Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II wrote the waltzes, polkas and operettas that fixed three-quarter time at the centre of nineteenth-century dance music, from The Blue Danube and Tales from the Vienna Woods to Die Fledermaus.
Known as the Waltz King, he composed more than five hundred waltzes, polkas, quadrilles and marches, plus operettas such as Die Fledermaus and Der Zigeunerbaron. The music is built for ballroom and stage: buoyant rhythm, singing melody and a Viennese lilt. Dance numbers drawn from the stage works, among them Rosen aus dem Süden and the Kuss-Walzer, keep the same easy brilliance as the free-standing waltzes and polkas.
Compositions by Johann Strauss II appear on
Geoffrey Tozer in Concert: Hobart 1991
Live solo piano recital by Geoffrey Tozer, recorded at the University Centre, Hobart, on 18 May 1991. Bach’s Italian Concerto and Schumann’s Carnaval open a programme that also takes in Medtner, Liszt, Beethoven and Elgar.