Henrietta "Jetty" Treffz (; ; 1 July 1818, in

Alsergrund Alsergrund (; ) is the ninth district of Vienna, Austria (). It is located just north of the first, central district, Innere Stadt. Alsergrund was incorporated in 1862, with seven suburbs. As a central district, the area is densely populated. Accor ...

– 8 April 1878, in

Hietzing Hietzing () is the 13th Districts of Vienna, district of Vienna (). It is located west of the central districts, west of Meidling. Hietzing is a heavily populated urban area with many residential buildings, but also contains large areas of the Vi ...

) was best known as the first wife of

Johann Strauss II Johann Baptist Strauss II (; ; 25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (), was an List of Austrian composers, Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas as well ...

and a well-known

mezzo-soprano A mezzo-soprano (, ), or mezzo ( ), is a type of classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the soprano and the contralto voice types. The mezzo-soprano's vocal range usually extends from the A bel ...

appearing in England in 1849 to great acclaim.

Biography

Henrietta Chalupetzky was the only child of a Viennese goldsmith, and she studied music in Vienna, adopting her mother's maiden name, Treffz, for professional purposes. Her career took her around Austria, Germany, and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, but in England, she first appeared with

Johann Strauss I Johann Baptist Strauss I (; ; 14 March 1804 – 25 September 1849), also known as Johann Strauss Sr., the Elder or the Father (), was an Austrian composer of the Romantic music, Romantic Period. He was famous for his light music, namely waltzes, ...

in concerts that brought her numerous accolades and felicitations. The ''Musical World'', published in London on 5 May 1849, noted her talents: "mezzo-soprano voice of beautiful quality and remarkable for freshness and equality of tone throughout the register". On 27 August 1862, Henrietta (known as Jetty) Treffz married

in the Stephansdom in Vienna, a marriage that was beneficial to Strauss as her support and keen musical and business sense influenced his works and promoted them to a superior standard. His works around that time revealed his finest creative period, and she worked with him as a music-copyist, private secretary, and manager. Their marriage was not without skepticism. The Viennese populace, long swayed by Strauss' graceful

waltz The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...

es, were shocked at the announcement of their marriage, as she was 44 when they married, about seven years older than Strauss. Even his brother Josef Strauss expressed his concern at the match, but he eventually accepted that she was "indispensable in the home. She writes up all accounts, copies out orchestral parts and sees to everything in the kitchen with such efficiency and kindness that is admirable" in a letter dated 2 May 1869 written to his wife Caroline. Treffz's encouragement for Strauss to apply for the coveted KK Hofballmusik-direktor post eventually bore positive results, and he was awarded the honorary position in 1863.

Last years

Jetty Treffz lived long enough to see her husband claim a small but encouraging success in the

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

business, however, on 8 April 1878, she suffered a heart attack and died, aged 59, the cause being reported as a disturbing letter from one of her illegitimate sons. She often spoke of herself as a "poor, old cripple" and of painful illnesses in the last years of her life. She was buried in the local

cemetery, but Strauss was absent at the funeral, and all arrangements were left to his brother Eduard Strauss. Strauss remarried seven weeks later to Ernestine Dittrich on 28 May 1878.

References

*Klaus Konrad Dillmann, ''Das abenteuerliche Leben von Franz August Treffz, Jetty Treffz-Strauß, Germain Metternich'', Weinsberg 2000.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Treffz, Henrietta 1818 births 1878 deaths Austrian operatic mezzo-sopranos Austrian people of Czech descent People from Alsergrund People from Hietzing Henrietta Treffz 19th-century Austrian women opera singers