Strauss was born in Vienna. His
father did not want him to become a musician but rather a banker; nevertheless
he studied the violin secretly as a child: ironically with his father's first
violinist in the Strauss orchestra, Franz Amon. However, when his father found
out that he was fiddling away one day, Johann II recalled that 'there was a
violent and unpleasant scene' and that 'his father wanted to know nothing of his
musical plans'. It seems that rather than intending to avoid a Strauss rivalry,
Strauss Sr. wanted his son to escape the rigors he understood to accompany a
musical life. It was only when his father left the family and took on a mistress
Emilie Trambusch when Johann II was 17 that he was able to concentrate fully on
a career as a composer.
Johann Jr. then studied counterpoint and harmony from theorist Professor Joachim
Hoffmann who owned a private music school. His talents were also recognised by
composer Josef Drechsler (also spelt as Drexler) who taught him exercises in
harmony. His other violin teacher, Anton Kollmann who was the ballet répétiteur
of the Vienna Court Opera also wrote excellent testimonials for him. Armed with
these testimonials, he approached the Viennese authorities to apply for a
license to perform and would initially form his small orchestra where he
recruited his members from the tavern 'Zur Stadt Belgrad' where musicians
seeking work could be hired easily. Johann Strauss I's influence meant that many
establishments were wary of offering the younger Strauss any contracts for fear
of angering the former. The younger Strauss was then able to persuade the
Dommayer's Casino, Hietzing in Vienna to give him a chance at his debut. The
local media were soon frantically reporting of a 'Strauss v. Strauss' rivalry
between father and son. Strauss senior himself, in anger at the prospect of his
son disobeying his wishes, also would not play at the Dommayer's Casino ever in
his lifetime, which was surprising as the Hietzing establishment was the site of
his many earlier triumphs.
Strauss son found the early career years difficult but he soon won over
audiences after accepting commissions to perform away from home. The first major
appointment for the young composer would be his award of the honorary position
of 'Kapellmeister of the 2nd Vienna Citizen's Regiment' which was left vacant
following Josef Lanner's death two years before. He would eventually proceed to
surpass his father's fame, and become the most popular of all waltz composers,
extensively touring Austria, Poland and Germany with his orchestra. It would be
a usual sight for his audiences to catch sight of Strauss for only one
performance before he would quickly hurry to another venue where he was
commissioned to play via the traditional fiaker. It would be the ultimate
showmanship and this would be displayed on the placards at the venues to proudly
proclaim 'Heut Spielt der Strauss!' or 'Strauss plays today!'. He also made
visits to Russia where he performed at Pavlovsk and wrote many compositions
there and retitling it to suit his Viennese audiences back home which is proof
of his astuteness in business, Britain where he performed with his first wife
Jetty Treffz at the Covent Garden, France, Italy and the United States where he
took part in the Boston Festival and was the lead conductor in the 'Monster
Concert' of over 1000 musicians.
Vienna was racked by a bourgeois revolution on 24th February 1848 and the
intense rivalry between father and son became more apparent and eventually,
Johann the younger decided to side with the revolutionaries; a decision which
was both musically and professionally at his disadvantage as the Austrian
royalties twice denied him the much coveted KK Hofballmusikdirektor position,
which was first designated specially for Johann Strauss I in reward for his
musical contributions. Further, the younger Strauss was also hauled up by the
Viennese authorities for publicly playing the infectious La Marseillaise which
stoked revolutionary feelings.
When the elder Strauss passed away from scarlet fever in 1849 in Vienna, the
younger Strauss merged both their orchestras and engaged in tours as mentioned
above. He married the singer Jetty Treffz and applied for the KK
Hofballmusikdirektor Music Director of the Royal Court Balls position which he
eventually achieved after being denied several times before. His involvement
with the Court Balls meant that his work has been elevated to a supreme
standard. His second wife, Angelika Dittrich was not a fervent supporter of his
music and their differences in age and opinion, especially her indiscretion led
him to seek a divorce. Strauss was not granted a divorce and therefore he
changed religion and allegiance and became a citizen of Coburg-Saxe-Gotha.
