Johann Strauss ll

AKA:
The Waltz King
Birth Name:
Johann Baptist Strauss II
Birth Date:
October 25, 1825
Birth Place:
Vienna, Austria
Death Date:
June 3, 1899
Place of Death:
Johann Strauss Gasse 4, Wieden, Vienna, Austria
Age:
73
Cause of Death:
Pleuropneumonia
Cemetery Name:
Der Wiener Zentralfriedhof
Claim to Fame:
Music
Johann Strauss II (also referred to as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger) was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas as well as a renown 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, Strauss ll 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. Strauss 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.

Fun Facts

Most of the Strauss ll works that are performed today may once have existed in a slightly different form, as Eduard Strauss destroyed much of the original Strauss orchestral archives in a furnace factory in Vienna’s Mariahilf district in 1907. Eduard, then the only surviving brother of the three, took this drastic precaution after agreeing to a pact between himself and brother Josef that whoever outlived the other was to destroy their works. The measure was intended to prevent the Strauss family’s works from being claimed by another composer. This may also have been fueled by Strauss’s rivalry with another of Vienna’s popular waltz and march composers, Karl Michael Ziehrer.

Also lost to the ages, Eduard Strauss surprisingly wound up the Strauss Orchestra in February 1901 after concerts in 840 cities around the globe, and pawned the instruments. The orchestra’s last violins were destroyed in the firestorm of the Second World War.

Two museums in Vienna are dedicated to Johann Strauss II. His residence in the Praterstrasse, where he lived in the 1860s, is now part of the Vienna Museum. The Strauss Museum is about the whole family, with a focus on Johann Strauss II.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Der Wiener Zentralfriedhof

1110 Wien

Simmeringer Hauptstraße 234, Vienna,

Austria

Europe

Map:

Map of der Wiener Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, Austria
Map of der Wiener Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, Austria

Grave Location:

Gruppe 32 A, Grab Nr. 27

Grave Location Description

You can find the grave very easily if you enter the cemetery through that main entrance, which is called Tor (Gate) 2. Once inside, go straight on, through the middle of the stone arcade ahead of you, towards the large Jugendstil church in the distance. Just keep your eyes on the left hand side to eventually spot the grave of the legendary composer about 100 feet off the road. Nearby neighbors include Beethoven, Schubert, and Brahms. Across the paved path is a memorial to some guy named Mozart.

Grave Location GPS

48.1519419, 16.4398676

Visiting The Grave:

Photos:

[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]
[+]

Read More About Johann Strauss ll:

Videos Featuring Johann Strauss ll:

See More:

Ricky Wilson

popular name: Ricky Wilson

date_of_death: October 12, 1985

age: 32

cause_of_death: AIDS related cancer

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: With their bouffant coifs, thrift store fashion and dance-infected retrofitted sound, The B-52's rocked the house in the early 80s by capturing the attentions of the "so what?" generation. Founded by Ricky Wilson and his fellow killer B's, they appropriated everything that was tragically unhip and whipped up (via hook-laden pop songs) an ultra-cool, total fab pop confection. When they recorded their first album, they were picked up by Chris Blackwell of Island Records where they secured airplay and 500,000 in sales with the first two singles - Rock Lobster and Private Idaho. Unfortunately the party came to a halt when Ricky Wilson was diagnosed with AIDS during the recording of Whammy and died two years later. After four years on hiatus, the B-52’s staged a stunning comeback with their hit album Cosmic Thing. In a short time the album climbed to Number Five on the charts and selling 200,000 copies a week. The single “Love Shack” shot up to Number Three and sold over a million copies worldwide. With all that success from one album the band graduated from 1,300 seats in San Francisco’s to 14,000 seats arenas by the end of the tour,

Selena

popular name: Selena

date_of_death: March 31, 1995

age: 23

cause_of_death: Homicide - gunshot wounds

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: Considered among the most influential Latin artists of all time and is credited for catapulting Tejano music into the mainstream market, Selena, known as the Queen of Tejano Music, contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most celebrated Mexican-American entertainers of the late 20th century. Initially refused bookings at venues across Texas for performing Tejano music (then a male-dominated music genre), Selena's popularity exploded after she won the Tejano Music Award for Female Vocalist of The Year in 1987, which she won nine consecutive times before her murder in 1995.

Dennis Brown

popular name: Dennis Brown

date_of_death: July 1, 1999

age: 42

cause_of_death: Collapsed lung

claim_to_fame: Music

best_know_for: If Bob Marley was the King of Reggae, then Dennis Brown certainly earned his title of Crown Prince of Reggae. Brown's musical career began at age nine and he is credited with over 70 albums and touring relentlessly throughout the world up until his early demise. Blessed with a melodic vocal quality with a roots-conscious message to his lyrics. Brown scored his first hit in 1969 with "No Man is an Island". He spent much of the 1970s moving between studios and recording a series of now-classic albums before he had an international hit with "Money in My Pocket". After the death of Bob Marley, Brown was signed by A&M Records in an attempt to corner the international crossover market. He recorded with K.C. and the Sunshine Band in an effort to expand his American audience. Both efforts failed completely. He continued with his pop hits set to a reggae beat for much of the 1980s during which time he also became a fixture at the Reggae Sunsplash Festival in Jamaica. After an extensive tour of Brazil with close friend and peer Gregory Issacs, Brown fell ill and checked into the hospital where he rapidly declined and died suddenly at the age of 42.

Back to Top