At one time, the brilliant composer and musician Johann Baptist Strauss was called nothing more than the "Mozart of Waltzes." He died when he was only 45. He was the founder of a famous musical dynasty. But first things first.
Hard childhood
Johann Baptiste Strauss, the composer, whose brief biography will be presented to your attention in the article, was born in the spring of 1804 in the family of the owner of one of the Viennese hotels.
When Johann was seven, his mother died. The cause of death was fever. A few years later, his father also passed away. He drowned in the Danube. According to unconfirmed sources, the future composer's father's commercial business collapsed literally overnight. He owed a huge amount to many creditors and, realizing that he was unable to return the money, he decided to commit suicide.
A guardian undertook to educate young Johann. It was he who sent the unfortunate child to learn the real and monetary craft. A bookbinder became a mentor. As a student, Johann turned out to be unimportant. He hated this skill and soon abandoned his master. From that moment on, he began taking violin lessons.
New Paganini
The fact is that from an early age, young Strauss was incredibly musical. A family friend and first teacher, Johann, told how, as a very young boy, he crawled out from under the table, which was located in his father's tavern, and grabbed a violin. Most importantly, he was able to accurately repeat on this instrument a melody that had just been played by tavern musicians.
It is no wonder that at the first opportunity, Strauss, whose biography was at first very difficult, began to try to earn his own bread on his own. And he more than succeeded. He played in many taverns of the Austrian capital. According to his contemporaries, the young talent played virtuoso, at a crazy pace and with the appropriate temperament. Soon, visitors to Viennese drinking establishments began to compare him with the brilliant Paganini.
Marriage
The logical conclusion of Strauss's career as a non-professional musician was his employment in the famous professional orchestra of Josef Lanner. He was twenty years old and became the conductor's assistant.
At the same time, at these dance parties, he met a certain girl, Anna. In fact, her father turned out to be the owner of one of the many pubs of musical Vienna. As a result, in 1824, Johann and Anna became husband and wife. And just a year later they had their first child, whom the couple also named Johann. Subsequently, Strauss's wife gave her husband four more heirs. However, more on that later.
Scandal
In the meantime, inspired by a happy marriage, Strauss continued to play music with the eminent conductor Josef Lanner. The tandem was more than successful and for four years the musicians worked together and fruitfully to the delight of the sophisticated Viennese public.
However, the gap between these musicians was most likely predetermined. The fact is that the talented violinist composed his first waltz. But on stage, it sounded like a Lanner piece. They say that this fact was the reason for the breakdown of their relationship. According to contemporaries, it was a real public scandal in this small but musical state.
After that, Johann Strauss, whose biography and work became the subject of our review, decided to go his own way. The obvious triumph of this waltz gave him confidence in his own strength. He was able to assemble his own orchestra quite quickly. And with rapture he began to actively write - polkas, gallops, waltzes ...
Apogee of confrontation
Despite the fact that connoisseurs of real music recognized the undoubted talent of the young Strauss, they were not going to refuse the former musical guru - Lanner. Accordingly, fans constantly compared these musicians. And the result of this short-sighted and incomprehensible confrontation was that dancing and singing Vienna split into two opposing camps. We are talking about the so-called. Straussians and Lannerians.
So, the Austrian emperor Franz I took the side of the famous conductor. As a result, he appointed Lanner "master of the court balls".
Meanwhile, the talented Johann Strauss, whose brief biography is interesting to many of his fans, also did not sit idly by. It was he who began to receive the most invitations not only to festive events in Austria, but also to performances in other states.
Wagner
Strauss started playing literally everywhere. In 1832, when there was a terrible cholera epidemic in the country, connoisseurs of classical art continued to go to his performances. Contemporaries noted that during this difficult period for the country, Strauss, in fact, collected full houses. By and large, he earned his fame with an unsurpassed style of play. He managed everything - he played music on his favorite violin, and managed a whole orchestra.