Strauss II sought solace in his third wife Adele and she encouraged the creative
talent to flow once more in his later years, resulting in much finer music such
as those found in the operettas 'Der Zigeunerbaron' and 'Waldmeister' and the
waltzes 'Kaiser-Walzer','Kaiser Jubilaum','Märchen aus dem Orient' op.444 and
'Klug Gretelein' op. 462.
Strauss had an astute business mind which he utilised to the fullest. After
establishing his first orchestra prior to his father's death, he founded many
others to be supplied to various entertainment establishments such as the 'Sperl'
ballroom as well as the 'Apollo' where he dedicated appropriately titled pieces
to commemorate the first performances there. Later, he accepted commissions to
play in Russia for the Archduke Michael and Tsar Alexander II especially in
Pavlovsk where a new railway line was built. When the commissions became too
much to be handled by him alone, he sought to promote his younger brothers Josef
and Eduard to deputise in his absence from either poor health or an impossible
commission. In 1853, he was even confined to a sanatorium to recuperate as he
was suffering from shivering fits and neuralgia. Anxious that the family
business that she so lovingly nurtured would be ruined, mother Anna helped
persuade a reluctant Josef to take over the helm of the Strauss Orchestra. The
Viennese welcomed both brothers eventually and Johann even once admitted that
'Josef was the more talented of the two of us, I'm merely the more popular.'
Josef went on to stamp his own mark into his own waltzes and this fresh rivalry
did more good for the development of the waltz as Johann Strauss II proceeded to
consolidate his position as the 'waltz king' with his exquisite The Blue Danube
waltz which began life as a choral waltz with banal words written by a local
poet.
The highlight of the Strauss triumvirate was displayed in the concert of
'Perpetual Music' in 1860s where his aptly titled 'Perpetuum Mobile' musical
joke op.257 was played continuously by all three Strauss brothers at the helm of
three large orchestras. At around the same time, the three Strauss brothers also
organised many musical activities during their concerts at the Vienna
Volksgarten where the audience would be able to participate. For example, a new
piece would be played and the audience would be asked to guess who the composer
was as the placards would only announce the piece as written by a 'Strauss'
followed by question mark punctuations.
The polka also underwent development from a Bohemian peasant dance in the 1840s
to one which generated interest in serious musical societies in Vienna. Strauss
brilliantly displayed its potential with the Unter Donner Und Blitz 'Thunder and
Lightning' op. 324 and the cheerful Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka op.214 which can be
literally translated as 'chit-chat' in English.
The Strauss family was not without its rivals. Although the most sought-after
composer of dance music was Johann Strauss II in the 1860s to the 1890s, stiff
competition was present in the form of Karl Michael Ziehrer and Emile Waldteufel
whom the latter was commanding in his position in Paris. Much earlier, Johann
Strauss I faced a long rivalry with fellow composer Josef Lanner and Josef
Gung'l. Ziehrer would eventually eclipse the Strauss family after Johann and
Josef's deaths and posed more than a challenge to the superiority of Eduard. The
German operetta composer Offenbach who made his name in Paris also posed a
challenge to Strauss in the operetta field. Later, the emergence of operetta
maestro Lehár would usher in the Silver Age in Vienna and most certainly sweep
aside Strauss dominance in the operetta world.
He was much admired by prominent composers of the day, including Richard Wagner
who once admitted that he admired the waltz Wein, Weib und Gesang op.333 and
Johannes Brahms to whom he dedicated his popular waltz Seid umschlungen
Millionen 'Be Embraced Millions' op.443 inspired by a poem by Schiller, who was
also a personal friend. Other admirers include the famous Richard Strauss who,
when writing his Rosenkavalier waltzes said 'How could I forget the laughing
genius of Vienna?' which made a clear reference to the genius of Johann Strauss
the younger.
