In a career that spanned a period from the 1820s until his death in 1849, the older Johann Strauss established an unrivalled position for himself among composers and performers of dance music in Vienna. His own achievements were continued by his three sons, ensuring the name of Strauss was inextricably identified with the musical pleasures of nineteenth-century Vienna. Several of the works on this recording were written during Strauss' 1837-1838 fourteen-month tour of Western Europe with his orchestra. They include his celebrated Paris Waltz, which quotes the revolutionary Marseillaise, still unmistakeable in waltz rhythm and banned in Strauss' own country, and Homage to Queen Victoria of England, which concludes with God Save the Queen played in waltz rhythm, and was performed at the opening state ball at Buckingham Palace on the occasion of the Queen's accession to the throne.