Among the eyewitnesses of those concerts was the great Richard Wagner. He said that each play by Strauss became truly unforgettable for him. Playing a musician, when he conducted with his favorite violin in his hands, plunged him into real ecstasy. Strauss, according to his memoirs, was the true personification of the musical folk spirit of Vienna.
triumphal tour
In the mid 30s. XIX century Johann Strauss, whose biography knew both ups and downs, undertook a large concert tour of European countries. Fans accepted him with genuine delight. Newspapers reported that the triumphal procession of the great composer, violinist and conductor continued. As a result, he gave concerts in cities such as Budapest, Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Paris, London. He also performed in Belgium and Holland.
As a result, pen sharks from Western publications began to call him nothing more than "Beethoven of Cotillions" or "Mozart of Waltzes."
And in 1838, in the capital of Foggy Albion, he was invited to the coronation of Queen Victoria.
In fact, he became a pioneer of dance music. The fact is that such compositions in those days were not considered art at all. And Strauss managed to finally break these stereotypes that prevail in the public.
His waltzes such as "Lament of the Lorelei" and "Suspension Bridges" were especially popular then. And his most famous creation was and is considered to be the Radetzky March. By the way, this work has become one of the most famous and popular works.
By the way, when the composer Strauss, whose biography is full of interesting facts, gave concerts and was in complete euphoria from his triumph, he met a certain Emilia Trumbush. She owned a mill. As a result, this woman gave Strauss seven children.
loving father
There was just a huge Strauss family. The biography tells us that the talented musician had twelve children. Five offspring, including the brilliant son Johann Strauss Jr., were from his first marriage, and seven from his marriage to a miller. To be honest, his relationship with the children, to put it mildly, did not work out. The head of the family was on the wave of success, and more than anything he was afraid that someone would surpass him in skill. Accordingly, he forbade his heirs to engage in music in general. True, he had one exception. He obligated his children to learn to play exclusively on the piano. He believed that playing music on this instrument is mandatory for all educated people of that era.
The result was more than deplorable. Since the famous musician categorically forbade his children to play the violin, the younger Johann, in retaliation, began to teach the game to his brothers. Then the head of the family sent him to a commercial school, and he received permission to lead a real orchestra. In response, the elder Strauss began to constantly send bribed audiences to his son's concerts in order to disrupt them. He also tried to prevent agencies from entering into any contracts with him. In spite of everything, Johann Strauss-son, whose brief biography testifies to his talent, subsequently took place as a composer and musician. He created about 500 works. Many composers admired his creations, from Offenbach to Tchaikovsky.
After these family squabbles, the first wife filed for divorce, and Strauss Sr. himself immediately wrote off the entire inheritance to the offspring of Emilia.
collapse
Meanwhile, Josef Lanner passed away. It was 1843. The Austrian emperor appointed the elder Strauss to the vacant court post. He became the leading virtuoso of the Austrian capital.
And five years later, a revolution broke out in Europe, where the eldest son and father were on opposite sides of the barricades. The younger Strauss supported the rebels, and his father supported the Habsburgs. As a result, the concerts of the latter began to be ignored. He was in complete depression. As a result, the head of the family fell ill with scarlet fever, and the second wife, who was afraid of the infection, left the house with her children.
Anna, with the younger Strauss, knowing about the condition of her ex-husband, immediately arrived to him. Unfortunately, they did not have time to catch him alive.
Instead of a conclusion
Johann Strauss died in 1849. His funeral was truly grandiose. According to contemporaries, about thirty thousand people were present. At the grave, the eldest son Johann performed Mozart's requiem. Although his father disinherited him, after the death of Strauss Sr., he was able to publish a complete collection of the musical creations of his brilliant father with his own money.
Every year in European countries there is a famous music festival called "Strauss Festival". The event is dedicated to this entire creative family.
THE UNRIVALED WALTZ KING JOHANN STRAUSS
Dance tunes, which were called music for the feet, were treated indulgently in any era. Operas, oratorios and symphonies have always been considered noble genres, but all sorts of quadrilles, waltzes and polkas were classified as second-rate creations due to their entertaining nature. And only one Austrian composer managed to change this musical hierarchy, raising melodies for dancing to previously unattainable symphonic heights. His name is Johann Strauss. He wrote almost half a thousand works. The compositions of the talented Strauss Jr. were heard in all corners of the world and continue to occupy a leading place in the repertoire of many theaters.
rival son
The founders of the "waltz dynasty" are considered to be Joseph Lanner and Johann Strauss Sr. Their art seemed inaccessible to many. But that was until their main rival appeared on the horizon. Ironically, he became 
son of Strauss Johann Strauss Jr. who was born in Vienna in 1825.
