Johann Strauss II

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About Johann Strauss II

Although he was apparently an awful dancer himself, Johann Strauss II became a ballroom sensation during the second half of the 19th century with an indelible stream of waltzes, polkas, marches, and quadrilles. Born near Vienna in 1825, Strauss’ early attempts to enter the music profession were constantly hampered by his resentful father (also Johann), an established composer of dance music, famous for his Radetzky March Op. 228 (1848). It was only following his father’s death in 1849 that Johann’s burgeoning talent was able to take flight, when he merged his father’s orchestra with his own to form a crack ensemble with which he toured Europe and America, conducting with violin in hand. With the help of his younger brothers Josef (1827–1870) and Eduard (1835–1916), also gifted dance-music composers, Johann became the darling of Viennese society. He was celebrated especially for his enchanting waltz sequences, including On the Beautiful Blue Danube Op. 314 (1866) and Tales from the Vienna Woods Op. 325 (1868), alongside other major hits such as the lively polka Thunder and Lightning Op. 324 (1868) and the operetta Die Fledermaus (1874). Such was the impact of Johann’s passing in 1899 that a life-size, gilded bronze statue of the great man in action was given pride of place in Vienna’s Stadtpark.

HOMETOWN
Vienna, Austria
BORN
October 25, 1825
GENRE
Classical

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