 The friendship flourished; Strauss was introduced to Alice's sister Victoria and her brother-in-law Frederick, and he was invited by them to Berlin.In 1870, Strauss wanted to dedicate his new work "Lectures on Voltaire" to Alice, but he was too afraid to ask her; she spared him the need by asking him to dedicate them to her.However, Alice's relationship with Strauss angered Empress Augusta, who labelled Alice a "complete atheist" after hearing about his promotion.