For the eldest son Johann, the father predicted a future in the commercial sphere, while the second, Josef, was assigned to military service. Everything went according to plan, until the father discovered the seditious (in his opinion) passion of the offspring for music. It took a lot of effort for his wife to persuade him to allow his sons to play the piano.
Johann fascinated his friends with his ability to improvise on a musical instrument. And later, the father found out that the eldest son secretly learns to play the violin. And besides, Franz Amon himself, who was one of the best musicians in the Strauss Sr. orchestra, gave him lessons. Johann taught the neighboring children to play the piano and thus earned himself Amon's lessons.
The best teachers
Soon the Strauss family was overtaken by a serious test - the father went to one of his young admirers, and Johann Jr. had to shoulder the maintenance of his relatives. That's how he is 
became the head of the family at the age of 18. Fortunately, the mother supported her son in everything and, most importantly, she took care of his musical education, despite financial difficulties. Mother carefully kept the notes of Strauss's first waltz, which he wrote at the age of 6. Thanks to the efforts of Anna, Johann studied with a ballet tutor at the Vienna Opera House and a leading teacher at the conservatory in the composition class. But Johann considered the bandmaster of one of the Viennese churches, Abbot Joseph Drexler, who was an expert in counterpoint and harmony, to be his main teacher. It was he who forced the young composer to compose spiritual works. Strauss Jr. at that time dreamed of "earthly" music, but the teacher did not disobey, and soon his cantata was publicly performed in one of the temples of Vienna.
The wise Drexler found an incentive for Johann to study church music. He allowed him to play the organ and violin in the church where he was regent.
Good morning Strauss son
Once the abbot heard a waltz on the organ performed by Strauss when he entered an empty temple. Johann firmly stood his ground - he wanted to lead a dance chapel and compose 
dance music. It was up to the "small" - the young man had to find qualified musicians. He could not allow his team to be worse than his father's. And then one Sunday in October 1844, posters and the press of the city announced the upcoming concert of the young Johann Strauss. The audience was intrigued, because Strauss Sr. was barely 40 years old, he was still full of creative energy, and then his son was already stepping on his heels. After the concert, the newspapers were full of rave reviews. Critics wrote: "Good night Lanner, good evening Father Strauss, good morning, Strauss son!».
Revolutionary sympathies
The young composer not only took, but snatched the baton from the hands of his predecessors. And although his first works differed little in form 
from the melodies of his father and Lanner, but they already felt the power of talent.
When the revolutionary year of 1848 came, Johann warmly responded to political events and supported the people. He created the "March of the Revolution", which sounded like a call to fight. This music quickly became the most popular work of the rebels, receiving a second name - "Viennese Marseillaise". However, the Vienna uprising was suppressed, and the new government did not forget Strauss Jr. of his revolutionary sympathies. Johann was not invited to the court for a long time, and his waltzes did not sound at the emperor's balls.
Family contract
In 1849, Johann Strauss Sr. died of scarlet fever. Recently, the popularity of his son was not easy for him, he experienced the loss of his former glory very hard. He died alone, but the composer's funeral was held with all honors.
The father's orchestra lost its leader, and the same family friend, violinist Franz Amon, insisted that his son take the place of Strauss Sr. All the orchestra members came to Johann and solemnly handed him his father's conductor's baton. Since then Strauss Jr. daily intense concert and composing activities began.
Such intense work quickly undermined the health of the young musician. From overwork, he became seriously ill. Colleagues knew what exhausting work it was to lead a chapel. Johann handed over the management of the team to his brother Joseph, and when he fell ill, another brother, Eduard, came to the rescue. The Strauss family became the idol of all Vienna. The satirists of the time called them music wholesalers and retailers.
