1 9 7 2 (UK)
12 x episodes
The Strauss Family was ATV’s enchanting twelve-part drama about the private lives of the father and son composers of 19th-century Vienna.
The family’s history was certainly the stuff of good soap opera. Johann Sr. was a famous composer and the toast of Vienna, but he was gradually being overshadowed by his ambitious son, who wrote such immortal melodies as the Blue Danube Waltz and Tales from the Vienna Woods.
Father and son clashed not only over musical prestige but over politics, women, and just about everything else, and Johann Sr’ s wife, Anna, was torn between the two.
Eventually, she left Johann Sr. to his mistress, Emilie, and devoted her full attention to aiding Johann Jr’s growing career.
Romance, deaths, unfaithful lovers, and great political struggles swept through this epic, along with dozens of cast members, including Eric Woofe, Stuart Wilson and Tony Anholt.
Music was provided by members of the London Symphony Orchestra.
The series aired in the US as a seven-part mini-series
Johann Strauss Jr
Stuart Wilson
Anna Strauss
Anne Stallybrass
Emilie Trampusch
Barbara Ferris
Domnayer
Christopher Benjamin
Amon
Jeffrey Segal
Johann Strauss
Eric Woofe
Eduard
Tony Anholt
Karoline
Jane Seymour
Annele
Deborah Linton
Therese
Carolyn Keston
Reichmann
Max Latimer
Annele
Hilary Hardiman
Adele Deutsch
Lynn Farleigh
Hetti
Margaret Whiting
Therese
Amanda Walker
Hirsch
David de Keyser
Brahms
Laurence Carter
Liebrock
Tim Wylton
Edi
Garry Miller
Josef Strauss
Louis Selwyn
Josef Lanner
Derek Jacobi
Lili Dietrich
Georgina Hale
Schlumberger
Geoffrey Bayldon