Josef Strauss

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Josef Strauss

Josef Strauss (German: Josef Strauß) (August 20, 1827 - July 22, 1870) was an Austrian composer.

He was born in Vienna, the son of Johann Strauss I and brother of Johann Strauss II and Eduard Strauss. His academic achievements at an early age do not point to him being a composer. His father thought he was best suited for a career in the Austrian Habsburg military. He nevertheless studied music theory with Franz Dolleschal and violin with Franz Anton. He was trained as an engineer, and worked for the city of Vienna as an engineer and designer. He designed the horse-drawn forerunner of today's revolving-brush street-sweeping vehicles. He also published two textbooks on mathematical subjects.

He joined the family orchestra in the 1850s. His first published work was called "Die Ersten und Letzten" (The First and the Last). This suggests that he was reluctant to deputise for his brother Johann Strauss II when the latter was taken seriously ill in 1853. The waltz-loving Viennese, however, were appreciative of his early waltzes and polkas and he decided to continue in the family tradition of composing waltzes and other dance music. He was known as 'Pepi' by his family and close friends, and Johann once said of him: "Pepi is the more gifted of us two; I am merely the more popular...".

Josef Strauss married Caroline Pruckmayer at the church of St Johann Nepomuk in Vienna on 8 June 1857 and had one daughter, Karoline Anna, who was born on 27 March 1858.

Josef Strauss never enjoyed good health throughout his life and during a tour to Poland in 1870, he fell unconscious from the conductor's podium while conducting his 'Musical Potpourri'. His distraught wife brought him back to his home in Vienna, the 'Hirschenhaus', and it was there that Josef died on 22 July of 1870. A final diagnosis only reported a decomposition of blood which led to many rumors that he was beaten by drunken Russian soldiers after he allegedly refused to perform music for them one night. His cause of death was not ascertained as his widow forbade an autopsy. He was originally buried in the St. Marx cemetery, but was later exhumed and reburied in the Vienna Central Cemetery, alongside his mother Anna.^[1]

Josef Strauss wrote 283 opus numbers many of which reveal a composer of remarkable talent. He wrote many waltzes, many of them still in the classical repertoire including "Sphären-Klänge" (Music of the Spheres), "Delirien" (Deliriums), "Transaktionen" (Transactions), "Mein Lebenslauf ist Lieb' und Lust" (My Character is Love and Joy) and "Dorfschwalben aus Österreich" (Village Swallows from Austria), polkas (most famously the "Pizzicato Polka" with his brother Johann II), quadrilles and other dance music. His pieces tend to be of a more serious character than those of his siblings. This was reflected in the waltz "The Mysterious Powers of Magnetism (Dynamiden)" where his use of minor keys imparted an almost wistful quality and invariably distinguished his waltzes from those of his more popular elder brother. ^[2]

He most probably stamped his personal mark on the polka-mazurka where he wrote many examples like "Die Emancipierte" and "Die Libelle". His amazing output of dance pieces would have surpassed that of his elder brother, had he survived, as Johann was by then concentrating on writing music for operettas and other stage works.

[edit] Works of Josef Strauss

The works of Josef Strauss include:

Die Ersten und Letzten ('The First and the Last') waltz op. 1 (1853)
Die Ersten nach den Letzten ('The First after the Last') waltz op. 12 (1854)
Die Guten, Alten Zeiten ('The Good Old Times') waltz op. 26 (1856)
Perlen der Liebe ('Pearls of Love') concert-waltz op. 39 (1857)
Moulinet ('Little Mill Pond') polka-mazurka op. 57 (1858)
Sympathie ('Sympathy') polka-mazurka op. 73 (1859)
Lustschwärmer ('Joy Seeker') waltz op. 91 (1860)
Wiener Bonmots ('Viennese Bon-mots') waltz op. 108 (1861)
Winterlust ('Winter Joy') polka op. 121 (1862)
Auf Ferienreisen! ('On a Holiday!') polka op. 133 (1863)
Die Schwätzerin ('The Gossip') polka-mazurka op. 144 (1863)
Wiener Couplets ('Viennese Couplets') waltz op. 150 (1863)
Dorfschwalben aus Österreich ('Village Swallows from Austria') waltz op. 164 (1864)
Frauenherz ('A Woman's Heart') polka-mazurka op. 166 (1864)
Sport-Polka op. 170 (1864)
Geheimne Anziehungskräfte (Dynamiden) ('Mysterious Powers of Magnetism') waltz op. 173 (1865)
Stiefmütterchen ('Pansies') polka-mazurka op. 183 (1865)
Transaktionen ('Transactions') waltz op. 184 (1865)
Die Marketenderin ('The Camp Follower') polka op. 202 (1866)
Die Libelle ('The Dragonfly') polka-mazurka op. 204 (1866)
Delirien ('Deliriums') waltz op. 212 (1867)
Sphären-Klänge ('Music of the Spheres') op. 235 (1868)
Eingesendet ('Letters to the Editor') polka op. 240 (1868)
Plappermäulchen ('Chatterboxes') polka op. 245 (1868)
Aquarellen ('Watercolours') waltz op. 258 (1869)
Eislauf ('Ice-Skating') polka op. 261 (1869)
Mein Lebenslauf Ist Lieb` Und Lust! ('My Character is Love and Joy') waltz op. 263 (1869)
Die Tanzende Muse ('The Dancing Muse') polka-mazurka op. 266 (1869)
Feuerfest! ('Fire-Proof!') polka op. 269 (1869)
Ohne Sorgen! ('Without a Care!') polka op. 271 (1869)
Nilfluthen ('Nile's Waters') waltz op. 275 (1870)
Jokey ('Jockey') polka op. 278 (1870)
Die Emancipierte ('The Emancipated Woman') polka-mazurka op. 282 (1870)

[edit] Works with Strauss brothers

Hinter den Coulissen quadrille (Behind the Scenes) (with Johann Strauss II) (1859)
Monstre quadrille (with Johann Strauss II) (1861)
Pizzicato-Polka (with Johann Strauss II) (1869)
Trifoilen waltz, ('Trifles') (with Johann II and Eduard Strauss) (1865)
Schützen quadrille, ('Sharpshooter') (with Johann II and Eduard Strauss) (1866)