WFCC

Classical Fact

Johann Strauss Junior saw little of his father while growing up. Johann, the elder, had taken a mistress and fathered several children with her, including another son named Johann. When in his twenties, Strauss Junior formed his own dance orchestra and toured Europe, in direct competition with his father's orchestra. When Johann Strauss Senior died in 1849, Johann junior merged the two orchestras and became the toast of Europe.