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Strauss Jr

Johann Strauss Jr. (1825–1899) was an Austrian composer and conductor whose father, himself one of the most celebrated dance composers in Vienna, actively tried to prevent him from pursuing a musical career and insisted he train as a banker. The son persisted, eventually rivalling and then eclipsing his father's reputation entirely. His output of over five hundred waltzes, polkas, and operettas made him the defining figure in nineteenth-century Viennese popular music; Die Fledermaus and The Blue Danube have never left the repertoire. The Blue Danube was poorly received at its choral premiere and became iconic only when reissued as a purely orchestral work.

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