Some of these operettas--especially _The Bat_ (_Fledermaus_), the _Merry
War_, the _Queen's Lace Handkerchief_, and the _Gypsy Baron_--became
enormously popular in Austria, Germany and the United States (where they
have been sung successfully in both German and English), and if anything
had been needed to make the "Waltz King" known to the whole world, and
admired by everybody, these operettas would have brought about that result.
* * * * *
It is a strange but suggestive fact that although no name is better
known in the musical world than that of the Strauss family, most of the
histories of music ignore it almost entirely. And why should the erudite
historians honor with their attention a mere Strauss, who was _only a man
of genius_ and never constructed any symphonies, oratorios, or operas?
Scores of composers are treated of in these histories whose genius was not
a tithe of that of Johann Strauss, father or son; but because they wrote
a number of (tedious and now forgotten) sonatas and symphonies, they are
considered worthy of attention by these writers! Even Chopin has often
been treated by historians in a similar gingerly manner, because he wrote
hardly anything but short pieces for the pianoforte; as if there were not
more genius and beauty and suggestiveness in most of Chopin's five-minute
pieces than in many one-hour symphonies and four-hour operas. The same may
be said of not a few Strauss waltzes.
[Illustration: Polka