Morning Journals (Morgenblaetter), op. 279, was written for a Viennese press club, the Concordia. Offenbach had previously written for that club a set of waltzes entitled “Evening Journals.” Strauss decided to name his music Morning Journals. The Offenbach composition is today remembered only because it provided the stimulus for Strauss’ title. But Strauss’ music remains—the four waltzes in his freshest and most infectious lyric vein, and its introduction highlighted by a melody of folk song simplicity.
Roses from the South (Rosen aus dem Sueden), op. 388, is a potpourri of the best waltz tunes (each a delight) from one of the composer’s lesser operettas, Spitzentuch der Koenigen (The Queen’s Lace Handkerchief). The “south” in the title refers to Spain, the background of the operetta, but there is nothing Spanish to this unmistakably Viennese music.
Tales from the Vienna Woods (G’schichten aus dem Wiener Wald), op. 325—performed for the first time by the Strauss orchestra at the Neue Welt café in 1868—is a bucolic picture of Nature’s beauty in the forests skirting Vienna. The beauty of Nature is suggested in the stately introduction with its open fifths and its serene melody for cello followed by a flute cadenza. All the loveliness of the Vienna woods is then represented by a waltz melody (originally scored for zither, but now most often presented by strings), a loveliness that is carried on with incomparable grace and charm by the ensuing waltz tunes.
Vienna Blood (Wiener Blut), op. 354, like so many other Strauss waltzes, is a hymn of praise to Strauss’ native cities; but where other waltzes are light and carefree, this one is more often moody, dreamy, and at times sensual. After the introduction come four waltz melodies, the first full of fire and the last one touched with sentimentality. The second and third waltz tunes are interesting for their rhythmic vitality and marked syncopations.
Voices of Spring (Fruehlingstimmen), op. 410—dedicated to the renowned Viennese pianist, Albert Gruenfeld—is (like the Tales from the Vienna Woods) an exuberant picture of the vernal season, the joy and thrill that the rebirth of Nature always provides to the Viennese.
Wine, Woman and Song (Wein, Weib und Gesang), op. 333, opens with an eloquent mood picture that is virtually an independent composition, even though it offers suggestions of later melodies. This is a spacious ninety-one bar introduction that serves as an eloquent peroration to the four waltz melodies that follow—each graceful, vivacious, and at times tender and contemplative. Richard Wagner, upon hearing Anton Seidl conduct this music, was so moved by it that at one point he seized the baton from Seidl’s hand and conducted the rest of the piece himself.
Strauss wrote other dance music besides waltzes. He was equally successful in bringing his wonderful melodic invention, fine rhythmic sense, and beautiful instrumentation to the Polka, the native Bohemian dance in duple quick time and in a lively mood. The best of the Strauss polkas are: Annen-Polka, op. 117; Electrophor Polka, op. 297 dedicated to the students of a Vienna technical school, its effect derived from its breathless tempo and forceful dynamics; Explosions Polka, op. 43, written when Strauss was only twenty-two and characterized by sudden brief crescendos; Pizzicato Polka, written in collaboration with the composer’s brother Josef, and, as the name indicates, an exercise in plucked strings; and the capricious Tritsch-Tratsch (or Chit-Chat) Polka, op. 214.
Of Strauss’ other instrumental compositions, the best known is a lively excursion in velocity called Perpetual Motion, op. 257, which the composer himself described as a “musical jest.”
Beyond being Vienna’s waltz king, Johann Strauss II was also one of its greatest composers of operettas. Indeed, if a vote were to be cast for the greatest favorite among all Vienna operettas the chances are the choice would fall on Strauss’ Die Fledermaus (The Bat), first produced in Vienna on April 5, 1874, book by Carl Haffner and Richard Genée based on a French play by Meilhac and Halévy. This work is not only a classic of the light theater, but even a staple in the repertory of the world’s major opera houses. It is a piece of dramatic intrigue filled with clever, bright and at times risqué humor, as well as irony and gaiety. The plot, in line with operetta tradition, involves a love intrigue: between Rosalinda, wife of Baron von Eisenstein, and Alfred. The Baron is sought by the police for some slight indiscretion, and when they come to the Baron’s home and find Alfred there, they mistake him for the Baron and arrest him. Upon discovering he is supposed to be in jail, the Baron decides to take full advantage of his liberty by attending a masked ball at Prince Orlovsky’s palace and making advances there to the lovely women. But one of the masked women with whom he flirts is his own wife. Eventually, the identity of both is uncovered, to the embarrassment of the Baron, and this merry escapade ends when the Baron is compelled to spend his time in jail.
The overture is a classic, recreating the effervescent mood that prevails throughout the operetta. It is made up of some of the principal melodies of the opera: Rosalinda’s lament, “So muss allein ich bleiben” first heard in the woodwind; the chorus, “O je, o je, wie ruhrt mich dies” in the strings; and most important of all, the main waltz of the operetta and the climax of the second act, also in the strings.