Josef Strauss (20 August 1827 – 22 July 1870) was an Austrian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. He was born in

Mariahilf Mariahilf (; ; "Mary's help") is the 6th municipal district of Vienna, Austria (). It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850. Mariahilf is a heavily populated urban area with many residential buildings. Wien.gv.a ...

(now

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

), the son of

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, ...

and Maria Anna Streim, and brother 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

Eduard Strauss Eduard "Edi" Strauss (15 March 1835 – 28 December 1916) was an Austrian composer who, together with his brothers Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss made up the Strauss musical dynasty. He was the son of Johann Strauss I and Maria Anna Streim ...

. His father wanted him to choose a career in the

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

military. He studied music with Franz Dolleschal and learned to play the violin with Franz Anton Ries. He received training as an engineer, and worked for the city of Vienna as an engineer and designer. He designed a horse-drawn revolving brush street-sweeping vehicle and published two textbooks on mathematical subjects. Strauss had talents as an artist, painter, poet, dramatist, singer, composer and inventor.

Family orchestra

He joined the family orchestra, along with his brothers,

and

in the 1850s. His first published work was called "Die Ersten und Letzten" (The First and the Last). When Johann became seriously ill in 1853 Josef led the orchestra for a while. The waltz-loving Viennese were appreciative of his early compositions so he decided to continue in the family tradition of composing 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..."

Family life

Josef Strauss married Caroline Pruckmayer at the church of St. Johann Nepomuk in

on 8 June 1857 and had one daughter, Karolina Anna, who was born on 27 March 1858.

Music

Josef Strauss wrote 283 works with opus numbers. He wrote many

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, 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),

polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...

s, most famously the ' with his brother Johann,

quadrille The quadrille is a dance that was fashionable in late 18th- and 19th-century Europe and its colonies. The quadrille consists of a chain of four to six ''Contra dance, contredanses''. Latterly the quadrille was frequently danced to a medley of ope ...

s, and other dance music, and also some

marches In medieval Europe, a march or mark was, in broad terms, any kind of borderland, as opposed to a state's "heartland". More specifically, a march was a border between realms or a neutral buffer zone under joint control of two states in which diffe ...

. The waltz ''The Mysterious Powers of Magnetism'' (''Dynamiden'') with the use of minor keys showed a quality that distinguished his waltzes from those of his more popular elder brother. The polka-mazurka shows influence by Strauss, where he wrote many examples like ''Die Emancipierte'' and ''Die Libelle''.

Death

Josef Strauss was sick most of his later life. He was prone to fainting spells and intense headaches. During a tour in 1870, he fell unconscious from the conductor's podium in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

while conducting his 'Musical Potpourri', striking his head. His wife brought him back home to Vienna, to the ''Hirschenhaus'', where he died on 22 July of that year. A final diagnosis cited only decomposed blood. There were rumors that he had been beaten by drunken Russian soldiers after allegedly refusing to perform for them one night. A specific cause of death was not determined, since his widow forbade any autopsy. Originally buried in the St. Marx Cemetery, Strauss was later exhumed and reburied in the

Vienna Central Cemetery The Vienna Central Cemetery () is one of the largest Cemetery, cemeteries in the world by number of interred, and is the most well-known among Vienna's nearly 50 cemeteries. The cemetery's name is descriptive of its significance as Vienna's big ...

, alongside his mother Anna. Grab von Josef Strauss auf dem Wiener Zentralfriedhof

Grabdenkmal Josef und Anna Strauss auf dem Sankt Marxer Friedhof

Works

The works of Josef Strauss include:Josef Strauss works
*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) *Mai-Rosen ('May-Rose') waltz op. 34 (1857) *Liechtenstein-Marsch op. 36 (1857) *Perlen der Liebe ('Pearls of Love') concert-waltz op. 39 (1857) *Wallonen-Marsch ('Walloon March') op. 41 (1857) *Moulinet-Polka ('Little Mill Pond') polka francaise op. 57 (1858) *Laxenburger-Polka, Op. 60 (1858) *Sympathie ('Sympathy') polka-mazurka op. 73 (1859) *Lustschwärmer ('Joy Seeker') waltz op. 91 (1860) *Schabernack ('Shenanigans'), fast polka op. 98 * Phönix-Marsch ('Phoenix March') op. 105 *Wiener Bonmots ('Viennese Bon-mots') waltz op. 108 (1861) *Winterlust ('Winter Joy') polka op. 121 (1862) *Brennende Liebe polka-mazurka op. 129 (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) * Dynamiden (Geheimne Anziehungskräfte) ('Mysterious Powers of Magnetism') waltz op. 173 (1865) *Stiefmütterchen ('Pansies') polka-mazurka op. 183 (1865) *Transaktionen ('Transactions') waltz op. 184 (1865) *Carrière, fast polka, op. 200 *Die Marketenderin ('The Camp Follower') polka op. 202 (1866) * Die Libelle ('The Dragonfly') polka-mazurka op. 204 (1866) * ('Deliriums') waltz op. 212 (1867) *Herbstrosen ('Autumn Rose') waltz op. 232 (1867) * ('Music of the Spheres') waltz op. 235 (1868) *Eingesendet ('Letters to the Editor') polka op. 240 (1868) *Plappermäulchen ('Chatterboxes') polka op. 245 (1868) * ('Watercolours') waltz op. 258 (1869) *Eislauf ('Ice-Skating') polka op. 261 (1869) *Neckerei ('Teasing') polka mazur op. 262 * ('My Character is Love and Joy') waltz op. 263 (1869) *Die Tanzende Muse ('The Dancing Muse') polka-mazurka op. 266 (1869) * Feuerfest! ('Fireproof!') polka française op. 269 (1869). *Aus der Ferne Polka Mazur op. 270 (1869) *Ohne Sorgen! ('Without a Care!') polka op. 271 (1869) *Nilfluthen ('Nile's Waters') waltz op. 275 (1870) *Frauenwürde waltz op. 277 (1870) *Jokey-Polka ('Jockey') op. 278 (1870) * Hesperusbahnen ('Hesperus’ Path') waltz op. 279 (1870) *Die Emancipierte ('The Emancipated Woman') polka-mazurka op. 282 (1870)

References

External links

*
Josef Strauss on the Johann Strauss Society of Great Britain
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strauss, Josef Josef 1827 births 1870 deaths Composers from the Austrian Empire Composers from Austria-Hungary 19th-century Austrian male musicians Austrian male classical composers Austrian Roman Catholics Austrian people of German descent Austrian people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Austrian Romantic composers Burials at the Vienna Central Cemetery Jewish classical composers People from Mariahilf Composers from Vienna