Then they would sing together quite a bit - my father on the piano, Toni and Joseph
standing there on the balcony: folk songs, marches, waltzes. Oh yes, my father played
quite well by heart, but music he couldn’t read.
Joseph was my first love
When I was a child I was with the Strauss’ very often, and Joseph was my first love. I
loved him so much that I still love him today. The only thing out of the ordinary he would
treat himself to maybe once a year, they were so modest people, was a visit to the
Frankfurt opera. And when he came back he would sing to us for hours. Apropos singing,
that reminds me of something so vividly as if it was yesterday: I don’t recall exactly how
old I was, maybe three or four years of age. It was a beautiful summer’s day, and
downstairs in the living room Joseph was sitting in the rocking chair, and I was sitting on
his lap. He would teach me the first song which I learned by heart, and that was:
”A little man stands in the woods”, that I remember exactly.
When Joseph had to go from the shop to the storage room he had to walk that long aisle
and then across the yard. So, whenever he would walk back there I would be there, little
tyke who I was, and reach out for him with my arms. So, he had to pick me up on his
shoulder and we would play horse and rider. Oh yes, Joseph was one very good man.
On Sunday’s we, the Eckert family, and the Strauss’ family would go for a walk quite
often. And where did I munch? On Joseph’s shoulder, of course! That I still remember.
I still envision us walking down “Nuester Strasse”, I am sitting on Joseph’s shoulder
with my little legs dangling.