Hurrah! It’s a boy! – °Johann Strauss son

Hi Everyone!

On this day in 1825, Johann Strauss son was born.

He was the eldest child of Johann Strauss (father/senior/I) and his wife Anna and was to become the family’s best known musician.

Johann founded his own orchestra in 1844.
After the death of his father, the younger Johann brought the two orchestras together and conquered the world as the Waltz King. He visited many cities in Europe, played in Russia and went to the United States. Everywhere his waltzes, polkas and marches received a warm welcome.

Johann married three times.

His first wife inspired him to step into the world of operetta.
He composed 16 of them. The best known to this date are Die Fledermaus (The Bat, 1874), Eine Nacht in Venedig (A Night in Venice, 1883) and Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron, 1885).

Until his death, Johann worked on the ballet Aschenbrödel, which was completed by Josef Bayer and had its first performance at the Berlin Opera House in 1901.

He died on 3 June 1899 as was buried on the Zentralfriedhof three days later.

This is my favourite Johann Strauss II waltz. It’s called Freuet euch des Lebens. Johann composed it for the opening of the Musikverein building in Vienna in 1870.

Choosing a favourite vocal work by Johann son proves more difficult. I absolutely love these two. A famous one and a lesser known one.
Mein Herr Marquis from the operetta Die Fledermaus (starts at 1.16).
Wein,Weib und Gesang, waltz op. 333, the vocal version of one of his famous waltzes.

And here’s a piece from the Aschenbrödel ballet.

Here are some pictures I took during my visits to Vienna.

House where Johann was born.

One of my favourite portraits of him.

His wife Jetty.

His wife Angelika.

His wife Adèle.

The Theater an der Wien, where nearly all of his operettas premiered.

The house where he composed Die Fledermaus.

His statue in the Stadtpark.

His grave on the Zentralfriedhof.

I hope you liked my introduction to the master 🙂 Let me know if you have.

Ann