The Life and Music of Johann Strauss II - Essay Example

From among the hundreds of musical compositions that Johann Strauss II created, his most famous work was identified to be the Blue Danube, categorized as “the most widely played and arranged pieces of its time, known to the most casual listener today from many radio, film and television uses of it”. A countdown of his musical scores generated this profile: “150 waltzes, one hundred polkas, seventy quadrilles (square dances), mazurkas (folk dances from Poland), marches, and galops (French dances)”.

Johann was noted to be the king of waltz or the waltz king.His music was also noted to belong to the classical genre and assuming the orchstral and opera style. In fact, a total of more than 500 orchestral compositions were attributed to his name. Likewise, Johann Strauss II was known to have popularized both light music and dance music, both musical genres and styles that gave way to less serious form of classical music intended for an audience for the purpose of dancing the waltz, or to put them in the right mood to listen to a concert-type of music.

Since Johann’s compositions were predominantly orchestral or opera in style, the musical accompaniment was composed of a variety of musical instruments chosen appropriately to create the intended mood: for dancing, for easy listening, to appreciate a particular musical instrument: cello, the piano, or the whole orchestra. He has also composed selections of best classical music of his time; concert music, music of the opera, and favorite dance music attributed to the Strauss family, to name just a few.

From among the famous operettas noted to be composed by Johann Strauss II, the following were detailed: “Die Fledermaus, is probably one of the greatest operettas ever written and a masterpiece of its kind. The lovely Du und Du waltz is made up of excerpts from this work. His two other most successful operettas were A Night in Venice (1883), from which he derived the music for the Lagoon Waltz, and The Gypsy Baron (1885), from which stems the Treasure Waltz”.. Music of Johann Strauss II From among the hundreds of musical compositions that Johann Strauss II created, his most famous work was identified to be the Blue Danube (An der schonen blauen Donau), categorized as “the most widely played and arranged pieces of its time, known to the most casual listener today from many radio, film and television uses of it” (Rovi Corp, 2013, par. 1). A countdown of his musical scores generated this profile: “150 waltzes, one hundred polkas, seventy quadrilles (square dances), mazurkas (folk dances from Poland), marches, and galops (French dances)” (Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2013, par. 9). Johann was noted to be the king of waltz or the waltz king (The Johann Strauss Society of Great Britain, 2013; Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2013).

His music was also noted to belong to the classical genre and assuming the orchstral and opera style (Rovi Corp, 2013). In fact, a total of more than 500 orchestral compositions were attributed to his name (The Johann Strauss Society of Great Britain, 2013). Likewise, Johann Strauss II was known to have popularized both light music and dance music, both musical genres and styles that gave way to less serious form of classical music intended for an audience for the purpose of dancing the waltz, or to put them in the right mood to listen to a concert-type of music.

Since Johann’s compositions were predominantly orchestral or opera in style, the musical accompaniment were composed of a variety of musical instruments chosen appropriately to create the intended mood: for dancing, for easy listening, to appreciate a particular musical instrument: cello, the piano, or the whole orchestra. He has also composed selections of best classical music of his time; concert music, music of the opera, and