Four Centuries of Great Music October 26, 2025 Bicentennial of the Birth of Johann Strauss Jr.

Yesterday was the bicentennial of the birth of Johann Strauss II on October 25, 1825 in Neubau, Vienna, Austria.  So as promised  today on Four Centuries of Great Music we celebrate this event with the music of Johann Strauss II, who through the rest of this episode I will refer to as Johann Strauss Jr. 

Johann Strauss Jr. was born to composer Johann Strauss I and his first wife, Maria Anna Streim. His father did not want him to become a musician but rather a banker.  Nevertheless, Strauss Jr. studied the violin secretly as a child with the first violinist of his father's orchestra, Franz Amon.  When his father discovered his son secretly practising on a violin one day, he gave him a severe whipping, saying that he was going to beat the music out of the boy.  It seems that rather than trying to avoid a Strauss rivalry, the elder Strauss only wanted his son to escape the rigors of a musician's life.  It was only when the father abandoned his family for a mistress, Emilie Trampusch, that the son was able to concentrate fully on a career as a composer with the support of his mother.  Johann Strauss Jr. talent was then recognized and he got private lessons in counterpoint and harmony.

Strauss Jr. after getting his first bookings, which were of course opposed by his father, established his own orchestra which only further angered his father.  In the revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire, and the intense rivalry between father and son became much more apparent. The son decided to side with the revolutionaries but the father was a strict monarchist.

When his father died of scarlet fever, Strauss Jr. combined the two competitive orchestras and started to tour extensively and became the “waltz king” and always in great demand.

So lets begin this episode with the waltzes.


JohannStrauss Jr.:  The Emperor Waltz, Op. 437
Eugene Ormandy & The Philadelphia Orchestra
Johann Strauss Jr. Super Hits (Waltzes and Polkas)
Sony

Johann Strauss Jr.:  Wein, Weib und Gesang, Op. 333
Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg & Marc Albrecht
Berg & Strauss Jr.
Pentatone Records

Johann Strauss Jr.:  Tales from the Vienna Woods, Op. 325
Eugene Ormandy & The Philadelphia Orchestra
Johann Strauss Jr. Super Hits (Waltzes and Polkas)
Sony

Johann Strauss Jr. was also known for his musical dramas.  The most famous of Strauss's operettas are Die Fledermaus, Eine Nacht in Venedig, and Der Zigeunerbaron.   So let us listen to the first act of his Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron).


Johann Strauss Jr.: Der Zigeunerbaron (The Gypsy Baron)

Johann Strauss Jr.:  Der Zigeunerbaron Act 1 Overture
NDR Radiophilharmonie Conducted by Lawrence Foster

Johann Strauss Jr.:  Der Zigeunerbaron Act 1 Introduction (Das wär’ kein rechter Schifferknecht)
Paul Kaufmann, Khatuna Mikaberidze, NDR Radiophilharmonie and NDR Chor Conducted by Lawrence Foster


Johann Strauss Jr.:  Der Zigeunerbaron Act 1 Melodram and Ensemble
Paul Kaufmann, Khatuna Mikaberidze, Heinz Zednik, NDR Radiophilharmonie and NDR Chor Conducted by Lawrence Foster


Johann Strauss Jr.:  Der Zigeunerbaron Act 1 Entree Couplet (Als flotter Geist – Ja, das alles auf Ehr)
Nikolai Schukoff, Heinz Zednik, NDR Radiophilharmonie and NDR Chor Conducted by Lawrence Foster


Hour Break


Johann Strauss Jr.:  Der Zigeunerbaron Act 1  Melodram and Ensemble
Khatuna Mikaberidze, Heinz Zednik, Nikolai Schukoff, Claudia Barainsky, NDR Radiophilharmonie and NDR Chor Conducted by Lawrence Foster

Johann Strauss Jr.:  Der Zigeunerbaron Act 1  (Da bin ich- Ja, das Schreiben und das Lesen)
Jochen Schmeckenbecher, Heinz Zednik, Nikolai Schukoff, Renate Pitscheider, NDR Radiophilharmonie and NDR Chor Conducted by Lawrence Foster

Johann Strauss Jr.:  Der Zigeunerbaron Act 1  Couplet –(Just sind es vierundzwanzig Jahre – Kanonen dröhnen)
Renate Pitscheider, NDR Radiophilharmonie and NDR Chor Conducted by Lawrence Foster

Johann Strauss Jr.:  Der Zigeunerbaron Act 1  Ensemble (Dem Freier naht die Braut)
Jasmina Sakr, Nikolai Schukoff, Jochen Schmeckenbecher, Heinz Zednik, Renate Pitscheider, NDR Radiophilharmonie and NDR Chor Conducted by Lawrence Foster

Johann Strauss Jr.:  Der Zigeunerbaron Act 1  Dialogue
Jochen Schmeckenbecher, Nikolai Schukoff, Paul Kaufmann, Jasmina Sakr, NDR Radiophilharmonie Conducted by Lawrence Foster

Johann Strauss Jr.:  Der Zigeunerbaron Act 1  Zigeunerlied  (So elend und so treu – O habet acht)
Claudia Barainsky, Nikolai Schukoff, NDR Radiophilharmonie Conducted by Lawrence Foster


Johann Strauss Jr.:  Der Zigeunerbaron Act 1   Dialogue
Nikolai Schukoff,, Khatuna Mikaberidze, Claudia Barainsky, NDR Radiophilharmonie Conducted by Lawrence Foster


Johann Strauss Jr.:  Der Zigeunerbaron Act 1  Finale 
Paul Kaufmann, Jasmina Sakr, Nikolai Schukoff, Claudia Barainsky, Khatuna Mikaberidze, Heinz Zednik, Jochen Schmeckenbecher, Renate Pitscheider, NDR Radiophilharmonie and NDR Chor Conducted by Lawrence Foster


Der Zigeunerbaron  Johann Strauss Jr. Live Recording 
Pentatone Records

Of course we cannot have a program about Johann Strauss Jr. without the The Blue Danube Waltz.  Johannes Brahms was a good friend of Strauss Jr.  A story is told in biographies of both men that Strauss's wife Adele approached Brahms with a customary request that he autograph her fan. It was usual for the composer to inscribe a few measures of his best-known music, and then sign his name. Brahms, however, inscribed a few measures from the "Blue Danube", and then wrote beneath it: "Unfortunately, NOT by Johannes Brahms.

JohannStrauss Jr.: The Blue Danube Waltz
The Royal Festival Orchestra
Johann Strauss Jr The Greatest Waltz & Overture Collection
Stradivari Classics