A summary of the early career of Johann Strauss (Father), the wider dance culture in Vienna and the role of music publishers.

Following the death of Johann Strauss (Father) in 1849, Johann Strauss (Son) assumed the leading role in the dance culture in Vienna. His success was accompanied by ill health, which led to his two brothers, Josef and Eduard, joining him as directors and composers. At first, Johann was ignored by the Habsburg court; his popularity in Prussian and Russian environments led to a gradual thaw and an imperial appointment. Many dances were now composed as concert items and took their place alongside music by other composers, notably Schubert and Wagner.

The chapter discusses three aspects of the stage works of Johann Strauss (Son): the advantages of setting operettas in the past in order to comment on the present; the international distribution of many operettas (including America, Australia and India); and the notable failure of his only comic opera, written for the Court Opera House.

An account of the final sixteen years of Eduard’s life, plus the nature of the posthumous reputation of other members of the Strauss dynasty, including the musical ambition of Eduard’s elder son, Johann Maria Eduard Strauss. Eduard’s memoirs are discussed, as well as the melodramatic destruction of the performance library of the Strauss Orchestra. His final illness and death ran in counterpoint with that of the emperor, Franz Joseph.

This chapter provides a summary of the increasingly independent careers of Johann Strauss (Son) and Eduard up to the death of the former. While Johann focussed on the composition of operettas and one comic opera, with occasional appearances as the director of dance music, Eduard was fully committed to the Strauss Orchestra, in Vienna and internationally (including the United States, Russia and Britain). Johann Strauss became an increasingly celebrated figure in Vienna, notably in 1894 (the fiftieth anniversary of his debut). Eduard, on the other hand, became disillusioned with the city, aggravated by the secret embezzlement of his savings by members of his family.

A summary of two rival careers, including international travel and differing outlook in the 1848 Revolution.

This introductory chapter outlines the nature of the volume, a collective biography of four members of the Strauss family, projected against a broad historical background.

This chapter offers a focussed look at the music of Johann Strauss (Son), Josef Strauss and Eduard Strauss composed in the 1860s, part of the Gründerzeit period. It deals with stylistic features of the waltz, polka, quadrille and march, performance venues and publication practices, together with their topicality – this including works that honour the Habsburg dynasty, celebrate the burgeoning world of commerce, industry and science, the liberalization of the press, images of old and new Vienna and of the surrounding countryside, physical well-being and the music of other composers.