The music of 19th-century Vienna still echoes around the concert halls and ballrooms of the world. And one man composed a fair amount of it. Explore his life, his music, and his world at the multimedia exhibition in the Johann Strauss Museum.
- Entertaining and enlightening
- Includes interactive & immersive installations
- Automated audio guide takes you around (English available)
- Book tickets for the museum*
- See also:
A turn through life & music
(Wander through a life of music; press photo © JOHANN STRAUSS – NEW DIMENSIONS)
You might have this idea that Johann Strauss (the son) was good at composing and produced one or two popular tunes. But you might not realise just how good and just how popular.
For example, his publisher apparently sold around 1 million copies of the sheet music to The Blue Danube.
And, realising he needed a new waltz for an event later that day, Strauss once knocked one off in about 30 minutes. I need that long just to find my pen and make a coffee in the morning.
Those two anecdotes are among many featured in the Johann Strauss Museum, which reveals the full magnitude of his talent and impact.
You wear headphones with an automated audio guide to take you through around 900 m² of the Johann Strauss – New Dimensions exhibition. Orange lines on the ground mark out zones and crossing one automatically activates the relevant chapter on the guide.
As such, it’s a hands-free and largely reading-free experience with the displays themselves a mixture of photos, documents, videos, animations, artistic installations and immersive projections.
I took around 90 minutes to get around and found it an entertaining and informative journey through Johann Strauss’s life, character, travels, relationships, music and career.
Music, unsurprisingly, forms a constant background to the audio guide voice. You can even pause that voice to just listen to compositions by Strauss and others…the choice of piece matches the particular zone you find yourself in.
So, for example, the Sounds from Boston waltz plays as you learn of Strauss’s successful trip to North America for the World’s Peace Jubilee and International Musical Festival of 1872.
Highlights
(This way for audiovisual Information and fun. The bus stop sign in the foreground is for the the Vienna Sightseeing hop on hop off service)
So what were my highlights?
- I got a better feel for Strauss’s personality through all the background information on the socioculture and politics of the times. For example, his juggling of business expediency, creative expression and personal ideals in a time of monarchy and revolution
- Unlike many museums dedicated to a personality and their illustrious success, this one pays due respect to those who played important roles in Strauss’s life and career…particularly his mother and romantic partners
- Those numerous little anecdotes that add life to the story
Ultimately, the exhibition left me with an understanding of just why Strauss is so firmly anchored in the cultural DNA of Vienna and Austria.
(Johann Strauss the Son and his first wife, Henriette “Jetty” Treffz, photographed by Julius Gertinger around 1870; Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. 76069/276; excerpt reproduced with permission under the terms of the CC0 licence)
If the above sounds a touch dry, I should point out that all the information comes packaged in a swirl of movement, animation, and art.
For example, the chapter discussing his operettas has videos of productions, and another room lets you compose your own waltz for download to your phone. Let’s just say Strauss won’t be losing much sleep over the competitive threat from my composition.
The last room has a series of wall and floor projections that take you on a grand tour of all things Strauss and some of his most prominent works.
Sit yourself down and enjoy flowing streams of music, abstract animations, insights, interactive opportunities and more in a fitting finale worthy of any Strauss polka.
All-in-all, a delightful appetiser before perhaps indulging in a Strauss-themed evening concert, like the ones at Schönbrunn Palace (who, I believe, recorded much of the music for the museum).
Tickets & visitor tips
An entrance ticket for or from the museum includes the headphones and audio device that guide you around the displays. That device offers different language choices (including English, of course).
(Booking service provided by Tiqets.com*, who I am an affiliate of)
The Johann Strauss Museum is one of three permanent locations that introduce the life and times of the composer. The others are:
- House of Strauss: an interactive, multimedia exhibition centered on the Strauss dynasty in a restored 19th-century venue. Also has a restaurant and hosts Strauss concerts
- Strauss apartment: where The Blue Danube first saw the light of day. Now a small museum run by the Wien Museum with, for example, original instruments and furniture
For more ideas for a Strauss-themed visit to Vienna, try my composer location guide, consider a light classical concert or look out for events around Strauss 2025 (a year honouring his 200th birthday).
A few more tips:
- A Vienna Pass (see my review) includes one-time free entry to the museum
- This area of Vienna is full of architectural delights from around 1900, notably the Secession building and Otto Wagner’s Majolika House
- The neighbouring Naschmarkt restaurants and famous open-air market make finding somewhere local for food and/or drink remarkably easy
How to get to the Strauss Museum
You can actually access the Johann Strauss Museum directly from Karlsplatz station on the U1, U2 and U4 lines (look for the Secession exit that takes you right across to just outside the museum).
Nearby aboveground stops are:
Tram: Resselgasse (lines 1 and 62) or take the 1, 2, D, 62, or 71 to Oper/Karlsplatz and then either go one stop on the 59A bus (see below) or drop down into the subway station and walk through
Bus: Bärenmühldurchgang (59a service)
Address: Friedrichstraße 7, 1010 Vienna | Website