The Legacy of Johann Strauss: Political Influence and Twentieth-Century Identity - Hardcover

Lang, Zo� Alexis

9781107022683: The Legacy of Johann Strauss: Political Influence and Twentieth-Century Identity

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1107022681 ISBN 13: 9781107022683

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2014

To this day, Johann Strauss, Jr remains one of the most popular composers in his native city of Vienna. In The Legacy of Johann Strauss, Zo� Alexis Lang examines how the reception of Strauss's waltzes played a key role in the construction of twentieth-century Austrian identity. Using press coverage from the centennial celebration of Strauss's birth in Vienna, Lang argues that his music remained popular because it continued to be revitalised by Austrians seeking to define their culture. Revealing the origins of the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert, Lang considers how Strauss was appropriated as a National Socialist icon in the 1930s and 1940s, and explores the Strauss family's Jewish ancestry, along with the infamous forgery of paperwork about their lineage during the 1940s. This book also includes a case study of Strauss's Emperor Waltz, considering its variegated usage in concerts and films from 1925 to 1953.

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Book Description:

The Legacy of Johann Strauss examines constructions of Austrian identity through an examination of commentary on Johann Strauss, Jr's waltzes. Zo� Alexis Lang argues that Strauss's music remained popular because it continued to be revitalised by Austrians seeking to define their culture.

About the Author:

Zo� Alexis Lang is Assistant Professor of musicology in the School of Music at the University of South Florida. She graduated in 2005 from Harvard University with a dissertation that examined the importance of Johann Strauss, Jr in conceptions of Austrian identity during the interwar period. Her article about Johann Strauss, Sr's Radetzky March appeared in the Journal of the Royal Musical Association. Her research has been funded by the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies and the National Endowment of the Humanities. Beyond Strauss and Austrian identity, her other research interests include the phenomenon of Hausmusik in German culture and popular music during the First World War.

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