New Viennese Waltz
The waltzes of the early period of Strauss's work resembled the works 
his father at the height of his career. But very quickly, the son felt constrained by the form of the traditional Viennese waltz and directed his energy to create a new type of melody, showing all his talent. He decided to take a bold step and doubled the volume of the waltz from 8 and 16 measures to 16 and 32, turning it from ordinary dance music into an independent genre, which now sounded at concerts.
Strauss' tours cemented his international fame and contributed to the spread of the Viennese waltz. In St. Petersburg, he was offered an engagement for the entire summer of 1856, which he could not refuse. Strauss 
spent a whole decade in the Russian Empire with short breaks.
During one of the walks around the city in 1858, Johann was introduced to the 21-year-old Olga Smirnitskaya, who captured the composer's heart. But the girl's mother opposed their relationship. Strauss devoted several works to his beloved, wrote touching messages, but separation was inevitable. In 1862, Olga married a military man, and Johann decided to connect his life with the opera singer Henrietta Chalupetskaya, who was older than him and had seven children from previous marriages.
Blue Danube by Johann Strauss
The mid-1860s is considered the heyday of creativity Strauss Jr.. He wrote the waltzes "On the Beautiful Blue Danube", "Tales of the Vienna Woods", "The Life of an Artist", "New Vienna". Any of these works could do 
his name is immortal. Thanks to these waltzes, dance music climbed to the highest level of poeticization. New dance Johann Strauss resembles a symphonic miniature, which is combined with the ultimate romanticization of the dance genre. The composer's waltzes are characterized by a sublime mood, grandiloquence is alien to them, they are cordial and simple.
When "On the Beautiful Blue Danube", much to the surprise of the author, became the most popular of his waltzes, Strauss decided to thank the conductor Johann Gerbeck. To him he owed the success of this work. The composer dedicated the waltz "Wine, Love and Song" to Herbeck, while "Viennese Blood" and "New Vienna" only secured Johann Strauss Jr. knowledge of the "king of the waltz".
Pearls in the composer's crown
Strauss' creative flowering continued with operettas, "Prince Methuselah", "Carnival in Rome", "Night in Venice", "Gypsy Baron" and other works, 
which became pearls in the composer's crown. By the way, Strauss turned to operetta after meeting the founder of the genre, Jacques Offenbach. However, Johann did not follow the path of his French colleague. Strauss' first steps in this field underlined his innovative approach to everything he undertakes. Johann created a new type of dance operetta. This genre was entirely subject to the elements of dance, of course, the Viennese waltz. The classic of this genre was The Bat (first staged in the spring of 1874), which still does not leave the theater stages and is popular among a wide variety of audiences.
From dance to opera
Strauss was widowed in 1878. The shocked composer, who had been terribly afraid of death all his life, left the house, instructing his brother to take care of his wife's funeral. Johann left for Italy. Soon he met a young singer from Germany, Angelica Dietrich, and married her, but this marriage was extremely unsuccessful. Strauss' favorite work helped him survive the breakup with the woman who had betrayed him.
His new operetta, The Queen's Lace Handkerchief, was a success. past 
On October 1, 1880, the premiere made the Theater an der Wien a box office success that it had not seen in many years.
During the creation of the operetta Night in Venice, Johann became interested in the widow of his longtime friend of the same name. Adele reciprocated his feelings. This time, the waltz king was not mistaken in his choice, Adele became a caring and devoted wife, who was appreciated by all his friends.
In time another dream came true Johann Strauss- he proved to the world that, along with dance music, he can also write serious music. In 1892, he presented to the public the opera Pasman the Knight. And after another 6 years, he completed the preliminary version of the ballet Cinderella, until the premiere of which the composer, unfortunately, did not live to see. In 1899 he died of pneumonia. He was buried near the graves of Brahms and.
DATA
The operetta "Gypsy Baron" impressed the fans Johann Strauss. German composer Johannes Brahms 
said that after The Magic Flute, not a single musician reached the heights to which Strauss soared in the comic opera.
For a single trip to the United States of America Johann Strauss broke the contract with the Russian Tsarskoye Selo railways. It was assumed that the composer will spend the eleventh summer season in Pavlovsk. However, Strauss headed to Boston for a grand concert. There he was given the opportunity to conduct an orchestra of a thousand musicians!
