Johann Strauss (1825-1899) became known primarily as the "Waltz King", whose compositions still enjoy unbroken popularity all over the world. Jacques Offenbach, whom he met in 1864, inspired Strauß to write operettas. He himself preferred the term "comic opera". When the curtain rose for his seventh comic opera "Das Spitzentuch der Königin" at the Theater an der Wien on October 1, 1880, the audience and critics were surprised by the richness of this music, which recalls Gioachino Rossini with it...