Johann Baptist Strauss II (1825 – 1899), also known
as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (German:
Johann Strauß Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light
music, particularly dance music and operettas as well
as a violinist. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas,
quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as
several operettas and a ballet. In his lifetime, he was
known as "The Waltz King", and was largely responsible
for the popularity of the waltz in Vienna during the
19th cen...(+)
Johann Baptist Strauss II (1825 – 1899), also known
as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (German:
Johann Strauß Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light
music, particularly dance music and operettas as well
as a violinist. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas,
quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as
several operettas and a ballet. In his lifetime, he was
known as "The Waltz King", and was largely responsible
for the popularity of the waltz in Vienna during the
19th century. Some of Johann Strauss's most famous
works include "The Blue Danube", "Kaiser-Walzer"
(Emperor Waltz), "Tales from the Vienna Woods",
"Frühlingsstimmen", and the "Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka".
Among his operettas, Die Fledermaus and Der
Zigeunerbaron are the best known. He was the son of
Johann Strauss I and his first wife Maria Anna Streim.
Two younger brothers, Josef and Eduard Strauss, also
became composers of light music, although they were
never as well known as their brother.
Johann Strauss I's influence over the local
entertainment establishments meant that many of them
were wary of offering the younger Strauss a contract
for fear of angering the father. Strauss Jr. was able
to persuade Dommayer's Casino in Hietzing, a suburb of
Vienna, to allow him to perform. The elder Strauss, in
anger at his son's disobedience, and at that of the
proprietor, refused to ever play again at Dommayer's
Casino,[10] which had been the site of many of his
earlier triumphs. Strauss made his debut at Dommayer's
in October 1844, where he performed some of his first
works, such as the waltzes "Sinngedichte", Op. 1 and
"Gunstwerber", Op. 4 and the polka "Herzenslust", Op.
3. Critics and the press were unanimous in their praise
of Strauss's music. A critic for Der Wanderer commented
that "Strauss's name will be worthily continued in his
son; children and children's children can look forward
to the future, and three-quarter time will find a
strong footing in him."
Die Fledermaus (The Flittermouse or The Bat, sometimes
called The Revenge of the Bat) is an operetta composed
by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl
Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874.
The original literary source for Die Fledermaus was Das
Gefängnis (The Prison), a farce by German playwright
Julius Roderich Benedix[1] that premiered in Berlin in
1851. On 10 September 1872, a three-act French
vaudeville play by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy,
Le Réveillon, loosely based on the Benedix farce,
opened at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal.[2] Meilhac and
Halévy had provided several successful libretti for
Offenbach and Le Réveillon later formed the basis for
the 1926 silent film So This Is Paris, directed by
Ernst Lubitsch.
In "Ich lade gern mir Gaste ein" ("I like to invite my
guests" from Act II No. 7) Prince Orlofsky throws a
large ball and invites many guests. He tells his guests
to enjoy the party as he does, in their own way, and as
long as they are not boring and continue to drink wine
with him, he will not throw them out or throw bottles
of wine at their heads.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Fledermaus)
Although originally composed for Voice & Orchestra, I
created this Interpretation of "Ich lade gern mir Gaste
ein" ("I like to invite my guests" from "Die
Fledermaus" Act II No. 7) for Flute & Strings (2
Violins, Viola & Cello).
