Behind the Scenes

Background on Johann Strauss, composer of Die Fledermaus

In 1872, two years before the premiere of Die Fledermaus, Johann Strauss, Jr. traveled to Boston to conduct a series of concerts for a World Peace Jubilee. To convince the reluctant composer, who loathed traveling, the festival promoters offered an unprecedented fee of $100,000. A special hail had been constructed for twenty thousand instrumentalists and vocalists who performed before an audience of over 100,000. (This was really a huge event!) Strauss said, "The Blue Danube began with a cannon shot and the hundred subconductors followed me as fast and well as they could. Since we all had started at approximately the same time, I did all I could so we would all finish at approximately the same time. " This amazing American experience illustrated the composer's popularity. People today may dismiss Strauss' music as frivolous, but during his life, the most "serious composers were unanimous in their admiration and respect: Berlioz, Brahms, Bruckner, and even Wagner who called Strauss "the most musical brain I've ever known. A single waltz surpasses in grace, elegance and musical content most other writing." Citizens of Vienna had more than their share of disasters-war, floods of the Danube River, fires, the revolution of 1848, and assassinations of the royal family. One historian said that they just chose to overlook them, One of the lines from Act I is "Happy is he who forgets that which cannot be changed."

Johann Strauss Jr's father was a very successful violinist and composer who took his own orchestra on extensive tours of Europe. They even played for the coronation festivities of Queen Victoria. "Vienna is not only in Vienna; it is wherever Strauss is." He wanted his first-born to be a respectable tradesman, but his mother provided violin lessons. After some disputes, the Strausses made a truce and ruled over Vienna's musical empire. Another brother, Eduard became the most glamorous conducting figure of his day and transmitted the authentic style of Strauss music to the 20th century. Die Fledermaus is the pinnacle of operetta. That Strauss would create one of his finest waltzes for the operetta goes without question; the extra icing on the cake xvas the opportunity for music in various national styles. Between the years 1860 and 1890, the population of Vienna more than tripled, largely from a flood of immigrants from provinces of the Hapsburg Empire: Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary, Serbia and Italy. Strauss also included a mazurka, a polka, and czardas in Die Fledermaus. The overture alone has more immortal melodies than some composers produce in a lifetime. (taken from an article by John Schauer, a staff writer for San Francisco Opera)

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