The last waltz: the story of the Strauss dynasty

The intriguing story of two generations of the Viennese family that produced some of the best known and best loved music of the 19th century.

From nowhere they produced two waltz kings, and literally hundreds of instantly recognisable and enduring melodies.

Yet this was also a family riven with tension, feuds and jealousy, and those involved lived in an Austria that witnessed seismic upheavals.

An Emperor ill-equipped for leadership struggled to maintain the exalted place of the Austro-Hungarian empire on the European stage, while at the personal level experiencing more tragedy than any man should have to bear.

Through the personal and political chaos, the Strauss family continued to compose waltzes to which the Viennese - anxious to forget their troubles - danced and drank champagne, as their country hurtled toward WWI, and oblivion.