The Legacy of Johann Strauss

Political Influence and Twentieth-Century Identity

Zoë Alexis Lang

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN:
  9781108400909
• eBook ISBN:
  9781139698795
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music

To this day, Johann Strauss, Jr remains one of the most popular composers in his native city of Vienna. In The Legacy of Johann Strauss, Zoë Alexis Lang examines how the reception of Strauss's waltzes played a key role in the construction of twentieth-century Austrian identity. Using press coverage from the centennial celebration of Strauss's birth in Vienna, Lang argues that his music remained popular because it continued to be revitalised by Austrians seeking to define their culture. Revealing the origins of the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert, Lang considers how Strauss was appropriated as a National Socialist icon in the 1930s and 1940s, and explores the Strauss family's Jewish ancestry, along with the infamous forgery of paperwork about their lineage during the 1940s. This book also includes a case study of Strauss's Emperor Waltz, considering its variegated usage in concerts and films from 1925 to 1953.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Musical examples
• Tables
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter One Johann Strauss Jr.’s biography: facts and fictions
• Chapter Two The Strauss Jr. centennial (1925)
• Chapter Three Johann Strauss Jr. as German
• Chapter Four Johann Strauss Jr. as Jew
• Chapter Five The Emperor Waltz in the twentieth century: a case study
• Conclusion
• Appendix A Articles published during the 1925 Strauss Jr. centennial
• Appendix B Listing of official events for the 1925 Strauss Jr. centennial
• Appendix C Four Philharmonic Academy concerts, 1940–1941 season
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index