Strauss, Johann (The Elder) |
| COMPOSER, CONDUCTOR, VIOLINIST (AUSTRIA) |
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BORN 14 Mar 1804, Wien - DIED 25 Sep 1849, Wien BIRTH NAME Strauss, Johann Baptist CAUSE OF DEATH scarlet fever GRAVE LOCATION Wien: Zentralfriedhof, Simmeringer Hauptstraße 234, Simmering (Gruppe 32 A, Nummer 15) |
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Johann Strauss lost his mother to a fever when he was seven years old. His father drowned when he was 12. His guardian Anton Müller sent him as an apprentice to the bookbinder Johan Lichtscheidl, but he learned to play the violin and managed to obtain a place in the local orchestra of Michael Pamer. He moved on to a string quartet that was formed by Joseph Lanner. The quartet became a small orchestra in 1824 and he assisted Lanner as its deputy conductor. In 1825 he started his own orchestra and soon his music was very popular in Vienna and he toured several European countries. In 1825 he married Maria Anna Streim, but he was often from home and in later years he had a mistress, Emilie Trampusch, who bore him six childeren. In 1837 he heard the quadrille in France and he introduced it successfully in Vienna in 1840. He refused to let his son Johann study misic, but after he divorced Anna in 1844 she took care of the musical education of the younger Johann. In 1847 emperor Ferdinand I made him Director of Music for the Imperial and Royal Court Balls and in 1848 he composed his famous Radetzky-Marsch. In 1849 he contracted scarlet fever from one of his children and he died on September 25th. He was buried next to Joseph Lanner (who had died in 1843) at the former cemetery in Döbling, Vienna. In 1904 their remains were transferred to the Zentralfriedhof. Their old tombstones can still be seen in what is now the Strauss-Lanner Park. Family • Son: Strauss, Johann (The Younger) Related persons • was a friend of Lanner, Joseph |
| Images | |
 The grave of Johann Strauss (The Elder) at the Zentralfiedhof, Vienna. Picture by Androom (26 Aug 2002) |
 The old tombstones of Johann Strass The Elder and Joseph Lanner at the Strauss-Lanner Park in Vienna. Picture by Androom (23 Aug 2005) |
Sources • Budig, Robert S. et al, Ehrengräber am Wiener Zentralfriedhof, Compress Verlag Wien, Wien • Summa Encyclopedie • Johann Strauss I - Wikipedia |
