Happy Birthday, King of Watlz!
The Strauss statue in Vienna
City Park is one of the city’s most
photographed landmarks.
In 2025, Vienna will celebrate the 200th birthday of Johann Strauss with a year-long festival. Here, we share how the great composer rose to success, what to know about his works, and where to find the best anniversary events this year.
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JÖRG BERTRAM
Father or son? That’s always the question when it comes to “Johann Strauss.”
After all, they not only share the same name but also a passion for music. Here’s a quick summary “in Prestissimo”: Johann Baptist Strauss (the father) was born in Vienna’s Leopoldstadt district in 1804. By his early 20s, he was already a successful musician, founded the first “touring orchestra” in the world, shone as the Imperial Court Ball Music Director, fathered 14 children, and had a few run-ins with the law. A “wild one,” in other words – which, in Viennese slang, translates roughly to “a true genius.” When Papa Strauss died of scarlet fever at 45, he left the world 152 waltzes, 32 quadrilles, 13 polkas, and 17 lively marches, including the world-famous Radetzky March.
Now let’s continue “in Andante,” a tempo that, with its 76-108 beats per minute, is quite close to a slow waltz: Johann Baptist Strauss (the son) was born on October 25, 1825, in what is now Vienna’s 7th district. His musical talent showed early;
for example, he is said to have performed his first waltz variations at the tender age of six. Why did the elder Johann insist that the younger one first attend the Polytechnic Institute and study “something serious”? Perhaps he recognized early
on that he was raising a serious rival! At 18, Strauss Jr. left college without graduating and dedicated himself to a music career. His father even tried to ban his first major performances but failed. Although the father appealed to the upper-middleclass and the son to students and those who preferred a pub over a ballroom, tensions between them only grew. In the revolutionary year of 1848, Johann Strauss Jr. initially supported the rebels, composing “freedom songs” and “student marches.”
The first “Opera Soirée” at the State Opera took place in 1877, conducted by
Johann Strauss. Many of his more than 150 waltzes are still played at the Opera Ball today
Walk in the footsteps of the Waltz King: the Johann Strauss
Apartment on Praterstraße 54 is now a must-see museum.
The world-famous Blue Danube Waltz was composed
in the Johann Strauss Apartment.
After his father’s death, however, he became part of the loyalist establishment, gained fame across Europe, and in 1863, he was also appointed Imperial Court Ball Music Director. Far from limiting himself to waltz tunes or serenading with Tales from the Vienna Woods, Strauss discovered operetta during this period. His most famous works include Die Fledermaus, The Gypsy Baron, and A Night in Venice. Less known are a dozen other three-act plays on themes of love, lust, and passion. Which brings us to the topic of “women”: Johann Strauss was the first pop star! to understand how to break hearts at a rapid pace. Aristocrats, merchants’ daughters, singers, actresses… the list is long. However, his time with his last wife was relatively short – and to her, perhaps foreseeing the end, he dedicated the line, “Let us be merry, Adele – on ne vit qu’une fois” (“one only lives once”). Johann Strauss conducted for the last time on May 22, 1899, at the Vienna State Opera. Just twelve days later, on June 3, he passed away from pneumonia. Quite the life, indeed, that Vienna is celebrating this anniversary year with many great artists and orchestras from various genres. Indoor and outdoor, from the Central Cemetery, “on the beautiful blue Danube,” and at unique locations across all 23 districts. Johann Strauss would have surely enjoyed it. After all, as he says in Die Fledermaus, “I like to invite guests, and you live well with me!”