Strauss' operettas, however, have not had as much enduring success as have his
dance pieces: and much of the success was reserved for Die Fledermaus and Der
Zigeunerbaron. This has been attributed to the fact that Strauss was once
considered to lack dramatic and theatrical sense, although his musical prowess
was never questioned. The result was a welter of fine music drawn from themes of
his lukewarm operettas of which 'Cagliostro-Walzer' op.370 and 'Rosen aus dem
Süden' Walzer op.388 were fine examples. His gift was evident especially in
instrumentation but his apparent lack of dramatic sense has led many 'serious
music' enthusiasts to dismiss his works as mere 'light music'. One such example
was the failure of his only opera Ritter Pásmán which could be faulted on the
libretto but nevertheless,many attribute his strong links to the waltz and the
polka as his failure as this may well indicate that he may not be able to write
serious music. In fact, for his third and most successful operetta of all time,
Die Fledermaus 1874, music critics of Vienna prophesied that his work would only
be a 'motif of waltz and polka melodies'. Nonetheless, his fiercest critic and
ironically a strong supporter, Eduard Hanslick wrote at the time of Strauss's
death in 1899 that his demise would signify the end of the last happy times in
Vienna.
It is to be noted that most of the Strauss works that we are all familiar with
today may have existed in a near negligible different form as conceived by
Johann Strauss II and his brothers as Eduard Strauss destroyed a great amount of
original Strauss orchestral archives in a furnace manufacturer in Vienna's
Mariahilf district in 1907. The Johann Strauss societies around the world have,
however painstakingly pieced together a large body of these destroyed works and
allowed many generations after to appreciate and love the waltzes and polkas of
the famed Strauss family. Such was the popularity of the music of the Strauss
family that Eduard Strauss, then the only surviving brother, took this drastic
precaution to prevent Strauss works from being openly claimed as another
composer's own. This may have also been fuelled by the intense rivalry between
the other popular waltz and march composer, Karl Michael Ziehrer.
Strauss' music is now regularly performed at the annual Neujahrskonzert of the
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, thanks to the efforts of the late Clemens Krauss
who performed a special all-Strauss programme in 1929 with the established
orchestra. Many distinguished Strauss interpreters include Willy Boskovsky who
carried on the 'Vorgeiger' tradition of conducting with violin in hand as is the
Strauss family custom as well as the famous Herbert von Karajan and the opera
conductor Riccardo Muti.
Johann Strauss II died from pneumonia in Vienna in 1899 at the age of 74 and was
buried there in the Zentralfriedhof.
Works of Johann Strauss II
German Origin Translation:
Indigo und die Vierzig Räuber (1871)
Der Karneval in Rom (1873)
Die Fledermaus (1874)
Cagliostro in Wien (1875)
Prinz Methusalem (1877)
Blindekuh (1878)
Das Spitzentuch der Königin (1880)
Der lustige Krieg (1881)
Eine Nacht in Venedig (1883)
Der Zigeunerbaron (1885)
Simplicius (1887)
Fürstin Ninetta (1893)
Jabuka (1894)
Waldmeister (1895)
