Biographical Sketches
Joseph Lanner
Joseph Lanner was one of the leading dance composers to emerge from Vienna during the nineteenth century. He, along with Johann Strauss Sr., is considered one of the fathers of the Viennese waltz.
Lanner was born in Vienna on April 12, 1801, to Martin Lanner (1771-1839) and Maria Schergauff (1771-1823). He was largely a self-taught musician and began his musical career as a violinist in the Michael Pamer orchestra. In 1816, Lanner formed a small ensemble with Anton and Johann Drahanek, which expanded into two orchestras in 1825. At the height of his career, Lanner managed several ensembles and employed roughly 200 musicians. He composed more than 200 works that became widely known throughout Europe and America. In 1829, he served as music director of the Redoutensäle in Vienna, and in 1833 was appointed Kepellmeister of the second Viennese militia regiment.
Lanner married Franziska Jahn (1800-1855) on November 28, 1828, but they divorced in 1838. He died on March 21, 1843, from a typhoid infection at age 42. Lanner’s surviving children included August Lanner and Katharina Lanner (1829-1908).
Johann Strauss Sr.
Johann Strauss Sr. was a second prominent dance composer to emerge from Vienna during the nineteenth century. He, along with Josef Lanner, developed the classical waltz form, a legacy carried on by his sons Johann Strauss Jr., Josef Strauss, and Eduard Strauss.
Johann Strauss Sr. was born in Vienna on March 14, 1804, to Franz Borgias (1764-1816) and his mother (died 1811). After the sudden deaths of his parents, Strauss was taken in as an apprentice bookbinder under Johann Luchtscheidl. This career did not last, and he joined the ensemble formed by Joseph Lanner and the Drahanek brothers (Anton and Johann) in 1823. He later conducted half of the orchestra upon its division in 1825 until 1827, when he left to form his own ensemble. He studied violin with Johann Pollischanzki and Leopold Jansa, and instrumentation with Ignaz von Seyfried.
In 1829, Strauss began a six-year contract with the Zum Sperlbauer, a popular dance hall in Leopoldstadt, where he premiered many of his works throughout his career. This residency helped establish his career, and he soon was performing at dance establishments throughout Vienna and its suburbs. In 1832, he was appointed the Kapellmeister of the first Viennese militia regiment and in 1846 was granted the honorary title of k.k. Hofballmusik-Director by the Austrian Emperor, Ferdinand I.
To promote his music across Europe, Strauss placed a strong emphasis on touring. With his initial trip to Pest (now Budapest) in 1833, he became the first person to take dance music on tour. The following year he performed in Germany for the Prussian King and the visiting Tsar and Tsarina of Russia. He continued to tour in France, Belgium, and Britain, and in 1838 undertook his first great summer tour with appearances in Paris, London, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany. That same year, he also completed a 33-week of the United Kingdom. As a result of these efforts, Strauss became a familiar figure throughout Europe. He continued to tour until his death from scarlet fever in Vienna on September 25, 1849.
Strauss married Maria Anna Streim (1801-1870) on July 11, 1825, and they had six children: Johann Strauss Jr., Josef, Anna (1829-1903), Therese (1831-1915), Ferdinand (born and died 1834), and Eduard (1835-1916). In 1833, Strauss began a lasting affair with Emilie Trampusch, and they had seven illegitimate children from 1835 and 1844. In 1844, Maria sued Strauss for a divorce, which was granted in 1846.
Johann Strauss Jr.
Johann Strauss Jr. was the first son of Johann Strauss Sr. and Maria Anna Streim. He built upon the musical careers of both his father and Joseph Lanner and composed music that captivated the whole of Europe and America for more than half a century. By the mid-1860s, Strauss Jr. had established himself as Europe’s leading composer of dance music, and in 1867, penned one of his most famous waltzes, An der schönen, blauen Donau, op. 314 ("The Blue Danube").
Johann Strauss Jr. was born in Vienna on October 25, 1825, and was originally destined for a career in banking. He was formally educated at the k.k. Normal-Hauptschule bey St. Anna and later at the Vienna Polytechnic Institute. However, he studied music on the side with many accomplished musicians, including violin with Franz Amon, the leader of his father’s orchestra, and harmony and counterpoint with Joachim Hoffmann and Joseph Drechsler. In 1843, Strauss Jr. officially began his musical career by assembling his own orchestra of 40 musicians that debuted in 1844. His popularity grew slowly in Vienna before his father’s death, but during one Viennese carnival season, he was recorded to have grown his orchestra to 220 members to meet the concert demands.
After his father’s death in 1849, he merged his father’s orchestra with his own and went on tour. Unlike his father, Strauss Jr. did not often travel unless he was invited to perform. Regardless, during his life he did bring his music to Russia, Paris, London, Boston, New York, Berlin, and Budapest. In 1845, he was offered the position of Kapellmeister of the second Viennese militia regiment, a title previously held by Joseph Lanner, and in 1863, he was given the title k.k. Hofballmusik-Direktor after his father.
