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| Monday, January 11
Oscar Straus On today's date in 1954 one of the great Austrian operetta composers died in Bad Ischl at the age of 83. He name was Straus, but he bore no relation to the famous 19th century Austrian waltz dynasty -- or to the famous German opera composer Richard Strauss. His name was Oscar Straus-- spelled with one "s" to set him apart from all those other famous Strausses. Oscar Straus was born in Vienna in 1870, was encouraged in his musical career by the likes of Brahms and -- well, yes -- by the famous Johann Strauss, Jr. As a young man he worked in provincial music theaters to gain experience, wrote some cabaret song hits in Berlin, and eventually returned home to Vienna around the turn of the century and started to write operettas. In 1904 he composed a devastating spoof of militarism and the Wagner's "Ring" operas entitled "The Merry Nibelungs" and in 1907 scored a bigger hit with a sentimental classic entitled "The Waltz Dream." An even bigger, international success came in 1908 with "The Chocolate Soldier," an operetta based on Bernard Shaw�s play �Arms and the Man.� The French were especially fond of Oscar Straus, and granted him citizenship when he fled the Nazis in the late 1930's. When France fell, Straus found refuge and new citizenship in the United States. He returned home to Austria in 1948, and, in his 80's, scored one final hit with a melancholy waltz he composed for the 1950 Max Ophuls film "La Ronde." |  | Music Played on Today's Program: Additional Information:
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