Johann Baptist Strauss II (1825 – 1899), also known
as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (German:
Johann Strauß Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light
music, particularly dance music and operettas as well
as a violinist. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas,
quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as
several operettas and a ballet. In his lifetime, he was
known as "The Waltz King", and was largely responsible
for the popularity of the waltz in Vienna during the
19th cen...(+)
Johann Baptist Strauss II (1825 – 1899), also known
as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (German:
Johann Strauß Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light
music, particularly dance music and operettas as well
as a violinist. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas,
quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as
several operettas and a ballet. In his lifetime, he was
known as "The Waltz King", and was largely responsible
for the popularity of the waltz in Vienna during the
19th century. Some of Johann Strauss's most famous
works include "The Blue Danube", "Kaiser-Walzer"
(Emperor Waltz), "Tales from the Vienna Woods",
"Frühlingsstimmen", and the "Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka".
Among his operettas, Die Fledermaus and Der
Zigeunerbaron are the best known. He was the son of
Johann Strauss I and his first wife Maria Anna Streim.
Two younger brothers, Josef and Eduard Strauss, also
became composers of light music, although they were
never as well known as their brother.
Johann Strauss I's influence over the local
entertainment establishments meant that many of them
were wary of offering the younger Strauss a contract
for fear of angering the father. Strauss Jr. was able
to persuade Dommayer's Casino in Hietzing, a suburb of
Vienna, to allow him to perform. The elder Strauss, in
anger at his son's disobedience, and at that of the
proprietor, refused to ever play again at Dommayer's
Casino,[10] which had been the site of many of his
earlier triumphs. Strauss made his debut at Dommayer's
in October 1844, where he performed some of his first
works, such as the waltzes "Sinngedichte", Op. 1 and
"Gunstwerber", Op. 4 and the polka "Herzenslust", Op.
3. Critics and the press were unanimous in their praise
of Strauss's music. A critic for Der Wanderer commented
that "Strauss's name will be worthily continued in his
son; children and children's children can look forward
to the future, and three-quarter time will find a
strong footing in him."
Unter Donner und Blitz (Thunder and Lightning), Op.
324, was published in 1868, just after the equally
illustrative waltz, Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald, Op.
325. Possibly the noisiest of Strauss' dance pieces,
Unter Donner und Blitz evokes the sound of thunder and
lightning through incessant timpani rolls and cymbal
crashes. In the first half of section A, a loud timpani
roll occurs every four measures, while the cymbals
crash on each beat of the detached descending melody of
the second half. Drum answers cymbal in the arching
woodwind tune that begins section B, moving the accent
to the second beat of the measure. A note-for-note
return of section A completes the traditional ternary
form, and a rambunctious coda creates a thunderous
close. The only peculiar aspect of Unter Donner und
Blitz is the percussive, eight-measure bridge between
the two parts of section A, and the absence of any
return to the first part of section A. Clearly, Strauss
sought to amuse as much as compose a successful piece
of music.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Strauss_II)
Although originally composed for Solo Piano, I created
this Interpretation of "Unter Donner und Blitz"
(Thunder & Lightning Opus 324) for Flute & Piano.