Death
Josef Strauss was sickly most of his life. He suffered fainting spells and intense headaches. During a tour to Poland in 1870, he fell unconscious from the conductor's podium while conducting his 'Musical Potpourri'. It is not sure if he fainted and hit his head or simply became unconscious. His wife brought him back home to Vienna, to the Hirschenhaus, where on 22 July 1870 the engineer, designer, musician, and composer died. A final diagnosis only reported a decomposition of blood. There were rumors that he was beaten by drunken Russian soldiers after he allegedly refused to perform music for them one night. His cause of death was not determined as his widow forbade an autopsy. Originally buried in the St. Marx cemetery, Strauss was later exhumed and reburied in the Vienna Central Cemetery, alongside his mother Anna. His dance pieces might have surpassed that of his older brother, had he survived, as Johann was by then concentrating on writing music for operettas and other stage works.
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Famous quotes containing the word death:
“And anyone is free to condemn me to death
If he leaves it to nature to carry out the sentence.
I shall will to the common stock of air my breath
And pay a death tax of fairly polite repentance.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Death, the most dreaded of all evils, is therefore of no concern to us; for while we exist death is not present, and when death is present we no longer exist.”
—Epicurus (c. 341–271 B.C.)
“No man may him hide
From Death hollow-eyed,”
—John Skelton (1460?–1529)