Love Stories of Classical Composers (IV - Josef Strauss)

 Josef Strauss and Karoline Pruckmayer

“Always With You, Only Because of You, and Forever for You!”

  By Georg Predota, Interlude

Josef Strauss © Naxos Digital Services

The musical Strauss family dynasty took full advantage of the pleasure-seeking and carefree spirit of Imperial Vienna. As members of the public piled into the great dancehalls of the city, the Strauss family gleefully provided the musical background that gaily sent the Viennese population into throbbing gyrations. As leaders of the string section in the Strauss Orchestra, they fiddled their way into the hearts and beds of numerous young maidens. Johann Strauss I and Johann Strauss II—widely known as the Waltz King—became the darlings of the Viennese dance craze and the objects of female desire. Messy divorces, squabbles over illegitimate children and an occasional suicide attempt were all part of the Strauss musical empire. Josef Strauss (1827-1870), son of Johann I and brother of Johann II, however, wanted nothing to do with all that debauchery. He was a quiet and shy individual, who initially became an industrious engineer for the city of Vienna. He did take over shared responsibility for the Strauss Orchestra when Johann II became seriously ill. However, all he ever wanted in his private life was to marry his childhood sweetheart, the seamstress Karoline Pruckmayer (1831-1900). And that’s exactly what happened on 8 June 1857 in the St. Johann Parish Church in Leopoldstadt.

Josef Strauss: Perlen der Liebe, Op. 39 (Pearls of Love) (Vienna Johann Strauss Orchestra; Jack Rothstein, cond.)

Josef Strauss’ Brennende Liebe, Op. 129

As a wedding present to his wife, Josef Strauss composed his concert waltz “Pearls of Love.” That remarkable piece of music is not merely a sparkling ballroom trinket, but Josef expanded on the traditional form of Viennese dance music. As he subsequently wrote to his wife, “As I do not want to practice the trade of beer-fiddler forever, I am turning to other kinds of composition.” Of great importance is an unmistakable symphonic development, which relies on stylistic influences from Richard Wager and Franz Liszt. Josef Strauss called it a “concert waltz,” nudging the genre away from the ballroom and into the concert hall. The first review already noted the special character of the composition, suggesting, “the newly-composed waltz is offered in a wholly original structure in new form.” In fact, “the work is remarkable for its conception and power, surpassing anything that his famous brother Johann II had yet created.” Josef’s talents as a composer were immediately recognized, but even more importantly, his marriage to Karoline was happy, successful and fulfilled. Their daughter Karolina Anna was born on 27 March 1858.

Pavlovsk Music Pavilion and Train station

In the summer of 1862, Josef’s mother Anna—keeping track of all business aspects of the Strauss Empire—ordered her son Josef to travel to Russia. Originally, Johann II was supposed to direct the concerts of the Strauss Orchestra in Pavlovsk near St. Petersburg. However, the Waltz King was under the weather, and as soon as Josef arrived, he returned to Vienna and got married. Josef wasn’t particularly happy to be drafted to Russia, but he willingly substituted for his brother. Once he had returned to Vienna, Josef immediately presented a new set of waltzes that included the polka mazurka “Burning Love.” Originally it was assumed Josef had named this work after a popular flower. In the event, this polka has nothing to do with flowers, but musically encodes Josef’s burning love for his wife, as it was composed in Russia during this unexpected period of separation.

Graveyard of Josef Strauss

The first heated debates about the position of women in society and the idea of women’s liberation was a hotly debated issue in Vienna during the middle of the 19th century.

The debut of violinist Marie Grüner as conductor of Vienna’s well-known Ludwig Morelli Orchestra in 1860 was treated in numerous newspaper articles as an example of women’s emancipation, and the debates were revived as women attained high positions in business and the arts. The first female university students and the first women doctors certainly made headlines. Josef Strauss was extremely happily married to Karoline, and he wished for nothing else than to free his wife from the bonds of family and to be able to provide her with independent employment. In fact, he championed women’s causes in a whole sting of compositions, including “A Woman’s Heart,” “A Woman’s Dignity,” and the polka mazurka “The Emancipated Woman.” When the work premiered in 1870 at the ball of the Garden Society, Karoline was in the audience, and she knew that this work was especially addressed to her. In 1869, Johann II and Josef spent the summer season once more in Russia. Josef was feeling unwell, and he wrote to his wife, “I do not look good, my cheeks are hollower, I have lost my hair, I am becoming dull on the whole, I have no motivation to work.” Despite his physical ailments, Josef composed “From Afar” for Karoline. Shortly before the first performance, Josef wrote to his wife:

Always with you
only because of you and
forever for you!

