He was principal horn player of the Bavarian Court Opera for more than 40 years, a teacher at the Royal School of Music, Munich, a conductor, and accomplished performer on the guitar, clarinet and viola Strauss was the father of the composer Richard Strauss, on whose early musical development he was a great influence, steering his son to the classical and away from modern styles.

His father, Johann Urban Strauss, was of unsteady character; his children were illegitimate and he left their upbringing to their mother, Maria Anna Kunigunde Walter.

At the age of nine, Strauss was taken on as a pupil and player by another uncle, Franz Michael Walter, a military bandmaster.

At the age of 15, through the influence of George Walter, Strauss was appointed to the private orchestra of Duke Max in Munich, where he remained for ten years.

[1] He was not in sympathy with the new music of Wagner which his sovereign and employer, Ludwig II of Bavaria, assiduously promoted with productions at the Court Opera.

He led the horn section in the premieres of Tristan und Isolde, Das Rheingold, and Die Walküre.

[1] In 1875 Strauss was elected conductor of the amateur orchestra, the "Wilde Gung'l", a post he held for 21 years.