Vol 3 No 12, December 23, 2009
© 2009, Salt Lake Vienna Waltz Association
"I have had, and may have still, a thousand friends, as they are called, in life, who are like one's partners in the waltz
of this world, not much remembered when the ball is over.”
Lord Byron
Greetings Waltzers,
The Waltz Kings
Undeniably the greatest dynasty of Viennese Waltz composers is the Strauss family, Johann Strauss I, his sons Johann
II, Josef, and Eduard, plus grandson Johann III, son of Eduard. Their combined music careers stretched from the early
1820s until the 1930s.
Born in Vienna in 1804, Johann I was an early collaborator with fellow waltz composer Joseph Lanner. Perhaps Johann’
s most recognizable piece to Viennese Waltzers is the Radetsky March, popular as an opening grand march of
Viennese balls. His most famous waltz is the beautiful Lorelei Rheinklänge op. 154.
Johann I was orphaned before reaching his teens, and his guardian soon secured an apprenticeship for him as a
bookbinder. During his apprenticeship, he also took violin and viola lessons, and eventually joined a string quartet
formed by Lanner. The quartet grew into a string orchestra by 1824, and Johann became deputy conductor. Soon, he
formed his own orchestra and began composing pieces for it. This “Strauss Orchestra” toured much of northern
Europe and the British Isles, and Johann became one of the best-known dance composers of Vienna.
He married Maria Anna Streim in 1825, and they eventually had six children. Considering his success, Johann
paradoxically discouraged his sons’ pursuit of musical careers. However, by 1834 he’d taken on a mistress, with whom
he also had six children, and in revenge, Maria Anna encouraged her sons to compose. Johann died from scarlet fever
in 1849, and he is buried next to Joseph Lanner.
Johann I’s son Johann II is the most well-known member of the Strauss family. Johann II wrote over 500 compositions,
including waltzes, polkas, and quadrilles. His works include pieces familiar to all Viennese Waltzers, such as Tales from
the Vienna Woods, The Blue Danube, Kaiser-Walzer (Emperor’s Waltz), and Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka.
Although forbidden by his father to learn music, Johann II secretly studied with the first violinist of his father’s orchestra
and received a severe beating from his father when found out. He debuted in 1844 at Dommayer’s Casino in Vienna,
performing his first works such as the waltzes Sinngedichte and Gunstwerber, and critics praised him lavishly. The
rivalry between him and his father intensified. Upon his father’s death, Johann II merged their two orchestras and
continued touring.
He eventually became more popular than his father, and was perhaps the most popular waltz composer of the era. In
1853, with the stress of constant touring, Johann II suffered a nervous breakdown, and his younger brother Josef took
over the orchestra temporarily, abandoning a promising engineering career. Johann II was married three times. He was
not granted a Roman Catholic divorce at the end of his second marriage, and he subsequently moved to Germany
where he also abandoned Catholicism.
In the 1870s, Johann II toured the United States where he wrote his Farewell to America waltz. He died in 1899, still
composing to the end and leaving an unfinished ballet. Today, many waltz conductors carry on Johann II’s Vorgeiger,
or First Violin, tradition of conducting with violin in hand.
Younger brother Josef was born into this world in 1827 and was destined by his father to follow in the European career
tradition of multiple sons — the first goes to the land, the second to the army, the third to the priesthood. He eschewed
the army, however, and trained to become an engineer, but eventually joined the family orchestra in the 1850s. He
wasn’t healthy for most of his adult life and died in 1870.
However, he composed 283 opus numbers and many waltzes. His most famous piece is perhaps Pizzicato Polka,
written with his brother Johann II.
Eduard Strauss, born in 1835, and known as “Edi” by his family, was primarily a dance music conductor rather than a
major waltz composer. Overshadowed by his older brothers, Eduard developed the polka-schnell, or “quick polka”
style. Among his more popular polkas is Bahn Frei, op. 45.
Eduard’s son, Johann III was born in 1866. Although he was also a composer, he is better remembered as a
conductor. In 1903, he recorded his conducting of the Johann Strauss Orchestra for the Deutsche Grammophon AG of
Germany, and he was later noted for actively conducting works for prominent recording companies. He wrote
Coronation Waltz, op. 40, to mark the coronation of England's King Edward VII, son of Victoria.
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