violinist Frank Steijns. When we heard this about Willem-Alexander, we immediately continued the effort. Next week we’ll meet with Amsterdam Mayor Eberhard van der Laan about the precise sequence of things to follow. The way it stands right now we are slated for a one and a half hour program."

When André van Duin returned to his own dressing room, the concert master reflects back on his finances again. In 2010 when André was first disabled due to a virus infection on his equilibrium, it caused him to come close to the financial abyss: "I was even willing to sell my Stradivarius. That currently is not necessary. I have been able to get caught up in my finances, but still have not had the time to build new and large reserves. So then I really feel the pinch when I have to pay salaries for three months while at that time I am not earning any monies directly." André Rieu smiles: "Will my new CD help us there? Universal Record Company is continually becoming happier with us. Every year we release a new CD and the sales are phenomenal. Furthermore, for the last ten years we have been in the top ten of most charts for the most selling artists in the world."

"My wife Marjorie and I do not live a jet-setters life. We do not wear expensive jewelry or clothing. The only thing I afforded myself was an expensive Mercedes. Because I love to drive. I also like to watch formula-1 races. I was reading about a Mercedes that could do 224 mph. I bought that one but it seems they had installed a limiter on it. If I wanted to remove that, I needed to follow a course and pay 4000 Euros. It drove me crazy." ... He grins, "After some proper negotiations, it has been removed. You do not notice anything special on the car, and I can use the car to just go shopping with Marjorie to buy sugar or something. But I did take the car up to 186 mph on the German Autobahn. That was insane.!" Reflecting back: "Indeed, those are  the only moments in my life when I do not listen to music. Only the music of the engine."

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Thank you to Ineke for sending this and John Translating it.