The Waltz Kings/The Terminal Man/The Dwelling Place/A World to Care for/The Hessian [antikvár]

They were truly monarchs of music. From humble beginnings Johann Strauss, Sr., went on, as composer and conductor, to introduce the waltz to the world. His son, also called Johann, immortalized this most romantic of all dances with such haunting melodies as "The Blue Danube" and "Tales from the Vienna Woods."In a family torn by fierce loyalties and tragic jealousies, their lives were rich in drama and not untouched by scandal. Yet from country inn to the great halls of the royal palace, their music caught the spirit of a people and of the golden, vibrant city of Vienna.Arthur Fiedler, conductor of the Boston Pops, writes: "The pulse of music beats in this book. It draws the reader into the world of a bygone Vienna that gave birth to the waltz."Critic Jacques Barzun says: "The life of the waltz and the cluster of Strausses who were its creators is retold with zest, wit, and narrative speed."chapter oneBefore it reaches the city, the western wind sweeps over vast Alpine forests, taking from them a fragrance that makes Vienna's summer air as heady as its wine. But in winter the wind carries the chill from snowy peaks. On March 14, 1804, when the first Johann Strauss was born, the midwife was delayed by glare ice. She arrived just in time to keep the frail httle boy from bypassing this world altogether.The scene of his arrival was a shabby tavern called the Good Shepherd, on an island bounded by two branches of the Danube. Johann's father and mother, Franz and Barbara Strauss, as owners of the dank, low-ceilinged inn which oflEered shelter and beer to riverboat sailors, were counted among the lower, but still respectable, class of citizens. Little is known of Franz Strauss except that he was uncommonly moody, which gave rise to rumors of suicide when shortly after a second marriage his body was found in the Danube.Johann's mother had died when he was seven, and after his father's drowning he stayed on at the Good Shepherd with his stepmother, who eventually remarried. Johann's stepfather, a genial man named Golder, who was genuinely fond of the boy, soon changed the dour atmosphere of the tavern. Strolling mu-