Johann Strauss the Younger was born in Vienna, Austria, on Oct. 25, 1825. His father, Johann Strauss the Elder, was popular in Europe as a conductor and composer. Young Johann wanted to become a musician too, but the elder Strauss insisted that his sons take up other careers. Johann became a bank clerk; and in the meantime, he secretly studied the violin, with the encouragement of his mother.

When Johann was 17, his parents separated and he openly devoted himself to music. He formed an orchestra at the age of 19, and performed his own and his father's compositions at Dommayer's Casino in Heitzig.

When Strauss the Elder died of scarlet fever in 1949, the younger Strauss combined their orchestras and gave concerts all throughout Europe. Johann could now actively pursue a career that would eventually overshadow that of his father.

Building upon the firm musical foundations laid by his father and Joseph Lanner (1801-43), Johann (along with his brothers Josef and Eduard) developed the classical Viennese Waltz to the point where it became as much a feature of the concert hall as the dance floor. With his abundantly tuneful waltzes, polkas, quadrilles and marches, Johann captivated not only Vienna but also the whole of Europe and America for more than half a century.

The thrice-married 'Waltz King' was persuaded to compose operetta, not by Offenbach (as often stated), but by his first wife, the singer Henriette Treffz. Strauss completed sixteen stage works, of which Die Fledermaus (1874) and The Gypsy Baron (1885) remain the most popular. He also wrote over 400 dance compositions, and among the most famous of them are "The Blue Danube," "Tales from the Vienna Woods," "The Emperor Waltz," and "Wine, Women, and Song".

In 1878, following the death of his first wife, Strauss married another singer, Angelika Dittrich. In 1883 he divorced and married a young Jewish widow.

He died on June 3, 1899, in Vienna.