johann+strauss

Johann Strauss is a composer from Austria. Strauss was very productive and popular and was known as the "Waltz King". Strauss was born on October 25 1825, in Vienna, Austria and died in Vienna, 1899.

Strauss was often known as "Johann Strauss II" or as "the younger". Strauss was the oldest son of Johann Strauss (the father). His father was also pretty big in the music industry but Strauss' popularity surpassed his father very quickly. Johann Strauss wanted his son to go in a different path careerwise. So to obey his fathers wishes, he became a bank clerk but secretly began playing the violin. When Strauss was a teenager his father left his family for the music industry so Strauss began to get further into music by conducting a band when he was just a teenager.

Johann Strauss eventually started a band and had to compete with his father. Strauss began writing pieces for his band to perform. He started to become very popular and he began composing for the Vienna Men's Choral Association in 1847. When Strauss's father passed away, he combined his fathers orchestra with his own, which gave him a very successful career.

During his career, Strauss wrote more than 500 pieces, 150 of which were waltzes. The Blue Danube is one of his more popular pieces that earned him a place in history and is still recognizable today.