The Museum of the Johann Strauss Dynasty in Vienna

We visited this new museum a few weeks ago while in Vienna. It is located on Muellnergasse 3, in the 9th District, about a 5-minute walk from the Sigmund Freud Museum. For Strauss fans, this museum is a must. When we visited, my wife and I had wonderful personal tour from Prof. Mag. Helmut Reichenauer, who is president of the 'Vienna Blood Cultural Association' (Kulturvereins Wiener Blut). The museum consists of one floor of several rooms. Within each room, there are antique prints, posters, photos, musical programs, scores, etc. highlighting events and places for which Johann Sr. and his three sons (Johann, Josef, and Eduard) wrote music and performed. There also are stations in each room, where the visitor can don headphones and listen to the various waltzes or other musical works that are featured in the prints, photos, posters, etc. The sound system is of extremely high quality and one could literally spend hours listening to all of the available music. Prof. Reichenauer was a font of knowledge about the Strausses and passionate about their music. I believe that his area of expertise is what we would call 'musicology' or the scientific study of music.