Updated: April 7, 2019 by: Elena
Johann Strauss, whose biography is of sincere interest to classical music lovers, is a famous Austrian composer, violinist, conductor, the greatest master of the Viennese operetta and the Viennese waltz. He has about five hundred works in the genre of dance music (mazurkas, polkas, waltzes and others), which the author managed to elevate to a high artistic level.
In his creations, Johann Strauss relied on the traditions of his own father, F. Schubert, I. Lanner, K. M. Weber. Due to symphonization, the composer gave an individual imagery to the waltz, the popularity of which was determined by melodic beauty and flexibility, romantic spirituality, reliance on Austrian urban folklore and the practice of everyday music-making.
Family of Johann Strauss Jr.
Strauss Sr., father of Johann, at one time tried more than one profession to find himself in music.
The talented violinist organized his own orchestra, which entertained wealthy Austrians with dance music, he himself was engaged in composing, toured extensively with his musical group and was awarded the title of "king of the waltz". He was applauded by Brussels, London, Paris and Berlin; his waltzes had a magical effect on the audience.
Musicality of the Strauss family
For almost a decade, the composer's family changed their place of residence, moving from one apartment to another, and the walls of each of them witnessed the birth of a new child. The eldest son of Johann Strauss, also Johann, was born in Vienna on October 25, 1825. In total, the family had seven sons - all of them later became musicians. And this is logical, because music has always been present in the home atmosphere of the Strausses. Orchestra rehearsals were often held at home, which gave the children the opportunity to observe how real musical masterpieces are born. Information about some of them confirms that Josef became a conductor in the Strauss orchestra from 1853 and the author of popular orchestral pieces, Eduard - a violinist, conductor and author of dance compositions, and in 1870 - Johann's successor as conductor of the Viennese court balls.
Childhood of Johann Strauss
The eldest son sang in the church choir, and in his father he saw an idol, whom sooner or later he wanted to surpass. At the age of six, the boy was already playing his own compositions, which did not meet the interests of his parents, because none of them wanted a musical future for their children.
Johann Jr. studied at the Polytechnic School and, secretly from his father, mastered musical literacy. The future composer Strauss, whose biography has many ups and downs, began to earn his first money by learning to play the piano, immediately paying with them for violin lessons. Parental attempts to attract the young man to the banking business were unsuccessful.
Strauss: senior and junior
Strauss Sr., meanwhile, started a new family, in which seven more children appeared. The fact of his father's departure allowed Johann to open up in his passion, so he began to take lessons, no longer hiding. In 1844, Johann was awarded the right to conduct in the Vienna magistrate and at the age of 19 created his own concert ensemble that performed his works. At the very first performance, which became sensational for the Viennese public, the younger Strauss, whose biography had just begun on the musical Olympus, proved that his music could compete with the music of his father, who at that time was 40 years old. The act of his son enraged Strauss Sr., and he, having a large number of connections in the highest circles, tried to make life as difficult as possible for his child, which led to the emergence of a fierce struggle between relatives. The father still played at social events at court, the son was left to realize his talent in cafes and casinos (two small establishments in Vienna). At the same time, Strauss Sr. began divorce proceedings with his first wife, which led to the intemperance of the eldest son and his public attacks on his father. The result of the trial was the victory of Strauss Sr. in the divorce proceedings: he left his family without an inheritance and any means of subsistence. On the concert stage, Johann Sr. also triumphed, while his son's orchestra eked out a miserable existence. Moreover, the police were closely interested in John the Younger, who had information about him as a wasteful, frivolous and immoral person.
Strauss biography: summary
Unexpectedly for everyone, in 1849, his father died, which opened the way for Strauss Jr. to the musical world of Vienna, moreover, the famous orchestra of the eminent composer silently elected him as their conductor, and almost all entertainment establishments in the city renewed their contracts with him. The composer's career began to rise sharply: Strauss was already playing at the court of the young emperor in 1852. The biography is briefly described in many music textbooks.
