Henrietta Treffz
Encyclopedia
Alsergrund
Alsergrund is the ninth district of Vienna, Austria . It is located just north of the first, central district, Innere Stadt. Alsergrund was incorporated in 1862, with seven suburbs. The area is densely populated, with a lot of government-built housing. According to the census of 2001, there were...
– 8 April 1878, Hietzing
Hietzing
Hietzing is the 13th municipal District of Vienna . It is located west of the central districts, west of Meidling...
) was best known as the first wife of Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...
and a well-known mezzo-soprano
Mezzo-soprano
A mezzo-soprano is a type of classical female singing voice whose range lies between the soprano and the contralto singing voices, usually extending from the A below middle C to the A two octaves above...
appearing in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1849 to great acclaim.
Biography
Henrietta Chalupetzky was the only child of a VienneseVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
goldsmith and studied music in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, adopting her mother's maiden name, Treffz, for professional purposes. Her career took her around Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, as well as Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, but it was in England that she first appeared with Johann Strauss I
Johann Strauss I
Johann Strauss I , born in Vienna, was an Austrian Romantic composer famous for his waltzes, and for popularizing them alongside Joseph Lanner, thereby setting the foundations for his sons to carry on his musical dynasty...
in concerts that would bring her numerous accolades and felicitations. The Musical World, published in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
on 5 May 1849, noted her talents: "mezzo-soprano voice of beautiful quality and remarkable for freshness and equality of tone throughout the register".
Between 1841 and 1852, she bore seven illegitimate children, and around 1843, she was the mistress of the wealthy banker Moritz Todesco, with whom she remained for the next eighteen years. Todesco, a music enthusiast, played host to many private soirées in the salon of his Viennese home where many eminent prominent and influential personalities of art, music and literature were present to grace the functions. She probably was introduced to Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...
during the winter of 1861 or 1862, although it was likely that they met sixteen years before at one of the theatre-balls held at the Sträussel-Säle in Josefstadt
Josefstadt
Josefstadt is the eighth district of Vienna . It is near the center of Vienna and was established as a district in 1850, but borders changed later. Josefstadt is a heavily populated urban area with many workers and residential homes.It has a population of 22,057 people...
.
On 27 August 1862, Henrietta (also known fondly as 'Jetty'), married Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II
Johann Strauss II , also known as Johann Baptist Strauss or Johann Strauss, Jr., the Younger, or the Son , was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed over 500 waltzes, polkas, quadrilles, and other types of dance music, as well as several operettas...
in the Stephansdom
Stephansdom
St. Stephen's Cathedral is the mother church of the Archdiocese of Vienna and the seat of the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, OP...
in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, a marriage which was beneficial to Strauss as her support and keen musical and business sense, influenced his works and promoted them to a more superior standard. His works around that time revealed his finest creative period, as she worked together with him, as a music-copyist and private secretary, as well as what we will be familiar today as a manager in the music world.
Their marriage was not without skepticisms. The Viennese populace, long swayed by Strauss' graceful waltz
Waltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
es, were shocked at the announcement of their marriage, as she was forty-four when they married, about seven years older than Strauss. Even his brother Josef Strauss
Josef Strauss
Josef Strauss was an Austrian composer.He was born in Vienna, the son of Johann Strauss I and Maria Anna Streim, and brother of Johann Strauss II and Eduard Strauss. His father wanted him to choose a career in the Austrian Habsburg military...
expressed his concern at the match, although he eventually accepted that she was 'indispensable in the home. She writes up all accounts, copies out orchestral parts and sees to everything in the kitchen with such efficiency and kindness that is admirable' in a letter dated 2 May 1869 written to his wife, Caroline.
Perhaps Treffz's most important contribution to effectively tap Strauss' creative powers was her constant persuasion towards his eventual choice of writing operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
s as well as other stage works. Such a product would be the popular operetta Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
. Further, her encouragement for Strauss to apply for the coveted "KK Hofballmusik-direktor" post eventually bore positive results, as he was awarded the honorary position in 1863.
Jetty Treffz lived long enough to see her husband claim a small but encouraging success in the operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
business, however, on 8 April 1878, she suffered a heart attack and died, aged 59, the cause being reported as a disturbing letter from one of her illegitimate sons. She often spoke of herself as a 'poor, old cripple' as well as suffering from painful illnesses in the last years of her life.
She was buried in the local Hietzing
Hietzing
Hietzing is the 13th municipal District of Vienna . It is located west of the central districts, west of Meidling...
cemetery, although Strauss was absent at the funeral, and all arrangements were left to his brother Eduard Strauss
Eduard Strauss
Eduard Strauss was an Austrian composer who, together with brothers Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss made up the Strauss musical dynasty. The family dominated the Viennese light music world for decades, creating many waltzes and polkas for many Austrian nobility as well as dance-music...
. Strauss himself remarried seven weeks later, to Ernestine Dittrich on 28 May 1878.