The music of the Strauss family – Johann and his three sons, Johann, Josef and Eduard – enjoys enormous popular appeal. Yet existing biographies have failed to do justice to the family's true significance in nineteenth and early twentieth-century musical history. David Wyn Jones addresses this deficiency, engagingly showing that – from Johann's first engagements in the mid-1820s to the death of Eduard in 1916 – the music making of the family was at the centre of Habsburg Viennese society as it moved between dance hall, concert hall and theatre. The Strauss industry at its height was, he demonstrates, greater than any one of the individuals, with serious personal and domestic consequences including affairs, illness, rivalry and fraud. This zesty biography, spanning over a hundred years of history, brings the dynasty brilliantly to life across a large canvas as it offers fresh and revealing insights into the cultural life of Vienna as a whole.

‘David Wyn Jones's masterful biography gives the Strauss dynasty the place it deserves in the cultural and political history of nineteenth-century Europe. Combining meticulous research with vivid storytelling, Jones shows that the Strauss ‘brand' was not only an extraordinary collective achievement, but also an essential backdrop to the final decades of the Habsburg Empire. Fascinating, informative, and eminently readable.'

Erica Buurman - Director of the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies and Assistant Professor of Music, San José State University

‘David Wyn Jones's biography of the Strauss family persuasively supports his assertion that ‘the Strauss brand was more important than any one individual'. In his ambition to recapture this music and its meanings for us today, he has written a rigorously researched and lively study that can be recommended without reservation.'

Derek B. Scott - Emeritus Professor of Music, University of Leeds

‘According to David Wyn Jones, ‘the Strauss brand was more important than any one individual’. In this lucid and often revealing joint biography - there are affairs and rivalries alongside the music - he shows how Johann and his three sons, Johann, Josef and Eduard, were at the centre of Habsburg cultural life for more than a century.’

Source: New Statesman

‘Thoroughly researched and a pleasure to read.'

Patrick Rucker Source: Gramophone

‘… a meticulous, well-researched study of the Strauss family … Recommended.’

M. N.-H. Cheng Source: Choice

‘This book is a richly detailed and emotionally resonant account of Johann Strauss’s life. The book’s strengths lie in its comprehensive historical context, detailed genealogical background, and emotional depth, as illustrated by the intertwined narratives of the Strauss family’s personal hardships and of historical events. The book is a valuable contribution to the literature on Johann Strauss, offering both a scholarly and deeply human perspective on the making of a musical tradition.’

Nancy November Source: Notes