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Foundation

This Society (the Honorary Patron is Dr Eduard Strauss, the great-great-grandson of the first Johann Strauss) was founded in 1964 with the view to rediscovering the rich musical treasury composed by the Strauss family and their Viennese contemporaries, the majority of which had long been obscured by the extraordinary popularity of a tiny number of waltzes, polkas and marches. Since then the Society has grown to become one of the principal Societies devoted to the promotion of Viennese and related light classical music, and operetta worldwide.

Piano and Orchestral Scores and Parts

The Society possesses the piano scores of practically every Strauss work, and the collection of orchestral parts of rare works by the Strauss family and contemporaries is one of the largest such archives outside Vienna. Using this material has resulted in many broadcasts, concerts and stage performances of otherwise unknown works by the Strauss family and contemporary composers of Viennese music.

Research

Much original research has been achieved. The Society regularly provides authoritative notes for concert programmes and recordings. In addition, members have had two biographies published.

Peter Kemp (now Hon. Life President) is author of the biography The Strauss Family: Portrait of a Musical Dynasty, which is now available in English, German, Japanese,Hungarian and Chinese. Other books in English have been published by members, on Josef Strauss, C.M.Ziehrer, and Josef Gung'l.

Recorded Music on Compact Disc

In the field of recorded music, the Society has sponsored three highly acclaimed commercial recordings entitled Vienna Première, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 for Chandos Records of previously unrecorded orchestral works by the Strauss musical dynasty and other composers of this genre; the first two include vocal contributions from the soprano Marilyn Hill Smith.

In 1989, a new Chandos recording in co-operation with the Society was issued, featuring the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by John Georgiadis in works especially written by members of the Strauss family for their various visits to Great Britain (Johann Strauss and Family in London).

The Society was involved with a project for the Marco Polo label to record the complete orchestral output of the 'Waltz King' Johann Strauss II on 52 compact discs which reached completion in 1996.

The recording of the complete orchestral works of Josef Strauss, the talented brother of the "Waltz King" was completed in 2003, and now the recording of the complete orchestral works of Johann Strauss I in original instrumentation is well underway with new CDs being released every few months. Our Hon. Life Member Prof. Christian Pollack is undertaking the necessary musical research for this project and is conducting many of the CD releases.

Other projects in which the Society is currently involved with Marco Polo are the recording of selected Marches, and Dance Music by C.M.Ziehrer.

Social Activities

Members enjoy various musical and social events throughout the year, including a social after the Annual General Meeting in March, an Annual Dinner and Dance usually held on a Saturday nearest the Waltz-King's birthday (25th October), and twice a year we meet in the historic city of York for a weekend of musical entertainment and a chance to explore the beautiful scenery of Yorkshire. There are several other more localised events for members to enjoy.

Society Publications (free to members)

Members benefit from the dissemination of news and information through the Society's regular newsletter and a bi-annual, professionally produced magazine "Vienna Music".

Music Archives

The Society retains in its archives probably the largest collection of Viennese and related light music outside Austria, totalling over 5000 separate works.

Special offers

We have arrangements in place with a number of producers of Viennese music to offer members a significant discount on CDs, frequently better than is obtainable through e-commerce, and include some CDs not otherwise readily available. Information on these is reguarly provided in our Newsletters.

Membership

We have about 600 members world-wide, a number of whom are resident in the United States, Canada, Australia and other English-speaking countries. For more information, please follow this link.

Liaison with other National Johann Strauss Societies

The Society has close links with the Johann Strauss Societies of Vienna, Germany, Sweden, Japan, Spain, France, Poland, Rumania, South Africa and Australia. Our Society has significant American and Canadian membership and we also cater for events in those countries. Working together, we are a very potent force.

Six International Johann Strauss Symposia have taken place: Vienna (1983), Stockholm (1985), Tokyo (1997), London (1989), Coburg & Berlin (2000), and Bucharest (2002).

In addition there was a special International Meeting in Vienna in 1999 to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of Johann Strauss II.

1989 was our 25th anniversary and over 200 fellow enthusiasts from overseas attended.