Kursalon & the Golden Johann Strauss Monument
Why is it significant?
Under a white marble arch in the Stadtpark stands Johann Strauss the son, gilded from head to toe, violin tucked under his chin, bow raised as if the next waltz were about to begin.
Key Facts
| Place | Kursalon & the Golden Johann Strauss Monument |
|---|---|
| Address | Johannesgasse 33, 1010 Wien, Austria |
| Geo Coordinates | 48.20360, 16.37860 |
| Part of Walk | Vienna in Three-Quarter Time: Mozart, Beethoven, Strauss and the City of Music |
| Generated | Generated |
Under a white marble arch in the Stadtpark stands Johann Strauss the son, gilded from head to toe, violin tucked under his chin, bow raised as if the next waltz were about to begin. He must be one of the most photographed statues in Vienna, and behind him, across the lawns, rises the cream-coloured Kursalon with its terraces.
The Stadtpark opened in 1862 on part of the old glacis, the first public park laid out by the city itself. The Kursalon followed a few years later as a spa hall, where people came to drink mineral water for their health... and since water alone is dull, they soon wanted music with it. In 1868 Johann Strauss gave his first concert here, and the Strauss family orchestra became a fixture of the place.
By then he was already the Waltz King. Born in 1825, he had defied his father, Johann Strauss the elder, himself a famous waltz composer, who did not want his son to become a musician and a rival. In 1867 he wrote On the Beautiful Blue Danube, first as a piece for men's choir with rather silly words; only as an orchestral waltz did it conquer the world. Today Austrians hear it at midnight on New Year's Eve, as a kind of second anthem.
The monument, by Edmund Hellmer, was unveiled in 1921, after the First World War had delayed it for years, and the dancing figures on the arch rise around him like a swirl of music. The gold has divided the Viennese since it appeared: kitsch to some, the perfect picture of the Strauss sound to others.
Even the serious composers loved him. When Strauss's stepdaughter asked Johannes Brahms to sign her fan, he wrote the first bars of the Blue Danube and added: unfortunately not by Johannes Brahms. Now stroll north through the park, past the pond, to a quieter monument for a composer who never knew such fame.