Strizl, Joseph

Strizl was born in Wiener Neustadt, Austria, on January 23, 1871, as son of a simple Austrian family. He studied music privately during his childhood, and later became a student at the Vienna Conservatory. He studied piano, violin, and viola. In Vienna, Ferenc Lehar Junior was his fellow student and the two became close friends. In 1898, he entered the Royal Hungarian Honved Army as conductor of the IV. Military District located in Pozsony (Bratislava/Pressburg). As his eyesight worsened due to a detached retina he retired from the army in 1928. In 1945 a bomb hit his house destroying his all musical scores. He died in Sopron (Odenburg) in 1949. One of his most popular marches is the Tarnawka-Krasnik Battle March from 1914.