Johann Strauss

Johann Maria Eduard Strauss III (16 February 1866 – 9 January 1939; German: Johann Strauß III) was an Austrian composer whose father was Eduard Strauss, whose uncles were Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss, and whose grandfather was Johann Strauss I. Born in Vienna, he was unofficially entrusted with the task of upholding his family's tradition after the dissolution of the Strauss Orchestra by his father in 1901. His talents were not fully realized during his lifetime as musical tastes had changed in the Silver Age with more popular composers such as Franz Lehár and Oscar Straus dominating the Viennese musical scene with their operettas, although his uncle, Johann Strauss II, supervised his development as a musician, a fact disputed by Eduard Strauss.

Despite Strauss’ keen interest in composing, he was better remembered as a conductor. His only stage work, the three-act operetta Katze und Maus, composed in 1898, premiered in Vienna on 23 December 1898, at the Theater an der Wien. Its public reaction bordered on utter dislike, and music critics called for the distraught composer to reassess himself and to appear under a pseudonym, in order not to tarnish the name of his famous relatives. He salvaged the music score and produced independent pieces of which the waltzes Sylvanien, Op. 1 and Leonie, Op. 2 survived obscurity.

Strauss also conducted from the violin in the style of the Vorgeiger and of his family. In 1903, he elevated the Strauss family to a new age of development when the Deutsche Grammophon AG of Germany recorded his conducting of the Johann Strauss Orchestra on eight single-sided records of works by his family. Principally, he was the first conductor in the Strauss family to actively conduct works to be recorded by prominent recording companies. His later works, such as Dem Muthigen gehört die Welt (The World Belongs to the Brave), Op. 25, Unter den Linden (Under the Linden Trees), Op. 30, and Krönungs-Walzer (Coronation Waltz), Op. 40 (the latter celebrating the coronation of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom), were also considerably more popular than his earlier efforts.

He died in Berlin at the age of 72.

Birth and Death Data: Born February 16, 1866 (Vienna), Died January 9, 1939 (Berlin)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1927

Roles Represented in DAHR: conductor

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Columbia (U.K.) WAX2786 12-in. either April or May 1927 Die Fledermaus : Selection Johann Strauss Orchestra conductor  
Columbia (U.K.) WAX2787 12-in. either April or May 1927 Die Fledermaus : Selection Johann Strauss Orchestra conductor  
Columbia (U.K.) WAX2788 12-in. either April or May 1927 The gypsy baron : Selection Johann Strauss Orchestra conductor  
Columbia (U.K.) WAX2791 12-in. either April or May 1927 Enjoy your life Johann Strauss Orchestra conductor  
Columbia (U.K.) WAX2793 12-in. either April or May 1927 Voices of spring Johann Strauss Orchestra conductor  
Columbia (U.K.) WAX2795 12-in. either April or May 1927 The gypsy baron : Selection Johann Strauss Orchestra conductor  
Columbia (U.K.) WAX2796 12-in. either April or May 1927 Wo die Citronen blühn Johann Strauss Orchestra conductor  
Columbia (U.K.) WAX2802 12-in. either June or July 1927 Frauenherz Johann Strauss Orchestra conductor  

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Strauss, Johann," accessed May 3, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/360639.

Strauss, Johann. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved May 3, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/360639.

"Strauss, Johann." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 3 May 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/360639

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