Johann Strauss
“圆舞曲之王”约翰·施特劳斯

Johann Strauss II (1825-1899), also known as Johann Strauss, Jr., was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over four hundred waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas and a ballet. In his lifetime, he was known as “The Waltz King”, and was largely then 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 , Tales from the Vienna Woods , and the Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka . Among his operettas, Die Fledermaus and Der Zigeunerbaron are the best known.
约翰·施特劳斯二世(1825—1899)，又名小约翰·施特劳斯，是奥地利轻音乐作曲家，尤以舞曲和轻歌剧见长。他创作了400多首华尔兹舞曲、波尔卡舞曲、四对方舞曲及其他种类舞曲，还有几首轻歌剧和一首芭蕾舞曲。施特劳斯一生被公认为“圆舞曲之王”，他很大程度上推动了19世纪华尔兹在维也纳的普及流行。小约翰·施特劳斯最著名的作品包括《蓝色多瑙河》《皇室华尔兹》《维也纳森林的故事》和《闲聊波尔卡》。《蝙蝠》和《吉卜赛男爵》是施特劳斯最著名的轻歌剧。

Strauss had two younger brothers, Josef and Eduard Strauss, who became composers of light music as well, although they were never as well known as their elder brother. Strauss was born in St. Ulrich near Vienna (now a part of Neubau), Austria, on 25 October, 1825, to the composer Johann Strauss I. His paternal great-grandfather was a Hungarian Jew — a fact which the Nazis, who lionized Strauss's music as “so German”, later tried to conceal. His father did not want him to become a musician but rather a banker. Nevertheless, Strauss Junior studied the violin secretly as a child. It was only when the father abandoned his family for a mistress that the son was able to concentrate fully on a career as a composer with the support of his mother.
施特劳斯有两个弟弟，约瑟夫·施特劳斯和爱德华·施特劳斯，也是轻音乐作曲家，不过远不如他们的兄长那样出名。施特劳斯于1825年10月25日出生在奥地利维也纳附近的圣乌尔立赫(现属于维也纳)，他的父亲是作曲家约翰·施特劳斯一世。他的曾祖父是匈牙利籍犹太人，纳粹分子后来极力掩盖这一事实，因为他们极为赏识施特劳斯的音乐，认为它“很德国化”。施特劳斯的父亲想让他做一名银行家，而非作曲家。尽管如此，小施特劳斯还是从小暗地里学习弹奏小提琴。直到后来，老约翰抛妻弃子，与他的情妇私奔了，小约翰才得以在母亲的支持下专注于作曲事业。