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The Worlds of Gilbert and Sullivan

Johann Strauss II was born in Vienna in 1825 and died there in 1899. This Austrian composer, conductor and violinist was the eldest son of Johann Strauss 1. Eventually he became known as the 'Waltz King'.

His father tried to dissuade him from becoming a musician, so he studied to become a bank clerk and studied the violin and composing under Drechsler, secretly. When his father died prematurely Johann II amalgamated his own and his father's orchestras, conducting both his own and dad's waltzes.

Johann II travelled widely promoting his work. Later he turned to the stage and composed some very exciting music in operettas, such as Die Fledermaus, and Eine Nacht in Venedig (A Night in Venice). Throughout his eminent and eventful life he promoted the waltz, his most famous being Blue Danube, Roses from the South, the great Emperor Waltz, and Tales from the Vienna Woods.

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