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Johann Strauss II, also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger, the Son, was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas and a ballet. In his lifetime, he was known as "The Waltz King", and was largely responsible for the popularity of the waltz in Vienna during the 19th century. Some of Johann Strauss's most famous works include "The Blue Danube", "Kaiser-Walzer", "Tales from the Vienna Woods", and the "Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka". Among his operettas, Die Fledermaus and Der Zigeunerbaron are the best known.
Johann Strauss I was an Austrian Romantic composer. He was famous for his waltzes, and he popularized them alongside Joseph Lanner, thereby setting the foundations for his sons to carry on his musical dynasty. He is best known for his composition of the Radetzky March.
Josef Strauss was an Austrian composer.
"The Blue Danube" is the common English title of "An der schönen, blauen Donau", Op. 314, a waltz by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II, composed in 1866. Originally performed on 15 February 1867 at a concert of the Wiener Männergesangsverein, it has been one of the most consistently popular pieces of music in the classical repertoire. Its initial performance was considered only a mild success, however, and Strauss is reputed to have said, "The devil take the waltz, my only regret is for the coda—I wish that had been a success!"
Wein, Weib und Gesang , Op. 333, is a Viennese Waltz by Johann Strauss II. It is a choral waltz in its original form, although it is seldom heard in this version today. It was commissioned for the Vienna Men's Choral Association's so-called Fools' Evening on 2 February 1869 with a dedication to the Association's honorary chorus-master Johann Herbeck. Its fanciful title was drawn from an old adage: "Who loves not wine, women and song remains a fool his whole life long."
Rathausball-Tänze op. 438 is a waltz by composer Johann Strauss II written in 1890 in honour of the inauguration of the new city hall of Vienna. At the opening of the new banqueting hall (Festsaal) on 12 February 1890 two rival orchestras were commissioned to provide dance music for the occasion; the Strauss Orchestra under the direction of Eduard Strauss, and that of rival Kapellmeister Karl Michael Ziehrer who was head of the Vienna House Regiment 'Hoch und Deutschmeister No. 4'.
Kaiser-Walzer, Op. 437 is a waltz composed by Johann Strauss II in 1889. The waltz was originally titled Hand in Hand and was intended as a toast made in August of that year by Emperor of Austria Franz Joseph I on the occasion of his visit to the German Emperor Wilhelm II where it was symbolic as a 'toast of friendship' extended by Austria-Hungary to the German Empire.
Künstlerleben, Op. 316 is a waltz written by Johann Strauss II in 1867, following closely on the success of the popular "The Blue Danube". Austria was severely shaken the previous year 1866 by the crushing defeat that the Austrian army suffered in the Battle of Königgrätz and many of the year's festivities and balls were cancelled as the prevalent depressing mood affected most of Vienna's populace.
The Great Waltz is a 1938 American biographical film based very loosely on the life of Johann Strauss II. It starred Luise Rainer, Fernand Gravet (Gravey), and Miliza Korjus. Rainer received top billing at the producer's insistence, but her role is comparatively minor as Strauss' wife, Poldi Vogelhuber. It was the only starring role for Korjus, who was a famous opera soprano and played one in the film.
Waltzes from Vienna is a 1934 British biographical film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, sometimes known as Strauss' Great Waltz. It was part of the cycle of operetta films made in Britain during the 1930s.
Accelerationen (Accelerations), op. 234, is a waltz composed by Johann Strauss II in 1860 for the Engineering Students' Ball at the Sofienbad-Saal in Vienna. It is one of his best-known waltzes, famous especially for its rapidly accelerating opening waltz theme.
Mephistos Höllenrufe, Op. 101, is a waltz composed by Johann Strauss II in 1851. It was first performed at the Vienna Volksgarten as part of a festival preceding Strauss' departure for a tour of Germany. The title of the composition is a quotation from the Bible: "And the devil [Mephistopheles] [...] was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever". A reporter for the Wiener Allgemeine Theaterzeitung commented on Strauss' waltz that it "received such a favourable reception, on account of its effective and original melodies and brilliant instrumentation, that it had to be repeated three times". Especially colourful, and keeping with the work's ominous title, is the second waltz theme: its cheerful, ascending tune is suddenly interrupted, and then answered by a sinister chromatic descending passage. Some of the waltz themes of the work are found in close proximity to one another in the earliest of Strauss' "sketchbooks", and were probably written in the first half of 1851.
