Oscar Straus (composer)

Oscar Nathan Straus (6 March 1870 – 11 January 1954) was a Viennese composer of operettas, film scores, and songs.

His original name was actually Strauss,[1][failed verification] but for professional purposes he deliberately omitted the final 's'.

[citation needed] The son of a Jewish[2] family, he studied music in Berlin under Max Bruch, and became an orchestral conductor, working at the Überbrettl cabaret.

When Lehár's popular The Merry Widow premiered in 1905, Straus was said to have remarked "Das kann ich auch!"

Straus' best-known works are Ein Walzertraum (A Waltz Dream), and The Chocolate Soldier (Der tapfere Soldat).