Johann
Strauss the Younger was the most famous and accomplished member of the musical
dynasty that began with his father, Johann Strauss the Elder (1804-49), a noted
violinist, conductor and composer. Together with his brothers Josef and Eduard,
who both wrote waltzes and polkas, the younger Strauss effectively ruled the
dance music world of Vienna, the city of his birth, for most of the nineteenth
century.
He
wrote his first waltz at the age of six; but it was not until his father, who
had wanted him to go into banking, deserted the family in 1842 that he began his
formal musical education. He soon formed his own small orchestra and their debut
in 1844 was such a success that he became his father's leading rival overnight.
When his father died five years later the two orchestras were merged under his
direction.
In
the 1850s Strauss introduced some of the compositional techniques of Wagner and
Liszt into his waltzes, receiving a rebuke from the fiercely anti-Wagnerian
critic Eduard Hanslick. The public was in favour, however, and in the 1860s he
became increasingly busy both composing and conducting, particularly during the
ball season of Vienna's high society. Most of his finest waltzes date from this
decade - Morning Papers (I 864), the
ever popular Blue Danube (1867), Talesfrom
the Vienna Woods (1868), and Wine,
Women and Song (1869) among them.
Strauss's
waltzes all fit a basic pattern, consisting of a slow, scene-setting
introduction, followed usually by five waltz sections. They finished with a coda
(end section) that reintroduced the main waltz tunes in a continuous sequence,
creating a sense of quickening musical pace. It was a format that any competent
composer could use to good effect; but Strauss's best waltzes were more poised
and better orchestrated, his rhythmic combinations more finely balanced, and his
melodies simply more graceful than those of anyone else. They captured the mood
of nineteenth-century Vienna - its sophistication and its hedonism.
The
'Waltz King' was naturally expected to tour - during the 30 years from 1856
Strauss made appearances all over Europe, from England to Russia, hailed as
Austria's most successful ambassador. He was invited to Boston, Massachusetts,
in 1872 for an 'International Peace jubilee' marking the end of the
Franco-Prussian War. It was a huge gala affair, in which he was forced to endure
numerous performances of The Blue Danube
and Wine, Women and Song, but it brought him worldwide popularity. In 1876
he dedicated his Centennial Waltzes to the American people in honour of the one
hundredth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Comic
opera and operetta had become popular in Vienna, particularly the works of the
Parisian composer Jacques Offenbach. In the 1870s theatre directors and
librettists turned to Strauss for a distinctly Viennese contribution to the
genre. He had never had to fit his free flowing melodies to a text before, and
he was no discerning judge of librettos suitable for the task. Of his 18
published stage works only two operettas passed into the repertory, largely due
to their excellent librettos. Die 
Fledermaus
(The Bat) from 1874 does, however, sparkle with all the wit and elegance of
his best waltzes, while Der Zigeunerbaron (The
Gypsy Baron), dating from 1885, uses gypsy melodies and exotic harmonies to
capture the Hungarian flavour of its subject.
In
1885 Strauss converted to the Protestant faith in order to divorce his second
wife Angelika (his first, Hennriette, had died) and marry the young widow Adele
Strauss (no relation). This cost him his Austrian citizenship. He assumed that
of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha for the rest of his life, but Vienna was always his home.
When he died there in 1899 a part of the Austrian Empire died with him.
Waltzes, polkas, marches and dances
Die Fledermaus
Der Zigeunerbaron