Sinngedichte, Op. 1, is a waltz composed by Johann Strauss II in 1844 for his debut as a composer at Dommayer's Casino in Vienna. The waltz was played along with several other compositions that Strauss had written for the occasion, such as the waltz Gunstwerber and the polka Herzenslust. The waltz was an unprecedented success when first performed, and had to be repeated a record nineteen times.
Carnevalsbilder, opus 357, is a waltz composed by Johann Strauss II. The waltz is based on melodies from Strauss' operetta Der Karneval in Rom. Strauss conducted its first performance in Vienna on July 9 1873. Oscar Straus later arranged the second waltz theme of Carnevalsbilder for his operetta Drei Walzer as the soprano aria Ich liebe das Leben.
Aus den Bergen, opus 292, is the name of a waltz composed by Johann Strauss II. The work was first performed in Pavlovsk on October 2nd 1864, under the title In den Bergen. The composition was dedicated to the music critic Eduard Hanslick. Critics commented on Strauss' waltz that "after a long time a new waltz from Johann Strauss has appeared, which is distinguished by noble and graceful character, and further distinguished by extraordinarily masterful instrumentation." The first Viennese performance of the waltz was in the Volksgarten as part of a benefit concert commemorating Strauss' twentieth anniversary of his debut as a composer.
Promotionen (Graduations), Op. 221, is the name of a waltz composed by Johann Strauss II. It was dedicated to the law students at the Vienna University, and was first performed under the title of Die Präparanden, a term referring to students who are preparing for their final examinations. The waltz was not very successful when first performed in the Sofienbad-Saal on February 8 1859: the Fremden-Blatt, although praising the execution of the waltz, said that it "lacked the rhythm and melody of older Strauss compositions." However, a reviewer for the Wiener Allgemeine Theaterzeitung was less critical of the composition, commenting that "in particular the first, third and fifth [waltz sections] are rich in fresh and attractive melodies [...] through this composition Strauss has lately demonstrated that he still has at his disposal a profusion of piquant and original melodies."
Rhadamantus-Klänge, Op. 94, is a waltz composed by Johann Strauss II. It was written for the 1851 Vienna Carnival. The title of the work was named after Rhadamanthus, one of the judges of the underworld in Greek mythology. Eduard Strauss, the composer's youngest brother, included the waltz's opening number in his potpourri Bluthenkranz Johann Strauss'scher Walzer, opus 292.
Lava-Ströme, opus 74, is the name of a waltz composed by Johann Strauss II. It was written to commemorate the volcanic activity within Vesuvius in 1850. The waltz was first performed at a benefit ball going under the title of a "Ball in Vesuvius" at the Sofienbad-Saal in Vienna on January 29, 1850.
Abschied von St. Petersburg, opus 210, is the name of a waltz composed by Johann Strauss II. The work was first performed at a benefit concert in Pavlovsk on September 5, 1858, as part of a tour of Russia that Strauss was conducting. In keeping with the vogue then current in Russia for the French language, the work was entitled as Mes adieux à St. Pétersbourg. Less than a week after his return to his home city of Vienna, Strauss conducted the first Viennese performance of the work at the Vienna Volksgarten.
Farewell to America is the name of a waltz composed by Johann Strauss II. In the immediate wake of the composer's visit to the United States in the summer of 1872, when he conducted several times in Boston and New York, no less than seven publishers issued waltzes supposedly composed by Strauss. Only two from the total of nine compositions that were published are known to have been performed by Strauss during his tour of the United States: the Jubilee Waltz and the Manhattan Waltzes. It is unknown whether or not the other compositions that were published were written by Strauss while he was in America, completed by him after his return to Vienna and sent through the mail, or that some of the publications had nothing to do with Strauss himself, but were compiled by publishers anxious to benefit from Strauss' American tour and the clamour for new Strauss music.
References
- 1 2 "STRAUSS II, J,: Edition — Vol. 19 CD". NaxosDirect. Retrieved 2008-10-07.
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