Johann Strauss's Life and Music Quiz

Answer: No

Johann Strauss Sr. did not want his son to suffer the rigors of a musician's life. Hence, he forbid him to learn music. But his mother encouraged him to learn the violin after he composed a song at the age of six. It is said that when the father found out that he had been practicing the violin secretly, he gave him a severe whipping.

Answer: Dance music

Johann Strauss composed over 500 waltzes, polkas and other types of popular dance music. He was known as "The Waltz King" during his lifetime.

Answer: Hietzing

He performed some of his first works, such as "Sinngedichte" op. 1, "Gunstwerber" op. 4 and "Herzenslut" op. 3 then. Critics and the press praised Strauss' music.

Answer: Emperor Franz Josef I

He composed "Kaiser Franz-Josef Marsch" op. 67 and "Kaiser Franz Joself Rettungs Jubel-Marsch" op. 126 for the Emperor, most probably to ingratiate himself.

Answer: Samson and Delilah

"Samson and Delilah" was an opera written by Saint Saens in 1877.

Answer: Yes

Strauss and his orchestra toured the United States, in the 1870s. He was the lead conductor in a "Monster Concert" of over 1000 performers performing his "Blue Danube" waltz, with some other of his famous pieces.

Answer: One

"Aschenbrodel" (Cinderella) was the only ballet he wrote. He had written all the principal parts of the ballet, and was preparing to finish the orchestration. However, he died before he could finish it. Josef Bayer finished it for him in 1890.

Answer: Yes

Strauss married Henrietta Treffz, a singer, in 1862. They remained together for sixteen years, until Henrietta died. Six weeks later, he married the actress Angelika Dittrich, who didn't encourage him in writing music. He divorced her in 1887 and married Adele Deutsch, his third wife. Strauss wrote many of his famous compositions then, such as "Der Zigeunerbarnon" and "Kaiser-Walzer".

Answer: 1899

Strauss was diagnosed with Pleura-pneumonia. He died in Vienna, at the age of 73. He was buried in the Zentralfriedhof.

Answer: True

His father, Johann Strauss Sr., and brothers, Josef Strauss and Eduard Strauss were all great musicians, but he outshone them all in composition of music. He composed twice the amount his father did. The four of them were all more or less famous for dance music, which was their family tradition as some people say.