W. Boskovsky; Viennese Waltz King

Willi Boskovsky, a major conductor of Strauss waltzes and longtime conductor of the Vienna Philharmonic’s popular New Year’s concerts, has died, European newspapers reported Tuesday.

He was 81.

“The last king of the waltz has died,” said a headline in Vienna’s Der Standard, one of many tributes lauding the Austrian musician for his legendary performances and recordings of Viennese tunes.

Friends said he died after suffering a third stroke Sunday in a hospital in Visp, a mountain town 100 miles east of Geneva, where he moved in the 1980s, Swiss newspapers reported.

Boskovsky was born in imperial Vienna and joined the Vienna Philharmonic in 1933. Three years later, the violinist was named concertmaster.

Boskovsky did not achieve world fame until he succeeded Clemens Krauss as conductor of the New Year’s concerts in 1954, a tradition that he continued until his retirement in 1979.

His double role as violinist and conductor revived a tradition set by Johann Strauss, the creator of Vienna’s lilting waltz tunes.

Television broadcasts of the New Year’s concerts made Boskovsky a well-known conductor. He frequently worked with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam and the London Philharmonic and led other orchestras around the world, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl in the 1960s.

Vienna newspapers said it was expected that Boskovsky, who received several high Austrian honors, would be buried in his native city.