Straus, Oscar

(b Vienna, 6 March 1870; d Bad Ischl, 11 Jan 1954). Austrian composer and conductor. On the recommendation of Brahms he studied with Hermann Gradener and in 1891 went to Berlin as a pupil of Bruch. Advised by the younger Johann Strauss to gain practical theatrical experience in the provinces, he conducted between 1893 and 1899 in Bratislava, Brno, Teplitz, Mainz and Hamburg. During the same period he was active as a composer of stage works and a good deal of salon music. He was conducting in Berlin when, in 1900, he was engaged as pianist and composer in the newly founded Uberbrettl cabaret, and he enjoyed his first popular successes with songs such as Die Musik kommt and Der lustige Ehemann. Having returned to Vienna he began a series of operettas of which Ein Walzertraum (1907) rivalled Die lustige Witwe in popularity and first brought Straus international success. Its successor, Der tapfere Soldat (1908), gained particular success in the USA as The Chocolate Soldier. Subsequent operettas failed to add to his success until Der letzte Walzer (1920), in which the lead was played by Fritzi Massary around whom several of Straus's later works were written. Eine Frau, die weiss, was sie will (1932) was produced in London as Mother of Pearl, and Drei Walzer (1935), which used the music of Johann Strauss I and II in the first two acts and that of Straus himself in the third, achieved its greatest success with Yvonne Printemps in Paris. In 1939 he left Vienna and lived in France (where he was awarded the Legion d'Honneur), New York and Hollywood, returning to settle in Bad Ischl in 1948. He continued to conduct his music on concert tours and for gramophone records, and his compositions included the operetta Die Musik kommt (1948), which used some of the tunes from his Uberbrettl days, and music for the film La ronde (1950) with which he enjoyed a new worldwide success. His final stage work was Bozena, on which he had worked since 1936, although he subsequently revised the scores of Ein Walzertraum, Drei Walzer and Eine Frau, die weiss, was sie will. Straus composed much cheerful, lilting music in the Viennese operetta style, eminently piquant and charming without ever matching Lehar's passion and sensuousness. His son Erwin (1910--66) was a pianist and composer.

WORKS
(selective list)

stage
unless otherwise stated, all are operettas first performed in Vienna; for complete list see GroveO
Over 40 works (most pubd in vocal score in Vienna or Berlin) incl. Die lustigen Nibelungen (burleske Operette, 3, Rideamus [F. Oliven]), Carl, 12 Nov 1904; Hugdietrichs Brautfahrt (komische Marchen-Operette, 3, Rideamus), Carl, 10 March 1906; Ein Walzertraum (3, F. Dormann and L. Jacobson, after H. Muller: Das Buch der Abenteuer), Carl, 2 March 1907; Der tapfere Soldat [Der Praline-Soldat] (3, R. Bernauer and Jacobson, after G.B. Shaw: Arms and the Man), An der Wien, 14 Nov 1908; Rund um die Liebe (3, R. Bodanzky and F. Thelen), Johann Strauss, 9 Nov 1914
Der letzte Walzer (3, J. Brammer and A. Grunwald), Berlin, Berliner, 12 Feb 1920; Mariette, ou comment on ecrit l'histoire (musikalische Komodie, 3, Guitry), Paris, Edouard VII, 1 Oct 1928, as Marietta (trans. Grunwald), An der Wien, 25 Oct 1929; Eine Frau, die weiss, was sie will (3, Grunwald, after L. Verneuil), Berlin, Metropol, 1 Sept 1932; Drei Walzer (3, P. Knepler and A. Robinson), Zurich, Stadt, 1935, as Trois Valses (F.L. de Marchand and A. Willemetz), Paris, Bouffes-Parisiens, 22 April 1937; Die Musik kommt (musikalische Komodie, 3, Knepler, Robinson and R. Gilbert), Zurich, Stadt, 1948, rev. as Ihr erster Walzer, Munich, Gartnerplatz, 31 March 1950; Bozena (3, Brammer and Grunwald), Munich, Gartnerplatz, 16 May 1952

other works
Ballets: Colombine, Berlin, 1904; Die Prinzessin von Tragant (Regel), Vienna, Hofoper, 13 Nov 1912
Film scores: Jenny Lind, 1930; The Smiling Lieutenant, 1932; The Southerner, 1932; One hour with you, 1932; Die Herren von Maxim, 1933; Fruhlingsstimmen, 1934; Land without Music, 1935; Make a wish, 1935; La ronde, 1950; Madame ..., 1952
c500 cabaret songs, chamber music, orch works, pf pieces, choruses

BIBLIOGRAPHY
GanzlEMT
GroveO
B. Grun: Prince of Vienna: the Life, Times and Melodies of Oscar Straus (London, 1955)
R. Traubner: Operetta: a Theatrical History (New York, 1983)
F. Mailer: Weltburger der Musik: eine Oscar-Straus-Biographie (Vienna, 1985)
W.E. Studwell: 'In the Tradition of the Strauss Family: ... an Essay and Bibliography', Music Reference Services Quarterly, iii/4 (1995), 45--53
 

ANDREW LAMB