Famous people

Said about the city: "If it is true that I have talent, I can thank above all my beloved Vienna for it!"

Johann Strauss II, son of a musician Johann Strauss I, captured the spirit of waltz like no other composer before or since. He composed as many as 160 waltzes, two of which - "Blue Danube Waltz" and "Champagne Waltz" - became worldwide hits. The latter is a tune from his most famous operetta "Die Fledermaus" (1874; "The Bat"). "Der Zigeunerbaron" (1885; "The Gypsy Baron") ranks second in order of popularity to "Die Fledermaus." His other well-known operetta is "Indigo and Forty Thieves" (1871). An amazingly prolific composer, Strauss Junior wrote altogether 479 dances and 16 operettas and was successful with his elegant melodies not only among fellow composers, but also among the general public.

Named the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quarter", Haydn was a major composer of the classical era whose innovative style of writing music deeply influenced both Mozart and Beethoven. He composed over a hundred symphonies, the most noted of them being "Farewell" (no. 45), "Surprise" (no. 94), "Hen" (no. 83) and his final four "Military", "Clock", "Drum Roll" and "London" (no. 100-103). His ever-popular chamber pieces include "Lark" (op. 64, no. 5), "Quinten" (op. 76, no. 2) as well as "Sunrise" (op. 76, no. 4). Haydn is also the composer of six masses and nine string quarters, for instance "Kaiserquartett", "Quintenquintett" and "Der Sonnenaufgang." Amongst his oratorios the most outstanding are "Die Schoepfung" (1798; "The Creation") and "Die Jahreszeiten" (1801; "The Seasons").

Said about the city:
"I assure you that this is a splendid place [Vienna] - and for my métier the best one in the world."
(Mozart in a letter to his father)

Probably the most famous composer of all time, Mozart began his musical career as a child prodigy. He performed on violin at the age of four, wrote his first symphony and four sonatas for piano and violin when he was eight and held the position of a concertmaster at thirteen. Before his premature passing, Mozart composed more than 600 works, among which there are masterpieces in numerous musical forms - concertos, symphonies, ensembles, sonatas, string quartets, ballet music and music for church ceremonies. He gained immense fame for his compositions that include Piano Sonata No. 11 (1783 or 1778), "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" (1787), the unfinished "Requiem" (1791), the operas "The Marriage of Figaro" (1786), "Don Giovanni" (1787) and "The Magic Flute" (1791) as well as the "Jupiter Symphony" (1788), which was his last.

Said about the city:
"Yes, beloved Vienna, you hold in your narrow compass the dearest and most precious things in life..."

A native of Vienna, Schubert was born with a rare gift for music and he dedicated his short life to that gift. Due to his mastery in setting poetry to music and bringing the story to light, he is perhaps most renowned for writing more than 600 art songs and several song cycles. In addition to songs, he composed impromptus, twenty-two piano sonatas, a number of short piano pieces, eight symphonies, thirty-five chamber pieces as well as choral music. His well-known masterworks are "Gretchen am Spinnrade" ("Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel"), penned at the age of seventeen, "Marche Militaire" ("Military March") and the so-called "Rosamunde" theme.

Said abut the city: "In Vienna we know the famous tenor Sulzer, who served in capacity of precentor in the synagogue, and whose reputation is so outstanding,... We went into the synagogue to hear him."

He was a Hungarian child prodigy who became an innovative composer, conductor and in all likelihood the most remarkable technical pianist the world has ever seen. By the time Liszt was fourteen, he wrote the operetta "Don Sanche." As his career advanced, he began composing transcendental etudes, operatic paraphrases, songs, piano works (including "Vallee d'Obermann", "Tre Sonetti di Petrarca", "Totentanz" or "Dance of Death" and "Fantasy on Hungarian Folk-Melodies") and symphonic poems (the most familiar being "Hamlet" and "Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne"). Listed among his other compositions are "Hungarian Rhapsodies", organized as a set of nineteen pieces; "Rhapsodie Espagnole" as well as "Hungarian Coronation Mass."