Johan Strauss II’s younger brother Josef was born in Vienna in 1827. At the suggestion of his father, Johann I, he became an architect. However, he studied music secretly, and when his elder brother was ill he conducted his orchestra with great success. Josef Strauss composed in all the major dance forms of the period during which he was active as a musician: the waltz, polka, quadrille, and march. Although his overall output was smaller by force of circumstances than that of his brother Johann II, it yields nothing to it in terms of quality, and has its own strongly individual character.