No Worries! (Ohne Sorgen!) Op. 271

Josef Strauss not only had musical talent, he was also an engineer, artist, poet, inventor, even the author of 2 mathematics textbooks. Nicknamed "Pepi" in the family, his brother Johann says of him, "Between the two of us, Pepi is the more talented, but I, by happy coincidence, am the more well known one." Josef is the author of 283 opuses performed by the famous Strauss Orchestra, which he often conducted when Johann was engaged. He wrote the frenetically fast lively polka No Worries! (Ohne Sorgen!) Op. 271, accompanied by the orchestral players' joyful laughter, in Russia. He and Johann spent the 1869 summer season together giving concerts in Pavlovsk, near St Petersburg. It was there that the play premiered on 10 September. Who would have guessed that this sparkling music was born at a time when Joseph Strauss was depressed and despairing at the unexpected return of the illness from which he had suffered in childhood? He wrote to his wife: 'I don't look well, my cheeks are sunken, I have lost my hair, I have no motivation to work'. As if in spite of all the evils, inspiration casts all worries about the future away.