In 1854, representatives of the Russian railway company came to the composer with a business proposal, which involved the payment of a considerable amount of money, and invited him to a performance in the luxurious Pavlovsky railway station and the park, which housed the royal palaces. Johann Strauss, whose brief biography is described in many textbooks on the history of music, immediately agreed and captivated the local audience with his polkas and waltzes. Even members of the imperial family attended his performances.
Composer's personal life
Johann Strauss, whose biography has been associated with music all his life, experienced many love affairs in Russia, but found his family happiness in Vienna. In 1862, he married Etty Trefts, a woman 7 years older than him, who had four sons and three daughters from the "king of the waltz" at that time.
This woman was not only his wife. Etty (former opera diva Henrietta Hallupecki) became the composer's secretary, nurse, business adviser and muse at the same time; with her, Strauss ascended even higher and believed in his own strength. In 1863, the wife and her husband visited Russia, while in Vienna, brother Joseph was reaping the fruits of popularity, who also became in 1870, he dies, and Johann Strauss takes over the crown of his glory, like his father.
Biography briefly: glory time
These were the heydays of the composer's work. At this time, Johann Strauss, whose biography and work are closely intertwined, creates his famous works "Tales of the Vienna Woods" and "The Blue Danube", expressing the musical soul of Vienna and woven from the melodies of the most diverse peoples inhabiting it. The composer began to write operettas in the 70s of the XIX century under the influence of J. Offenbach. However, unlike the French operetta with brightly saturated drama, the element of dance dominates in Strauss's works. The first operetta "Indigo and the Forty Thieves" was received with a bang by the Austrian public.
The peaks of Strauss's work in this genre are "The Gypsy Baron", "The Bat". Strauss's music was highly appreciated by P.I. Tchaikovsky, I. Brahms, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov. World success for the author was secured by performances in the UK, France and the USA; the composer managed a twenty-thousandth orchestra with the support of one hundred assistant conductors. Despite universal recognition, Johann Strauss (his biography and work are briefly described in many music textbooks) was always full of doubts and dissatisfied with himself, although the pace of his work can be called hectic, very intense.
Worldwide recognition
Having abandoned court conducting, Johann Strauss, whose brief biography describes the key moments of his work, continued to tour around different countries, successfully performing in Moscow, St. Petersburg, London, Paris, New York, Boston. The size of his income contributed to the construction of his own "city palace" and a luxurious life. For some time, the death of his beloved wife and the failed second marriage to actress Angelica Dietrich, who was 25 years younger than the composer, knocked out of the usual rhythm of life of Johann Strauss. Marriage for the third time - to Adele Deutsch, a 26-year-old young widow, whose marriage turned out to be happy, returned the composer to his usual way of life. Johann Strauss, whose biography is of sincere interest to the modern generation, dedicated the Adele waltz to his third wife.
In 1885, on the eve of the composer's 60th birthday, the high-profile premiere of the operetta The Gypsy Baron took place, which became a real holiday for the inhabitants of Vienna, and then for the rest of the planet. Strauss, meanwhile, closely followed the musical trends in the music world, studied with the classics, maintained friendship with such maestros as Johann Brahms.
Johann Strauss, whose biography is of interest to the younger generation, decided to try his hand at opera; in 1892, the premiere of the opera “Knight Pasman” written by him took place, and the preliminary version of the ballet “Cinderella” was completed at the end of 1898. The composer did not live to see its premiere.
The last years of the composer's life
Strauss' success has not always been at its peak: there have been downfalls. Thus, the operetta "Viennese Blood" was not as successful as the previous works, and withstood only a small number of performances. Strauss, whose biography is interesting to many of his admirers, spent the last years of his life in seclusion, he hid in his own mansion and from time to time played billiards with friends. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the operetta Die Fledermaus, the composer was persuaded to conduct the overture. This turned out to be his last performance, Johann Strauss caught a cold and contracted pneumonia. Perhaps the composer had a premonition of his death, in moments of consciousness his wife heard him sing a little audibly: “Glorious, friends, the end must come.” This song was written by Johann's teacher Josef Drexler. Strauss died in Adele's arms on June 3, 1899. Vienna gave him, like Strauss Sr. once, a grandiose funeral. The composer's grave is located among the graves of other musical geniuses: Brahms, Schubert and Beethoven.
