the composer
Johann Strauss II And The Waltz
Born in Vienna in 1825, dead by 1899, and the reason a whole evening of dance music still fills a room two centuries later.
Check availability ↗Two generations, one dynasty
| Johann Strauss I | Johann Strauss II | |
|---|---|---|
| Known for | the Radetzky March | the Blue Danube waltz |
| Role | led one of Vienna's leading dance orchestras | took the waltz further, called the Waltz King |
| 2025 marks | — | the bicentenary of his birth |
Born into a family already famous for dance music
Johann Strauss II was born in Vienna on 25 October 1825, the son of Johann Strauss I, who already led one of the city's best-known dance orchestras. The father wrote the Radetzky March, still one of the most recognisable pieces to come out of that household, though it's often mistaken for the son's work rather than the father's.
Overtaking his father's name
The son built his own orchestra and, over a long career, became more famous than his father ever was — earning the title 'the Waltz King' for turning ballroom dance music into a genre concert audiences took seriously in its own right, not just something played at balls.
The Blue Danube, 1867
An der schönen blauen Donau — the Blue Danube — was first performed in 1867 and remains the piece most people associate with his name, decades before it became a fixture of New Year concerts across the German-speaking world.
Two hundred years on
Strauss died in Vienna in 1899. His birth in October 1825 makes 2025 the bicentenary — the reason his waltzes are getting an extra turn across the city's concert halls and dinner rooms this year and next.
Music written for dancing first
Unlike a composer writing purely for the concert hall, Strauss wrote waltzes and polkas that were danced to as often as they were listened to — part of why a programme built from his work still suits a room with tables and a dance floor rather than fixed concert seating.
What you'll actually hear
The Mirage's programme draws on Strauss family favourites, the Blue Danube among them, performed by the Strauss Philharmonic and coloratura sopranos rather than a single soloist — a company built for the sung and danced repertoire rather than a solo recital.