For more than a quarter of a century Strauss continued to devote himself
to the creation and the conducting of dance music; and the number of his
pieces in this _genre_ rose to over three hundred. His opus 314 was the
"Blue Danube Waltz," which has since become famous not only as a sort of
second Austrian national hymn, by the side of Haydn's "Gott erhalte Franz
den Kaiser," but as the transition to a new sphere of activity. For it was
_a vocal waltz_, being written for male chorus and orchestra; and just as
Beethoven's choral symphony, according to Wagner, pointed to the necessity
of the music-drama, so it seems that Strauss used this vocal waltz as a
transition to the Viennese operetta, a new style of stage-music which owes
its present form and vogue chiefly to his genius.
It is said that Strauss's wife was largely instrumental in making him
change his sphere from the humble dance hall to the more ambitious
theatre. She was a famous singer and actress, named Jetty Treffz, when
Strauss married her in 1863, and if she was really responsible for her
husband's "new departure," the world owes her a large debt of gratitude.
She died in April, 1879, and toward the close of the same year Strauss
married the dramatic singer, Angelica Dittrich.
Two years after his first marriage he sent Eduard in his place to St.
Petersburg, and in 1870 he also resigned his position as conductor of the
court balls in his brother's favor. But if any one fancied that he had
lost his interest in music, or, like Rossini, intended to retire from
active life when his triumph was at its height, the error was soon made
manifest; for in 1871 Johann Strauss appeared on the boards of the Theater
an der Wien with something which no one had ever expected of him--an
operetta. "Indigo" was its name, and its reception was sufficiently
gratifying to encourage him to try another and still another, with
ever-increasing success.
[Illustration: JOHANN STRAUSS (Senior).