Johann Strauss (son)(German Johann Baptist Strauss; October 25, 1825, Vienna - June 3, 1899, ibid.) - Austrian composer, conductor and violinist, recognized as the "king of the waltz", author of numerous dance works and several popular operettas.
Biography
Born in the family of the famous Austrian composer Johann Strauss Sr. His great-grandfather Johann Michael Strauss (1720-1800) from Buda (part of Budapest) was a Jewish convert to Catholicism. Two of the four Strauss Jr. brothers (Josef and Eduard) also became well-known composers.
The boy learned to play the violin secretly from his father, who wanted to see his son as a banker and made furious scandals when he caught his son with a violin in his hands. However, with the help of his mother, Johann Jr. continued to secretly improve in music. The father soon sent Johann Jr. to the Higher Commercial School, and in the evenings he forced him to work as an accountant. In 1844, Johann Jr. completed his musical education with famous teachers, who gave him brilliant recommendations (for obtaining a license for the profession). When he finally made up his mind and applied to the magistrate for a license for the right to conduct an orchestra, his mother, fearing that Johann Sr. would prevent the issuance of a license, filed for divorce due to her husband's long-term betrayal. Strauss Sr. responded by disinheriting Anna's children by signing off his entire fortune to the children of his mistress Emilia Trampush. Soon after the divorce was registered, he officially married Emilia, by which time they already had seven children.
Soon, Strauss manages to recruit a small orchestra of his own, and he successfully performs at Dommeyer's casino in Vienna. The orchestra's repertoire largely consisted of his own works. At first, envy from an influential father greatly interfered, who blacklisted those institutions where his son performed, did not allow him to court balls and other prestigious events that he considered his fiefdom. But, despite all the efforts of his father and thanks to the admirers of the talent of Johann Jr., he was appointed bandmaster of the military band of the second regiment of the civil militia (his father was the head of the band of the first regiment).
The revolution of 1848 further deepened the conflict between father and son. Strauss Sr. supported the monarchy and wrote the loyal Radetzky March. Strauss Jr. during the days of the revolution played the Marseillaise and wrote a number of revolutionary marches and waltzes himself. After the suppression of the revolution, he was brought to trial, but was eventually acquitted.
1849: Strauss senior died of scarlet fever. Johann played Mozart's Requiem on his father's grave, dedicated the Aeolian Harp waltz to his father's memory, and published his father's complete works at his own expense. The father's orchestra decided to join the son's musicians, and the combined orchestra went on tour in Austria, Poland, and Germany. Everywhere he was a huge success.
To improve relations with the new Emperor Franz Joseph I, Strauss dedicates two marches to him. Soon he was given all his father's powers at court balls and concerts (1852). There are so many invitations that he often sends one of his brothers instead of himself. Unlike his father, he did not envy anyone and joked that "the brothers are more talented than me, I'm just more popular."
1856: Strauss' first tour in Russia. He became a permanent conductor of summer concerts at the Pavlovsky railway station with a huge salary (22 thousand rubles per season). During the five years of performances in Pavlovsk, Strauss is experiencing a serious passion for a Russian girl, Olga Smirnitskaya (1837-1920), but Olga's parents Vasily Nikolaevich and Evdokia Akimovna Smirnitsky prevented their marriage. The Soviet film Farewell to Petersburg and Aigner's book Johann Strauss - Olga Smirnitskaya were dedicated to this novel. 100 Love Letters.
In 1862, Strauss, after Olga's message about his marriage to an officer of the Semyonovsky regiment Alexander Stepanovich Lozinsky (1840-1920), married the opera singer Yetti Chalupetskaya, who performed under the pseudonym "Treffz" (Henrietta Treffz). Biographers note that Yettie was outwardly similar to Olga Smirnitskaya. Yettie was 7 years older than Strauss and also had seven illegitimate children from different fathers. Nevertheless, the marriage turned out to be happy, Henrietta became a faithful and caring wife and impresario of her husband.
