Biography
Oscar Nathan Straus (6 March 1870 – 11 January 1954) was a Viennese composer of operettas, film scores, and songs. He also wrote about 500 cabaret songs, chamber music, and orchestral and choral works. His original name was actually Strauss, but for professional purposes he deliberately omitted the final 's'. He wished not to be associated with the musical Strauss family of Vienna. However, he did follow the advice of Johann Strauss II in 1898 about abandoning the prospective lure of writing waltzes for the more lucrative business of writing for the theatre.The son of a Jewish family, he studied music in Berlin under Max Bruch, and became an orchestral conductor, working at the Überbrettl cabaret. He went back to Vienna and began writing operettas, becoming a serious rival to Franz Lehár. When Lehár's popular The Merry Widow premiered in 1905, Straus was said to have remarked "Das kann ich auch!" (I can also do that!). In 1939, following the Nazi Anschluss, he fled to Paris, where he received the honour of a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, and then to Hollywood. After the war, he returned to Europe, and settled at Bad Ischl, where he died. His grave is in the Bad Ischl Friedhof.
Straus' best-known works are Ein Walzertraum (A Waltz Dream), and The Chocolate Soldier (Der tapfere Soldat). The waltz arrangement from the former is probably his most enduring orchestral work. Among his most famous works is the theme from the 1950 film La Ronde.
Filmography
all 22
Movies 22
Writer 5
self 1
Reigen (1973)
Ein Walzertraum (1969)
Eine Frau, die weiß was sie will (1958)
The Earrings of Madame de... (1953)
Einmal keine Sorgen haben (1953)
La Ronde (1950)
From Mayerling to Sarajevo (1940)
Three Waltzes (1938)
The Last Waltz (1936)
Eine Frau die weiß, was sie will (1934)
Žena, která ví, co chce (1934)
The Queen's Affair (1934)
Frühlingsstimmen (1933)
Die Herren vom Maxim (1933)
One Hour with You (1932)
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)
We're switching to Hollywood (1931)
Married in Hollywood (1929)
The Last Waltz (1927)
The Waltz Dream (1926)
Ein Walzertraum - O Du lieber, o Du g'scheiter, o Du ganz getrauter Fratz (1908)
Ein Walzertraum (1908)
Ratings
Information
Known ForSound
GenderMale
Birthday1870-03-06
Deathday1954-01-11 (83 years old)
Birth PlaceVienna, Austria
ChildrenWalter Straus, Leo Straus, Erwin Straus
RelativesJosef Singer
CitizenshipsAustria-Hungary, Austria
Also Known AsOscar Strauss, Oskar Strauss
AwardsRing of Honour of the City of Vienna
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