The Waltz King – Three Strauss Brothers

 By Janet Horvath, Interlude

Johann Strauss II © classical.net/

Johann Strauss II, or Junior, or the younger The Waltz King, (not related to Richard), composed over 400 of the world’s most beloved waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, dance music and operettas. These include the perennial favorites: An der Schonen Blauen Donau (The Beautiful Blue Danube), Tritsch-Tratsch Polka, Fruhlingsstimmen (Voices of Spring), Kaiser-Walzer (Emperor Waltz), and the comic operetta Die Fledermaus (The Bat).

Eduard Strauss

Johann Strauss was born in 1825. His father, Johann Strauss I, was the founder of the Strauss orchestra, and composer of the Radetzky March. This famous work, often featured as an encore piece, is infectious and inspires rhythmic clapping from the audience. Johann senior wanted his son to avoid the vicissitudes of life as a musician. He was determined that his son should become a banker—a respectable position. Johann Jr. was desperate to study the violin. He took lessons from a member of Johann senior’s orchestra in secret but one day Johann was discovered practicing the violin. Despite the severe whipping Johann received at the hand of his father it didn’t deter the younger Strauss. He continued his practicing. When he was ready to make his debut as a composer with his own orchestra, local establishments resisted employing him, afraid that they might anger Strauss I. Nonetheless, Dommayer’s Casino, the tavern where Strauss I had had many successes, decided to risk it and they invited Johann to perform. This sparked an intense rivalry between the two. Johann Senior was irate and he never performed at Dommayer’s again. Strauss II went on to become the more famous musical personality.

Johann Junior had many fans among the composers of the time including Richard Strauss who said, “How can I forget the laughing genius of Vienna?”

Johann Strauss

When the ladies in the audience were impressed with a performer or composer it was the custom to ask for their autograph. A fanciful fan was an important accessory for women in those days and the tradition was that the composer would scribble a few bars of one of their compositions as well as their signature on the fan. When Adele, Johann’s wife, approached Johannes Brahms for his autograph, Brahms immediately wrote out a few notes of The Blue Danube and added, “Unfortunately NOT by Johannes Brahms.”

Johann Junior had two younger brothers who were also amazingly gifted musicians—Josef and Eduard. Josef Strauss established himself as an architectural draftsman even though he excelled as a painter, poet, singer, composer, writer and inventor. Johann said of Josef, “He is the more gifted of us two; I am merely the more popular.” Johann was in constant demand both in Europe and overseas resulting in a nervous breakdown in 1853. Josef was the more introverted of the two, but it was he who was coerced by the family into taking over the Strauss orchestra and the family business while Johann recovered. Josef eventually gave up his career to compose over 300 dances and marches and 500 arrangements of music of other composers. One of the most loved polkas—the Pizzicato Polka for strings, which is plucked throughout— was a collaborative effort between Josef and Johann. Strauss Senior was right that music is a hazardous profession! Ironically, Josef died from a fall off the conductor’s podium.

Johann Strauss I © classical.net/

Eduard, the youngest brother’s first choice of a career was to serve in the diplomatic service as he was fluent in several languages. Eventually he joined the Strauss family orchestra as its harpist and then as conductor. Eduard was the least successful of the Strauss dynasty even though his output was prolific—over 320 dances, marches and witty polkas. It was as the conductor of the orchestra that he made his mark.

There is some discussion about Eduard’s behavior toward the end of his life. There had been considerable rivalry among the brothers. To his credit, Eduard did publish a catalog of the Strauss works, but in 1907 he had the Strauss collection incinerated. What were his motives? Had he made a pact with Josef that whoever outlived the other he would burn the family archives so that no other composer could claim any of their works, or was he embittered by his own lack of success as compared to the rest of the family? Fortunately, the collection was reconstructed some decades later.

Today the Strauss tradition continues in Vienna. A waltz orchestra performs in Stadt Park behind a huge golden statue of Johann, the Waltz King, conducting with his violin in hand. Each year on New Year’s Eve the Vienna Philharmonic performs these beloved works. The celebration, broadcast internationally, takes place at the Musikverein with its golden interior and frescoed ceilings. Next year don’t miss this fabulous presentation!

Orchestras everywhere perform the Strauss works as we did in the Minnesota Orchestra. During our annual “Sommerfest” each summer, we would play several sold out all-Strauss evenings. The works are as delightful to audiences today as they were when the Strauss family orchestra was at its epitome and the Strauss brothers were the darlings of Europe.

