Johann Strauss, Jr. (1825-1899), Vienna's greatest composer of light music, was known for his waltzes and operettas. His music seems to capture the height of elegance and refinement of the Hapsburg regime.

Johann Strauss, Jr., was the eldest son of Johann Strauss, Sr., a famous composer and conductor, known as "the father of the waltz." Although the elder Strauss wanted his sons to pursue business careers, the musical talents of Johann, Jr., quickly became evident, and he composed his first waltz at the age of 6. Behind his father's back, his mother secretly procured a musical education for her son. At the age of 19 he organized his own small orchestra, which performed some of his compositions in a restaurant in Hietzing. When his father died in 1849, Strauss, combined both bands and became their leader and ultimately earned his own nickname, "the king of the waltz."

Strauss toured throughout Europe...