Johann Strauss international
It all started with his father: Johann Strauss I (1804-1844) was the first traveling popular musician. Following the example of famous traveling virtuosos such as Franz Liszt and Niccolo Paganini, Strauss Senior embarked on concert tours with his orchestra. It was extremely hard work, but it yielded money, contacts, press and prestige.
Marketing professional
Johann Strauss II grew up with these management and marketing strategies and went on to perfect them. Everyone played a role in his family business: his mother, his wife and his brothers Josef and Eduard (who had actually aspired to other professions).
Nobody came close to the superstar Strauss in terms of popularity. The most influential music critic of the time, Eduard Hanslick, commented on Johann Strauss’ 40th birthday in 1884:
“His popularity is almost immeasurable: Strauss’ melodies can be heard in every part of the world and in our part of the world in almost every home.”
From Vienna out into the world
After his successful debut in 1844, the son clearly felt the powerful competition posed by his father in Vienna, so he initially decided to travel. His concerts in Graz in 1845 and then in Pest (Budapest) and Ofen in 1846 were triumphs. The media declared that the son was following in his father’s footsteps and that his compositions were just as fresh, melodious and challenging as his father’s “better creations”. And he “should soon achieve even greater excellence”.
The tour continued towards the Balkans, with stops in Bratislava, Neusatz, Belgrade and Bucharest. After the death of Strauss’ father, his son Johann united their two orchestras in 1849. This allowed him to hit the ground running, initially in Warsaw, where Nicholas I of Russia and Emperor Franz Joseph were due to meet. Strauss performed for them and made royal contacts.
Eleven summers in St. Petersburg
In 1856, Johann Strauss completed his first five-month summer engagement at the “Vauxhall” in Pavlovsk near St. Petersburg. He was such a sensation that he completed a further ten residencies between then and 1886. His repertoire included not only his own works, but also pieces from Russian modernist composers such as Tchaikovsky. Strauss of course also continued to compose his own music in Pavlovsk (he was extremely industrious throughout his life), for example he and his younger brother Josef composed the Pizzicato Polka.
Johann is rumored to have said of Joseph: “He is the more talented, I am the more popular.”
Germany: the “Katzenmusik” scandal
In October 1852, a tour of Germany took him to Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin and Hamburg. In 1876 he embarked on a concert tour to Berlin and Leipzig.
At the Berlin premiere of Strauss’ operetta Eine Nacht in Venedig in 1883, there was a scandal: At the lyrics “Nachts sind die Katzen ja grau, nachts tönt es zärtlich miau”, the audience began to meow, Strauss had to stop the performance, and when he had the song sung again, the commotion started all over again. At the Viennese premiere six days later at the Theater an der Wien, they changed to a new, “meow-free” text: “Ach wie herrlich zu schau’n sind all die herrlichen Frau’n.”
Berlin again: Strauss conducted the premiere of the Kaiser Waltz in 1889. It was originally given the title Hand in Hand, alluding to the friendship between the ruling houses of Prussia and Austria.
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The Wiener Johann Strauss Orchester (Vienna Johann Strauss Orchestra) plays the Emperor Waltz by Johann Strauss Sohn in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein.
Triumphs in France and England
Johann Strauss traveled to Paris for the first time in 1867. He gave concerts at the Paris Exposition, where the Prince of Wales, who later became King Edward VII, is said to have watched him perform. The Prince also gave Strauss his patronage: in 1867, Johann Strauss was appointed to conduct dance music at 63 Promenade Concerts in London’s Covent Garden Theatre. Strauss drew on popular English songs in his works Erinnerung an Covent-Garden op. 329 and Festival-Quadrille op. 341, which he composed while working in England. The waltz An der schönen blauen Donau was also performed in London with English lyrics by 100 choristers.
Strauss then returned to Paris in 1875, where his first operetta La Reine Indigo ran successfully for three years. During the 1877 Carnival, Strauss conducted masked balls at the Paris Opera. On March 28, 1877, Strauss was made a Knight of the French Order of the Legion of Honor. In 1877 he conducted La Tzigane, a reworking of Die Fledermaus, and in 1879 he conducted an opera ball in Paris.
50,000 fans at a concert in America
Johann Strauss achieved global fame with his concerts in Boston and New York in 1872. He took part in 16 of a total of 23 concerts over the course of three weeks at the World Peace Festival in Boston. Everything there was on a huge scale: Strauss – supported by sub-conductors – conducted a 1,000-strong orchestra in the “Colosseum”, which was built especially for the music festival. It is estimated that there were around 50,000 visitors. The pop stars of today operate on a similar scale.
He then went on to perform three concerts in New York. Strauss contributed the Manhattan Waltzes to his farewell concert at the New York Academy of Music.
Bella Italia
In 1874, Johann Strauss embarked on a concert tour of Italy with the Vienna World’s Fair Orchestra. He premiered his waltz Wo die Citronen blühn op. 364 under the title Bella Italia at a concert in the Teatro Regio in Turin – a piece that is now also in the repertoire of the Vienna Boys’ Choir:
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Wiener Sängerknaben: Wo die Zitronen blühen (Johann Strauss)