The demanding work load may have contributed to Strauss Jr.'s ill health, and in 1853, he asked his brother Josef to serve as interim director of the Strauss Orchestra. The two worked together from 1854 until 1870 as co-directors and were joined by their youngest sibling, Eduard. Strauss Jr. chose to step away from directing to focus on composing, including a number of works for the stage. However, he found that he never enjoyed working from a previously written libretto, and thus felt constrained by many of his later projects.
Strauss Jr. married three times and had no children. His first wife was singer Henreitte (Jetty) Treffz (1818-1878) and the two were married until her death in 1878. His second wife was actress Angelika Dittrich (1850-1919). They sought a divorce in 1882, but their request was not officially granted until 1887. Strauss Jr. remained married to his final wife, Adèle Deutsch (1856-1930), until his own death on June 3, 1899.
Josef Strauss
Josef Strauss was the second son of Johann Strauss Sr. and Maria Anna Streim. Like his brother, Johann Strauss Jr., he had a special talent for composition and is known for incorporating the music of contemporary operatic composers into his concerts and musical works. Josef was born in Vienna on August 20, 1827, and established a very successful career as an architect and mechanical engineer as a young adult. At a very early age, he published a series of mathematic tables that were incorporated into many secondary school curriculums. He completed courses in technical drawing and mathematics at Vienna’s polytechnic institute and pursued private study at the Academy of Fine Arts. He published two mathematical books, invented a street-cleaning machine, wrote poetry and a five-act drama, and even served as the head of sewer works at the Trumaner Spinning mill.
Josef was thrust into the family business after his brother Johann fell ill in 1853. He was asked to serve as interim director of the Strauss Orchestra in Johann’s absence, and his first conducting debut was such a success that he decided to become a musician and give up his technical activities. He soon after began instruction in violin with Franz Amon and then composition with Franz Dolleschall.
Beginning in 1854, he served as joint director of the Strauss Orchestra with his brother Johann, and in 1856, he debuted his newly-honed violin skills. Apart from occasional travel, Josef worked exclusively in his hometown of Vienna, where he conducted countless concerts and balls. In 1870, during one of his rare trips abroad, Josef collapsed at the podium during a performance in Warsaw, Poland. He was transported home to Vienna where he died of a stroke on July 22, 1870.
Josef married Karoline Josefa Pruckmayer (1831-1900) on June 8, 1857. The two had one child, Karoline Anna (1858-1919).
Eduard Strauss
Eduard Strauss was the fourth and youngest son of Johann Strauss Sr. and Maria Anna Streim. A musician in his own right, his work is too often compared to that of his brothers Johann and Josef. Eduard was born in Vienna on March 15, 1835, and as a gifted linguist was originally destined for a career with the Austrian consular service. However, he eventually transitioned into the "family business" and joined his two brothers with the Strauss Orchestra in 1855 as a harpist. Previously, he had studied musical theory with Gottfried Preyer, violin with Franz Amon, and harp with Antonio Zamara. At the Sofienbad-Saal in 1861, the Strauss Orchestra was split into three parts, whereupon Eduard made his conducting debut. His debut as a composer occured the following year at the Diana Saale, and his first work was published in 1863.
He became joint director of the family orchestra in 1865 with his brother Josef, and after his brother’s death in 1870, direction of the orchestra passed entirely to Eduard. The orchestra remained in his charge until 1901, when he disbanded it after a large tour of North America. While on this tour, Eduard suffered a broken shoulder bone as a result of a railroad collision. Unable to conduct, the remaining concerts of his tour were canceled save for four final performances in New York that he directed left-handed.
In 1872, he was granted the honorary title of k.k. Hofballmusik-Direktor, which was a title first held by his father. Unlike his two brothers, Eduard shared his father’s interest in touring. According to his own memoirs, in 23 years, Eduard traveled to 840 towns and cities across two continents. He not only brought his own music with him, but also that of his two brothers, his father, and Josef Lanner.
After retiring in 1901, Eduard led a quiet life until 1907, when he carried out the destruction of the Strauss Orchestra’s musical archive. Numerous unpublished manuscripts by his brother Josef were lost in addition to many secondary source copies of contemporary scores transcribed by all three Strauss brothers. He died from a heart attack in Vienna on December 28, 1916.
Eduard Strauss married Maria Magdalena Klenkhart (1840-1921) in 1863. They had two sons, Johan Maria Eduard (1866-1939) and Josef Eduard Anna (1868-1940).
August Lanner
August Lanner (Augustin Lanner) was born in Vienna on January 23, 1835, to Joseph Lanner and Franziska Jahn. He was first educated in music harmony by the k.k. Kapellmaister and later in composition by Professor Josef Mayseder and the Viennese composer Josef Hellmesberger. August's first public appearance at the head of an orchestra occurred when he was only eight years old. Shortly following his father’s death, a young August appeared as violinist and conductor of Lanner’s orchestra for their performance at the Brauhausgarten in Fünfhaus in front of 2,000 attendees. It was not until ten years later that he debuted his own orchestra on March 19, 1853, and quickly became one of the leading light musicians of Vienna. August died very suddenly from a lung illness in Vienna on September 27, 1855, only two years following his debut. During those two years, 33 of his compositions were published.