Strauss, Josef

Strauss, Josef – Ungarischer Krönungsmarsch (Hungarian Coronation March) Op. 225, Delirien Op. 212, Vélocipéde Op. 259 (Waltz Cycles)

Josef Strauss never wanted to be a musician, at least not one who provided dance music for the Viennese. He was a talented pianist and with his younger brother Eduard was often to be found at concerts, particularly those of Otto Nicolai’s newly founded Wiener Philharmoniker; or the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, where he heard Franz Liszt and Clara Schumann; or the Opera, where he heard Berlioz and Meyerbeer. At this time (the mid-1840s) he also made the acquaintance of the young Franz von Suppé. But when it came to a career, music was not his choice. He had trained as an architect and engineer, working for the Vienna city council on the development of the Ringstrasse and had even invented a street cleaning machine adopted by the city. He was drawn into the family business in 1853 only after considerable pressure from his mother, after his elder brother Johann became ill. Eventually, of course, he committed himself wholly to the family orchestra, producing large quantities of music as well as conducting and (on more than one occasion) solving a crisis caused by his elder brother’s ill-health, lethargy, or affairs of the heart. Something of Josef’s work-rate may be judged from the number of new works by the three brothers played at the 1867 Carnival season: Josef
11, Eduard 8, Johann 6. For the 1868 season the figures were: Josef 10, Eduard 7, Johann 3.

Ungarischer Krönungsmarsch

(Hungarian Coronation March)
1866 had been a disastrous year for the creaking Austrian empire. Its nadir was on 3rd July, when a combined Austrian and Saxon army had been defeated comprehensively by the Prussians at Königgrätz (Sadowa) in Bohemia. Austria could no longer be regarded as the leader of the German Union and demands for greater autonomy came from various parts of the empire. One outcome was that Hungary was given partial independence, with Emperor Franz Joseph I and Empress Elisabeth becoming King and Queen of Hungary, within a new ‘Austro-Hungarian’ Empire. Their coronation took place in what
is now Budapest during celebrations that began on June 8th 1867. Vienna marked the occasion the day
before, with a concert in the Volksgarten, for which Josef wrote two new pieces – the waltz

full preface / ganzes Vorwort > HERE