“Always With You, Only Because of You, and Forever for You!"

By Georg Predotaby, Interlude

Josef Strauss © Naxos Digital Services

The musical Strauss family dynasty took full advantage of the pleasure-seeking and carefree spirit of Imperial Vienna. As members of the public piled into the great dance halls of the city, the Strauss family gleefully provided the musical background that gaily sent the Viennese population into throbbing gyrations. As leaders of the string section in the Strauss Orchestra, they fiddled their way into the hearts and beds of numerous young maidens. Johann Strauss I and Johann Strauss II—widely known as the Waltz King—became the darlings of the Viennese dance craze and the objects of female desire. Messy divorces, squabbles over illegitimate children and an occasional suicide attempt were all part of the Strauss musical empire. Josef Strauss (1827-1870), son of Johann I and brother of Johann II, however, wanted nothing to do with all that debauchery. He was a quiet and shy individual, who initially became an industrious engineer for the city of Vienna. He did take over shared responsibility for the Strauss Orchestra when Johann II became seriously ill. However, all he ever wanted in his private life was to marry his childhood sweetheart, the seamstress Karoline Pruckmayer (1831-1900). And that’s exactly what happened on 8 June 1857 in the St. Johann Parish Church in Leopoldstadt.

Josef Strauss’ Brennende Liebe, Op. 129

As a wedding present to his wife, Josef Strauss composed his concert waltz “Pearls of Love.” That remarkable piece of music is not merely a sparkling ballroom trinket, but Josef expanded on the traditional form of Viennese dance music. As he subsequently wrote to his wife, “As I do not want to practice the trade of beer-fiddler forever, I am turning to other kinds of composition.” Of great importance is an unmistakable symphonic development, which relies on stylistic influences from Richard Wager and Franz Liszt. Josef Strauss called it a “concert waltz,” nudging the genre away from the ballroom and into the concert hall. The first review already noted the special character of the composition, suggesting, “the newly-composed waltz is offered in a wholly original structure in new form.” In fact, “the work is remarkable for its conception and power, surpassing anything that his famous brother Johann II had yet created.” Josef’s talents as a composer were immediately recognized, but even more importantly, his marriage to Karoline was happy, successful and fulfilled. Their daughter Karolina Anna was born on 27 March 1858.

Pavlovsk Music Pavilion and Train station

In the summer of 1862, Josef’s mother Anna—keeping track of all business aspects of the Strauss Empire—ordered her son Josef to travel to Russia. Originally, Johann II was supposed to direct the concerts of the Strauss Orchestra in Pavlovsk near St. Petersburg. However, the Waltz King was under the weather, and as soon as Josef arrived, he returned to Vienna and got married. Josef wasn’t particularly happy to be drafted to Russia, but he willingly substituted for his brother. Once he had returned to Vienna, Josef immediately presented a new set of waltzes that included the polka mazurka “Burning Love.” Originally it was assumed Josef had named this work after a popular flower. In the event, this polka has nothing to do with flowers, but musically encodes Josef’s burning love for his wife, as it was composed in Russia during this unexpected period of separation.

Graveyard of Josef Strauss

The first heated debates about the position of women in society and the idea of women’s liberation was a hotly debated issue in Vienna during the middle of the 19th century.

The debut of violinist Marie Grüner as conductor of Vienna’s well-known Ludwig Morelli Orchestra in 1860 was treated in numerous newspaper articles as an example of women’s emancipation, and the debates were revived as women attained high positions in business and the arts. The first female university students and the first women doctors certainly made headlines. Josef Strauss was extremely happily married to Karoline, and he wished for nothing else than to free his wife from the bonds of family and to be able to provide her with independent employment. In fact, he championed women’s causes in a whole sting of compositions, including “A Woman’s Heart,” “A Woman’s Dignity,” and the polka mazurka “The Emancipated Woman.” When the work premiered in 1870 at the ball of the Garden Society, Karoline was in the audience, and she knew that this work was especially addressed to her. In 1869, Johann II and Josef spent the summer season once more in Russia. Josef was feeling unwell, and he wrote to his wife, “I do not look good, my cheeks are hollower, I have lost my hair, I am becoming dull on the whole, I have no motivation to work.” Despite his physical ailments, Josef composed “From Afar” for Karoline. Shortly before the first performance, Josef wrote to his wife:

Always with you
only because of you and
forever for you!