Johann Strauss, Jr.

Johann Strauss, Jr.

Born: 25 October 1825, Vienna
Died: 3 June 1899, Vienna

Known during his lifetime as the “Waltz King”, Johann Strauss Jr was an Austrian composer and musician who went on to write more than 500 musical compositions. His most celebrated piece “An der schönen blauen Donau” (Blue Danube Waltz) became one of the best-known and best loved melodies of the 19th century and has seen enduring popularity within the classical repertoire.

Born in Vienna on 25 October 1825 as Johann Baptist Strauss, Strauss Jr — or “the Younger” as he was also known — was the oldest son of the Austrian Romantic composer Johann Strauss Sr. The elder Strauss was strongly opposed to the notion of his son following in his footsteps as a musician despite his evident talent and tried, often forcibly, to push him in a very different professional direction, namely that of becoming a bank clerk. Without his father’s knowledge, however, the younger Strauss pressed on with his musical undertaking and studied the violin in secret under the tutelage of the first violinist of his father's orchestra, Franz Amon. In 1844 Johann, with his mother’s secret encouragement, started his own orchestra and it soon became a successful rival to his father’s. Soon he was composing prolifically.

Mazurkas, polkas, waltzes, and quadrilles were all performed by his own orchestra, to much acclaim. He was soon awarded the position of honorary bandmaster of the 2nd Vienna Citizens' Regiment — Strauss the Elder being bandmaster of the 1st regiment. The following year brought turmoil to Vienna as it was seized by the 1848 revolutions in the Austrian Empire. The political tensions underscored the rift between father and son even more glaringly, as Strauss Jr aligned himself with the revolutionaries and his father remained loyal to the monarchy. It was a disadvantageous alignment for Strauss Jr as the Austrian royalty twice denied him the much coveted 'KK Hofballmusikdirektor' position — a title first designated specifically in recognition of the musical contributions of his own father – until he eventually attained it in 1863. After much turbulence, both personally and politically, the elder Strauss died of scarlet fever in 1849 and the two orchestras were amalgamated. Thereafter Strauss Jr. began to tour more extensively and built a successful career for himself, making efforts to endear himself to the newly installed Habsburg Emperor Franz Josef I, by composing several patriotic marches dedicated to him.

Due to unrelenting mental and physical demands that accompanied his increased productivity and popularity, Strauss suffered a nervous breakdown in 1853. At they advice of his physicians, he spent the summer taking seven weeks of respite in the countryside. His younger brother Josef, who was also a musician, was enlisted by the family to relinquish his career as an engineer and to take over the helm of Johann's orchestra in the interim. Upon his eventual recovery, Strauss recommenced his career conducting and composing with renewed vigour, becoming one of the most popular waltz composers of his age. During this time he completed his most famous single composition, the aforementioned Blue Danube (1867) and many other melodious waltzes including Morgenblätter (1864), Künstlerleben (1867), and G’schichten aus dem Wienerwald (1868). He and his orchestra toured extensively throughout Europe. An international celebrity, he was surrounded by adoring fans, and although married to the singer Henrietta (“Jetty”) Treffz—six years his senior—he readily succumbed to the charms of other women. Following the success in Vienna of the operettas of Offenbach, Strauss, encouraged by his wife tried his hand in the theatre, at first without success, but when the right libretto came along he wrote what was to become the premier masterpiece of the operetta repertoire, Die Fledermaus (1874).

When Jetty died in 1878 Strauss precipitously plunged into another marriage within six weeks, which turned out to be a disaster and led to a divorce in 1882. Strauss sought solace in his third wife Adele Deutsch, whom he married in August 1887, having converted to Protestantism because he could not get an annulment from his second wife. She encouraged his creative talent to flow once more in his later years, resulting in many famous compositions.  By this time he was composing primarily for the stage, resulting in another masterpiece, Der Zigeunerbaron (Gypsy Baron) (1885) as well as many lesser pieces. His waltz compositions reached their pinnacle with his most symphonic Emperor Waltz (1889), which transcended any of his earlier concert waltzes and took on the qualities of a tone poem.

Strauss was much admired by other great composers of his age, including Brahms, Verdi, Wagner, Richard Strauss (no relation), and above all, Mahler, whose performance of the piece at the Vienna Court Opera (now State Opera) remained one of the legends in the history of musical performance and set the precedent for its annual production there ever since on New Year’s Eve.

Strauss “the Younger” would build a reputation for himself that overshadowed his father’s in both scope and popularity and would forge an albeit reluctant musical family dynasty. He died of pleuropneumonia in Vienna on 3 June 1899, at the age of 73 and was buried in the Vienna Central Cemetery.