Johann Strauss, Jr. is also known as Johann Strauss II and Johan Strauss the Younger, among other titles. Strauss was the son of Johann Strauss Senior, also known as Johann Strauss I, and both father and son were Austrian composers, regardless of style.
In 1825, Johann Strauss, Jr. was born in Vienna, Austria. Strauss, Jr. kept his childhood study of the violin under the tutelage of the first violinist in his father’s orchestra a secret because his father hoped he would become a banker rather than a musician. When his father discovered his son practicing, he allegedly whipped him. Strauss, Jr. was able to pursue a music career openly with his mother’s support after Strauss, Sr. left the family.
His violin studies went on, and he also studied composition. He formed a small orchestra after obtaining a performing license, but due to his father’s influence, people were hesitant to hire him. A casino that allowed Strauss, Jr. to perform his first concert in 1844 incurred the wrath of the elder Strauss, who, despite frequenting the establishment, never performed there again. The critics, on the other hand, praised him, even if his father did not.
Strauss, Jr. was assigned to the 2nd Vienna Citizen’s Regiment as Kapellmeister. However, during the 1848 revolution, he faced difficulties because he sided with the revolutionaries while his father remained loyal to the monarchy, angering both. Strauss, Jr. was able to combine his father’s orchestra with his own and go on tour after his father died. From 1856 to 1865, his orchestra made yearly trips to Russia and also toured the United States.
Strauss, Jr. is best known for his waltzes and operettas, the most famous of which is “Blue Danube.” Die Fledermaus, or The Bat, is the most well-known of these, and non-opera fans may recognize it as the opera from which young Bruce Wayne begs his parents to leave in the film Batman Begins. It first aired in Vienna in 1874. Der Zigeunerbaron or The Gypsy Baron, which premiered in Vienna in 1885, is another of his operas that is still performed, but is perhaps best known today for its overture.
While composing the ballet Aschenbrödel or Cinderella in 1899, Strauss, Jr. contracted double pneumonia. In June of that year, he died, having written over 500 dances, including polkas, waltzes, and other dances.