It is a strange but suggestive fact that although no name is better known in the musical world than that of the Strauss family, most of the histories of music ignore it almost entirely. And why should the erudite historians honor with their attention a mere Strauss, who was _only a man of genius_ and never constructed any symphonies, oratorios, or operas? Scores of composers are treated of in these histories whose genius was not a tithe of that of Johann Strauss, father or son; but because they wrote a number of (tedious and now forgotten) sonatas and symphonies, they are considered worthy of attention by these writers! Even Chopin has often been treated by historians in a similar gingerly manner, because he wrote hardly anything but short pieces for the pianoforte; as if there were not more genius and beauty and suggestiveness in most of Chopin's five-minute pieces than in many one-hour symphonies and four-hour operas. The same may be said of not a few Strauss waltzes. [Illustration: Polka Johann Strauss, (Junior.)] Wherein lies this originality that entitles the name of Strauss to so prominent a place in musical history? It lies partly in the individuality of their style and ideas; but still more in their having succeeded in making the waltz the most popular form of modern dance-music throughout the civilized world, and in the creation of a new style of operetta, or comic opera. In the first of these achievements all the members of the Strauss family have coöperated, while in the last the credit belongs to the second Johann alone. [Illustration: Simple--Valse Strauss (Johann Strauss--Senior.)] To inoculate the world with a passion for a special form of dance music is not such an easy thing as it seems at first sight. National customs and inclinations stand in the way. As Rubinstein has remarked, "A melody which moves a Finn to tears will leave a Spaniard cold, a dance rhythm which makes a Hungarian skip will not disturb an Italian in his rest, etc." To have made all the young people in the world dance to the rhythm of the Austrian waltz is, therefore, a feat which required the magic power of genius for its performance. And not only has the waltz been universally adopted, but it has become the dance of dances, the modern dance _par excellence_, the rapturous dance in which the _young people_ find an embodiment of the glowing passion of love, while in the old-fashioned dances,--the minuet at their head--it was the _old people_ and the chaperons who did the stiff and formal dancing in a slow and stately movement.