Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/428

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412 STEAUBING burial. A part of the ancient house in which he is said to have been born, and which he re- tained to the time of his death, is still standing in Henley street; it has been purchased for the nation by subscription at a cost of about 4,000, and is as far as possible kept in the same condition as in his lifetime. A church near the river, a handsome cruciform struc- ture with a fine tower and spire, contains his remains and those of his wife, in the vicinity of a monument, the distinguishing feature of which is the celebrated portrait bust of Shake- speare in marble. This edifice was thorough- ly restored in 1840. The grammar school, in which, according to tradition, the great dramatist was educated, is established in the upper part of the ancient guildhall. In 1769 a Shakespeare "jubilee" was celebrated in Stratford under the direction of Garrick, on which occasion the present town hall, which contains a statue of the poet, was erected. The tercentenary of Shakespeare's birth was celebrated here, April 23, 1864. STRACBIXG, a town of Bavaria, in the dis- trict of Lower Bavaria, on the right bank of the Danube, 25 m. S. E. of Ratisbon ; pop. in 1871, 11,150. It is one of the oldest towns of the kingdom. It has an ancient town hall, a Gothic church with fine pictures, and one with a celebrated monument of Duke Albert II., and a palace where Duke Albert III. re- sided with his wife -Agnes Bernauer. (See BERNAUER.) Straubing has many breweries and tanneries. STRAUSS, the name of four German musicians, father and three sons. JOHANN, the father, was born in Vienna, March 14, 1804, and died there, Sept. 24, 1849. In early life he was a member of Lanner's orchestra, afterward or- ganized a band of his own, gave concerts in the chief cities of Germany, and soon rivalled Lanner as a composer and conductor. The eldest son, JOHANN, born in Vienna in 1825, has been for many years, by appointment of the emperor, music director of the court balls. Before the death of his father he had organ- ized a band, whose playing has created the greatest enthusiasm in the chief capitals of Europe. In 1872 Strauss (without his band) visited the United States, and conducted the orchestra of 1,000 performers in his own com- positions at the so-called world's peace jubilee in Boston. Before returning he gave three concerts in New York. Besides nearly 400 compositions of dance music, he has published four operettas which have met with consider- able success: Indigo (1871), Der Carneval in Rom (1873), Die Fledermaus (1874), and Ca- gliostro (1875). JOSEF, who was born in Vienna in 1827 and died there in 1870, left nearly 300 compositions of dance music. The youngest brother, EDUARD, is the leader of an orchestra in Vienna, and has published nearly 200 com- positions. The published compositions of the four Strausses are about 1,100 in number, all of which, excepting a few marches and the ope- STRAUSS rettas above mentioned, are music for dancing. Between 300 and 400 are waltzes, many of which are classed as the best productions of this kind of music. STRAUSS, David Friedrlch, n German theolo- gian, born in Ludwigsburg, Wiirtemberg, Jan. 27, 1808, died in Berlin, Feb. 9, 1874. He was educated at Blaubeuren and Tubingen, was curate in 1830 and professor at Maulbronn in 1831, and in 1832 became Repetent in the theo- logical seminary at Tubingen, where he also lectured on the Hegelian philosophy in the university. His name was unknown when he published Das Leben Jesu (2 vols., Tubingen,. 1835; translated by Marian Evans, now Mrs. Lewes, 3 vols., London, 1846 ; new ed., 2 vols., New York, 1860), which was republished by him in 1864, after the appearance of Renan's work on Jesus, under the title Das Leben Jesu fiir das deutsche Volk bearbeitet (latest ed., 1874). Its design is to critically establish for Christianity a mythical instead of a historical basis, to resolve the Gospels into popular le- gends, and the miracles into significant poetry. It supposes the existence of Jesus, an exemplary and reformatory rabbi of Galilee ; that he lived and died an enthusiastic and admired teacher and innovator ; that after his death many mar- vellous incidents concerning him gradually gained currency ; that some of these were ex- aggerations of actual events, and others sym- bolical forms in which his disciples clothed his doctrines and precepts; that these wonderful narratives were not produced by single persons, but were the spontaneous outgrowth of poet- ical and philosophical tendencies in the early church, of which, after being circulated orally for about a century, various compilations were written. The second part of the work as- signs a new meaning to the New Testament. The career of Christ symbolizes the moral his- tory of mankind. Humanity is God manifest in the flesh, sinless, working miracles, dying, rising, and ascending to heaven. Thus the narrative applies not to an individual, but to the race ; the dogmas are true, though the his- tory is false. Strauss was deprived of his po- sition as Repetent, and became a teacher at Ludwigsburg, and afterward in Stuttgart. In 1837 he replied to his critics by three volumes of StreitscJiriften, and in 1838" by Zwei fried- liche Blatter, but subsequently availed himself of the new editions of his work to controvert his opponents. In 1839 he went to Zurich as professor of dogmatics and church history, but was soon dismissed with a pension, and his nomination resulted in the speedy downfall of the local radical government. In 1840 he mar- ried the vocalist Agnes Schebest, but was sepa- rated from her. In 1848 he was an unsuccess- ful candidate for the Frankfort parliament, but was elected to the diet at Stuttgart, from which he withdrew in December on account of the unpopularity of his political conservatism. In 1872 he returned to his native town after a long residence at Darmstadt. His other prin-