The Strauss Family

For two generations, the Strauss family dominated lighter café music in 19th-century Vienna, producing polkas, quadrilles, and especially waltzes in astonishing profusion, performing with their own ensembles in dance halls to the delight of high society. This eight-part British miniseries covers the careers of Johann I (1804-49) and his even more famous son Johann II (1825-99), who also excelled in operetta, while touching on the lives of the latter's younger brothers Josef (1827-70) and Eduard (1835-1916). Since both Johann I and Johann II were inveterate womanizers, a number of wives and mistresses are paraded through their stories, the most important of whom is certainly the strong-willed Anna, abandoned wife of Johan I, who later oversaw her sons' careers. While snippets of music by the Strauss family are heard throughout—nicely performed by members of the London Symphony—the focus here is on the men's domestic and financial difficulties, as well as their drive to achieve imperial recognition. A 1972 production, the miniseries has a handful of faults: the presentation is rather stagy, the writing often labored, the transfer a trifle blurred, and the acting at times histrionic (the performers most recognizable—Derek Jacobi and Jane Seymour—appear in relatively small supporting roles). But this is still a surprisingly enjoyable series overall, especially for those who love the Strauss melodies, and it is certainly preferable to the awful 1972 movie on Johann II, The Great Waltz. Recommended. (F. Swietek)