Story of the Strausses

New Zealand Listener, Volume 19, Issue 488, 29 October 1948, Page 15

Story of the Strausses

HE Danube isn’t Blue-it’s Green," declares Spike Jones, the joyful debunker of many a popular tune. Nevertheless it will remain blue for all who take their Danube and its music seriously. An Australian producer, Dorothy Crawford, has chosen The Blue Danube as the title for a new feature which will be heard over all the Commercial stations except 2ZA, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, at 5.30 p.m., starting on Tuesday, October 26. In a letter to the NZBS the producer says: "We have always thought the story of the Strauss family and their contemporaries, coupled with their music and that of the many great composers living round about their time would make ideal radio entertainment. Strauss music predominates in this feature, but the music of many other composers is interwoven with the story so that the programme includes a wide selection of the works of Beethoven, Schubert, Wagner, Offenbach, Mendelssohn, Verdi, Liszt and Brahms." Johann" Strauss, called the father of the great Waltz dynasty, was: brought up in the atmosphere of a beer and dance: hall. In 1826 he intoxicated the public, not with his father’s wares but with the sparkle and melodic freshness of his own dance music. Johanp Jr., most brilliant of three sons, was’ known as the "King of the Waltz"; Eduard, the youngest son, composed 318 dances, and Joseph became an architect, but studied ‘music secretly. His published works totalled 283. The musical cast will include the Australian Symphony Orchestra, Valentine Stewart (tenor), David Allen (baritone), Alan Eddy (bass), Glenda Raymond (soprano), and the musical director is ‘Hector Crawford. The dramatic cast will be Douglas Kelly (Johann Strauss Senr.), Keith Eden (Johann Strauss Jr.), Patricia Kennedy (Anna Strauss), Robert Peach (Eduard Strauss), and Phillip Bray (Joseph Strauss).