Die Göttin der Vernunft (1897)
Wiener Blut (1899)
Ritter Pásmán (1892)
Aschenbrödel (1899)
Liebeslieder op.114 Lovesongs (1852)
Phönix-Schwingen op. 125 Wings of the Phoenix (1853)
Schneeglöckchen op. 143 Snowbells (1854)
Nachtfalter op. 157 Moths (1855)
Man lebt nur Einmal! op. 167 Man only Lives Once! (1855)
Accelerationen op.234 Accelerations (1860)
Immer Heiterer op. 235 Always Cheerful (1860)
Karnevalsbotschafter op. 270 Carnival Ambassador (1862)
Leitartikel op.273 Leading Article (1863)
Morgenblätter op.279 Morning Journals (1863)
Studentenlust op. 285 Students' Joy (1864)
Feuilleton op.293 (1865)
Bürgersinn op. 295 Citizen Spirit (1865)
Flugschriften op.300 Pamphlets (1865)
Wiener Bonbons op.307 Viennese Sweets (1866)
Feenmärchen op. 312 Fairytales (1866)
An der schönen Blauen Donau op.314 On the Beautiful Blue Danube (1867)
Künstlerleben op.316 Artists' Life (1867)
Telegramme op. 318 Telegrams (1867)
Die Publicisten op.321 The Publicists (1868)
G'schichten aus dem Wienerwald Tales from the Vienna Woods op.325 (1868),
Illustrationen op. 331 Illustrations (1869)
Wein, Weib und Gesang op.333 Wine, Women and Song (1869)
Freuet Euch des Lebens op. 340 Enjoy Life (1870)
Neu Wien op. 342 New Vienna (1870)
Tausend und eine Nacht op.346 Thousand and One Nights (1871)
Wiener Blut op. 354 Viennese Blood (1873)
Bei uns Z'haus op.361 At Home (1873)
Wo die Zitronen blühen op. 364 Where the Lemons Blossom (1874)
Du und du op. 367 You and you (1874)
Cagliostro-Walzer op.370 (1875)
O Schöner Mai! op.375 Oh Lovely May! (1877)
Rosen aus dem Süden op.388 Roses from the South (1880)
Nordseebilder op.390 North Sea Pictures (1880)
Frühlingsstimmen op.410 Spring Voices (1883)
Lagunen-Walzer op. 411 Lagoon Waltz (1883)
Schatz-Walzer op. 418 Treasure Waltz (1885)
Wiener Frauen op. 423 Viennese Ladies (1886)
Donauweibchen op. 427 Danube Maiden (1887)
Kaiser-Jubiläum-Jubelwalzer op. 434 Emperor Jubilation (1888)
Kaiser-Walzer op.437 Emperor Waltz (1888)
Rathausball-Tänze op. 438 City Hall Ball(1890)
Gross-Wien op. 440 Great Vienna (1891)
Seid umschlungen Millionen op. 443 Be Embraced Millions (1892)
Polka
Explosions-Polka op. 43
Annen op. 117 (1852) Anna
Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka op. 214 (1858) Chit-chat
Maskenzug op. 240 Masked Ball
Demolirer op. 269 (1862) Demolition Men
Vergnügungszug op. 281 Journey Train (1864)
S gibt nur a Kaiserstadt,'s gibt nur a Wien! op. 291 Only an Imperial City, one
Vienna
Kreuzfidel op. 301 Cross-Fiddling
Lob der Frauen Polka-mazurka op. 315 Praise of Women
Leichtes Blut Galop op. 319 Light Blood
Figaro-Polka op. 320
Ein Herz, ein Sinn! Polka-mazurka op. 323 One Heart, One Mind!
Unter Donner und Blitz op. 324 Thunder & Lightning (1868)
Freikugeln op. 326 Free-shooter (1868)
Fata Morgana Polka-mazurka op. 330
Éljen a Magyar! polka schnell op. 332 Long live the Magyar!
Im Krapfenwald'l op. 336 In Krapfen's Woods French Polka
Im Sturmschritt op. 348 At the Double!
Die Bajadere op. 351 The Bayadere
Vom Donaustrande op. 358 By the Danube's Shores
Bitte Schön! op. 372 If You Please! (1875)
Auf der Jagd! op.373 On the Hunt! (1875)
Banditen-Galopp op. 378 Bandits' Galop (1877)
Kaiser Franz Josef Rettungs op. 126
Napoleon op. 156
Persischer op. 289
Egyptischer op. 335
Jubelfest op. 396
Deutschmeister Jubiläumsmarsch op. 470
Auf's Korn! op. 478