Johann Strauss II | Introducing Famous and Classic Pieces
Johann Strauss II, a leading Romantic composer who was active in Vienna, Austria.
Focusing on dance music such as the Viennese waltz and the polka, a Czech folk dance, he was known as the “Waltz King” and the “Sun of Vienna.”
Moreover, having produced masterpieces in operetta as well, he was also called the “King of Operetta,” enjoying immense popularity not only in Austria but throughout Europe.
In this article, we introduce some of Strauss II’s famous and staple pieces.
Why not immerse yourself in his dazzling music?
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Johann Strauss II | Introducing Famous and Classic Pieces (31–40)
Overture from the comic opera ‘Die Fledermaus’Johann Strauss II
It opens with a highly energetic phrase.
You’re drawn in by one delightful melody after another.
It feels like a song that makes you unable to wait for tomorrow.
It overflows with hope and vitality.
I think it suits a romance between young people.
Annen PolkaJohann Strauss II
It is said that Johann Strauss II had something of a mother complex, and this piece is also said to have been secretly dedicated to his mother, Anna.
His father, Johann Strauss I, also composed a piece with the same title, the Annen-Polka, in 1842, which is also well known, but it has an entirely different musical character.
Indigo and the Forty ThievesJohann Strauss II
In 1870, misfortunes struck Johann’s family one after another, and Johann Strauss II, who had a morbid fear of death, was utterly devastated mentally.
Having lost his creative drive, Strauss was passionately urged by those around him to compose an operetta.
Encouraged by Offenbach as well to try his hand at operetta, Johann decided to pursue that path.
This was his first operetta, a work based on One Thousand and One Nights.
Egyptian MarchJohann Strauss II
Originally, it was called the Circassian March, named after the Circassian people, a minority in the Caucasus region.
With the opening of the Suez Canal, various composers contributed pieces.
The canal’s inauguration inspired Europeans and stoked their interest in the Orient.
In this atmosphere, Johann Strauss II also changed the title of his Circassian March to Egyptian March in honor of the Suez Canal’s opening and dedicated it to Grand Duke Frederick I of Baden.
However, since modern-day Egypt is not in the Caucasus, the piece feels, if anything, more Russian in character.
Persian MarchJohann Strauss II
It was dedicated to the Shah of Persia (modern-day Iran).
In Russia, the work’s title was “Persian Army March,” but its premiere under the current title took place that December at a charity concert in Vienna.
The Persian monarch did not visit Vienna for the first time until nine years later, in 1873.
Rather than a heavy, militaristic march, it is a march intended to evoke the Middle East.
Roses of the TropicsJohann Strauss II
On October 1, 1880, he premiered his own operetta, The Queen’s Lace Handkerchief.
King Umberto I of Italy was very fond of the operetta, and news of this eventually reached Johann Strauss II, who immediately arranged motifs from the operetta into Roses from the South, dedicating the piece to Umberto I.
This music has also been used in Star Trek.
Explosive PolkaJohann Strauss II
The title of the piece became “Explosions Polka” after the invention of nitro.
It seems that Johann Strauss II also incorporated trendy elements into his works.
At the time, the word “explosive” was popular among young people.
It was composed for a charity concert called “The Joyful Explosions Festival.” Throughout the polka, many effects evoke explosions, and especially at the end, there is a loud explosive sound.
Polka of the HuntJohann Strauss II
It is a polka composed by Johann Strauss II.
Johann, who often arranged music that appeared in his operettas into polkas and waltzes, derived this piece from “Oh, My Steed,” a number from the operetta Cagliostro in Wien, composed in 1875.
Emperor Franz Joseph I Rescue Celebration MarchJohann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II, who had been disliked by the court, took advantage of a ceremony to compose a piece, dedicated it to the Emperor, and at last was permitted to conduct dances at court.
He then composed works such as the Emperor Franz Joseph I Life-Saving Celebration March, and thus was able to secure work at the court.
Waltz “Voices of Spring” with solo voiceJohann Strauss II
The brilliantly festive and joy-filled piece Frühlingsstimmen (Voices of Spring) is a world-famous vocal waltz composed by Johann Strauss II, inspired when his close friend, the great pianist Franz Liszt, was playing an improvised piano duet with the hostess at a party in Budapest, Hungary.