Johann Strauss - Father and Son - A Century of Light Music Book

onann rather ana Son A CENTURY OF LIGHT MUSIC . . ffacoL Tnntlsted by Marguerite Wolff ress J COPYRIGHT, 1939 BY THE GREYSTONE PRESS, INC. All Rights Reserved Manufactured in the U. S. A. THE WILLIAM BYR0 PRESS, INC. APR 2 8 IOHANN STRAUSS THE YCM-NCKR 1896 onfenis PAGE INTRODUCTION By Pitts Sanborn ix BOOK ONE Johann the Elder His Life and Wor 1. THE BIRTH OF THE WALTZ 3 2. FROM EMPIRE TO BIEDERMEIER 27 3. LANNER AND STRAUSS 55 4. CONQUEST OF THE WORLD 79 5. FATHER AND SON 113 6. EIGHTEEN HUNDRED FORTY-EIGHT 135 BOOK TWO Johann the Younger and His Wor 7. THE GENIUS AND His BROTHERS 159 8. WALTZES AND DESTINIES 193 9. THE WORLD OF THE FLEDERMAUS 235 10 THE PATH TO THE ZIGEUNERBARON 277 ii THE LAST DAYS 321 12. AMERICAS CHALLENGE, AND VICTORY OVER EUROPEAN DANCE FORMS 349 INDEX 373 iislrahons JOHANN STRAUSS THE YOUNGER, i THE CARMAGNOLE FETE DE LA LIBERTE, AMSTERDAM 1795 ANNA STRAUSS-STREIM THE HOUSE IN THE FLOSSGASSE JOHANN STRAUSS THE ELDER JOSEF LANNER KAISER FRANZ FERDINAND RAIMUND THE SPERLJ 1830 VOLKSGARTEN, 1830 LANNER STRAUSS MONUMENT, VIENNA MOTHER ANNA ANGELICA DIETTRICH JOHANN THE YOUNGER JOHANN WITH JETTY TREFFZ ADELE DEUTSCH vii Frontispiece FACING PAGE 58 58 59 59 74 74 75 75 122 122 I2 3 123 306 306 307 37 ILLUSTRATIONS JOSEF STRAUSS 330 EDUARD STRAUSS 330 HECTOR BERLIOZ 331 STRAUSS AND BRAHMS 331 THE ZlGEUNERBARON 346 OSCAR STRAUS 346 JACQUES OFFENBACH 347 FRANZ LEHAR 247 PROGRAM OF ACADEMY OF Music, NEW YORK 362 JOHN PHILIP SOUSA 363 vni G nlro clion by PITTS SANBORN A whole family of famous musicians is by no means an unusual phenomenon. The Strauss family of Vienna, whose name is al most synonymous with the waltz, had earlier and later parallels. Take the Couperins of France. The oldest of them to achieve fame was already prominent in 1650 when he became organist of the Church of St. Gervais in Paris, a post held subsequently by mem ber after member of that family. And the Couperins remained con spicuous in the musical life of France till the death of the last survivor, Celeste, in 1850. In our own country we have the noteworthy case of the Dam rosch family, founded by Dr, Leopold Damrosch, the most widely known of them being, of course, Walter Damrosch, famed both as conductor and composer. And pre-eminent among the proto types with conspicuous differences of the Viennese Strausses must be named Johann Sebastian Bach and his four composer sons, and Leopold Mozart and his prodigy children, Nannerl and Wolfgang. Other musically fertile families have included the Gretrys, the Mendelssohns, the Schumanns, and, for that matter, the Puccinis. But no other musical line has captivated the imagina tion of the whole world quite as the Strausses of Vienna have done, their special destiny having been to set the wliole world waltzing. The Strauss dynasty, for such it became through the reign of the Waltz King, Johann the Younger, held long sway in Vienna, ix INTRODUCTION the capital not only of the Habsburg empire, but of the earth encompassing dominion of the new dance, and of the identifica tion of the Strausses with the gayety, the color, the charm that characterized the only Kaiserstadt during the nineteenth century has been impressed upon the world by that most celebrated of all waltzes, The Beautiful Blue Danube H. E. Jacob in this book skilfully relates the aesthetic history of the waltz dynasty to the social and even the political background of Austria and, indeed, in a measure to conditions in every coun try, from Russia to the United States, in which a Strauss appeared as conductor inculcating in person the authentic manner of play ing the fascinating dances that already had given a unique quality to the court balls of the ruling house of Austria. Berlin, St. Peters burg, Paris, London, Boston and New York were favored in this tonal conquest of three-quarter time. Mr. Jacobs book will impart some surprising information to those for whom the Strauss in the familiar bracketing Strauss Waltz is only a name...Read More