With their lilting and energetic rhythms, and their gleaming and inventive instrumentation, the melodies and ballroom dances of Johann Strauss II appear as fresh today as ever—whether the luscious waltz The Beautiful Blue Danube, the captivating Roses from the South, or the cheeky aria “Mein Herr, Marquis” (the Laughing Song). Vienna’s “waltz king”, Johann Strauss II (1825-99), was master not only of the waltz, but an array of ballroom favourites—you might recognise the exhilarating polkas “Unter Donner und Blitz” or “Tritsch-Tratsch”, not to mention the playful “Pizzicato-Polka”. He also enjoyed success writing for the stage—his ever-fresh masterpiece of operetta, Die Fledermaus (The Bat), has joined his most celebrated dances to become a beloved New Year fixture. Strauss did not stop there, but went on to write Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron), a work he initially conceived as a serious, full-scale opera—here you can sample his broodingly dramatic overture to this great and still underestimated work.