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. The works featured on this recording date from the 1830s, when Strauss was pre-eminent in the ballrooms of Biedermeier Vienna. Among the many delightful highlights are the brightly optimistic Tribute Waltz to the newly crowned Emperor Ferdinand I, the exotically coloured Indian Galop, inspired by a visiting troupe of Indian dancers, the hugely popular Furioso Galop on motifs from Liszt, and the bacchanalian Wings of Mercury Waltz whose popularity quickly spread beyond the Austrian borders.