Composer, Conductor. Along with Johann Strauss, Sr. he developed the waltz from a simple peasant dance into a popular symbol of Viennese culture. Josef Franz Karl Lanner was born in Vienna. A self-taught musical prodigy, he joined a dance band as a violinist at age 12 and at 16 formed his own string trio to perform in local taverns. This became a quartet in 1822 with the addition of Strauss as violist and soon expanded into a string orchestra, with Lanner as composer-conductor and Strauss his deputy. Eager to emulate his employer's success, Strauss left to form his own orchestra in 1825 and from then on they were serious rivals in dance music. For years the music-loving Viennese were split into Lanner and Strauss camps, with the press fanning the flames, but they remained on cordial terms and respected each other professionally. Lanner even dedicated his first big hit, the "Separation Waltz" (1825), to Strauss as a token of friendship. A shrewd entrepreneur, Lanner made extensive tours that spread his fame throughout the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italy, while his published scores found their way to the United States. During Vienna's carnival season he employed up to 200 musicians, divided into several ensembles, to play his music. In addition to his own enterprises he served as music director of the Vienna Redoutensale (from 1829), conductor of the Promenade Concerts in the Volksgarten (from 1831), and conductor of the Second Viennese military regiment (from 1833). At 42 and at the height of his fame, Lanner died of a typhoid infection. He was buried at the Doblinger Friedhof in Vienna. Six years later Strauss also died prematurely and was laid to rest next to his friend. In 1904 the two musicians were reinterred in honor graves at the Zentralfriedhof; their original gravesites were preserved and the Doblinger Friedhof site (demolished in 1927) is now called Strauss-Lanner Park. Lanner is often credited with initiating the waltz craze that took root in Vienna for nearly a century. Using early waltzes by Weber and Schubert as his models, he gave the form a grace and sophistication that appealed to all levels of society, in the concert hall as well as the dance floor. Musicologists Mosco Carner and Herbert Krenn said of his style: "Broad, sweeping melodies, rich harmonies and daring rhythmic subtleties are typical of his compositions. Above all, the frequent use of minor keys gives Lanner's works a touch of melancholy, although the composer himself was cheerful and outgoing". His over 100 waltzes include the "Amorous Waltz", "The Humorists", "Farewell from Pest", "Die Werber", and "The Romantics". Most popular of all was "Die Schonbrunner" (1842); at his final concert in 1843 Lanner had to repeat it 21 times as an encore. It remains his best known piece. He also wrote landler, mazurkas, galops, and marches.