Placing the Strauss dynasty firmly within the shifting context of social, political and cultural life in Habsburg Vienna, this zesty new biography reveals the four composers as never before, re-evaluating their music and musical achievements in Viennese society across a hundred years.

The music of the Strauss family – Johann and his three sons, Johann, Josef and Eduard – enjoys enormous popular appeal. Yet existing biographies have failed to do justice to the family's true significance in nin...