Johann / Josef Strauss II / Strauss   

Brothers Johann II (1825-1899) and Josef (1827-1870) were members of an already celebrated family. Although each had pursued his own course in the realm of light music, the two collaborated both in performance and in a few compositions. Born two years apart, their musician father opposed both of them in pursuing musical careers. When Strauss the elder began to tour other countries with his orchestra, Johann the younger and Josef were no longer faced with the obstacle of their father's disapproval. Johann studied and, by 1844, had formed his own orchestra. His father, meanwhile, had separated from his mother and was living with Emilie Trampusch. The tradition into which both lads chose to follow their father was at least a century old. Whereas the father had lacked the gift for composing supple, long-breathed melodies like those of Josef Lanner, young Johann possessed that ability in abundance. Josef—sickly, pale, and introverted—may have been the superior composer, writing works of harmonic ingenuity and melodic originality, if without his brother's diaphanous ease. When Johann II became ill in 1853, Josef reluctantly assumed duties as conductor, but after enjoying success with a set of his own waltzes, resolved to become involved in his brother's orchestra. In 1856, Josef joined Johann's orchestra full-time. Some of the waltzes he composed he allowed to be identified as his brother's. Several works were co-written, most famously the Pizzicato Polka completed in 1870, the year of Josef's death. Among the other collaborations were two quadrilles, Hinter en Coulissen and the Monstre-Quadrille, another polka, and a march, the Vaterländlischer. The collapse and subsequent death of Josef in 1870 left Johann II to carry on with the assistance of brother Eduard. Personal issues troubled Johann after the deaths of Josef and his mother in the same year and his beloved wife in 1878. Only after marriage to Adele Deutsch in 1887 did he feel secure again for a final, productive decade.

© Erik Eriksson, All Music Guide

Below are works by J.Strauss II / Strauss that every music lover should explore: