The Blue Danube
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The Blue Danube is the common English title of An der schönen blauen Donau, Op. 314 (German for "By the Beautiful Blue Danube"), a waltz by
the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II, composed in 1866.
Originally performed on 15 February 1867 at a concert of the Wiener
Männergesangsverein (Vienna
Men's Choral Association), it has been one of the most consistently popular
pieces of music in the classical repertoire. Its initial performance was only a
mild success however and Strauss is reputed to have said "The devil take
the waltz, my only regret is for the coda—I wish that had been a success!"
After the original music was written, the
words were added by the Choral Association's poet, Joseph Weyl.[1] Strauss later added more music, and Weyl needed to change
some of the words.[2] Strauss adapted it into a purely orchestral version for
the World's Fair
in Paris that same
year, and it became a great success in this form. The instrumental version is
by far the most commonly performed today. An alternate text by Franz von
Gernerth, "Donau so blau" (Danube so blue), is also used on occasion. The
Blue Danube premiered in the United States in its instrumental version on 1
July 1867 in New York, and in Great Britain in its choral version on 21
September 1867 in London at the promenade concerts at Covent Garden.
When Strauss's stepdaughter, Alice von
Meyszner-Strauss, asked the composer Johannes Brahms to sign her
autograph-fan, he wrote down the first bars of The Blue
Danube, but adding "Leider nicht von Johannes Brahms" ("Alas!
not by Johannes Brahms").[3]
It is the
most famous waltz ever written – actually not one waltz
but a chain of five interlinked waltz themes. It is Austria’s second national
anthem. It is the inescapable conclusion to each New Year’s Day concert in
Vienna. But how many of us have ever heard Strauss’s original version?
In 1865,
Johann Herbeck, choirmaster of the Vienna Men’s Choral Society, commissioned
Strauss to write a choral work; due to the composer’s other commitments the
piece wasn’t even started. The following year, Austria was defeated by Prussia
in the Seven Weeks’ War. Aggravated by post-war economic depression, Viennese
morale was at a low and so Strauss was encouraged to revisit his commission and
write a joyful waltz song to lift the country’s spirit.
Strauss
recalled a poem by Karl Isidor Beck (1817-79). Each stanza ends with the line:
‘By the Danube, beautiful blue Danube’. It gave him the inspiration and the
title for his new work – although the Danube could never be described as blue
and, at the time the waltz was written, it did not flow through Vienna. To the
waltz, the choral society’s “poet” Josef Weyl added humorous lyrics ridiculing
the lost war, the bankrupt city and its politicians: “Wiener seid’s froh! Oho!
Wieso?” (“Viennese be happy! Oho! But why?”).
Read more at http://www.classicfm.com/composers/strauss-ii/guides/story-behind-blue-danube/#mkRws2Bi3tBbYTAy.99
Please click on each of the web-links below with your speakers on :-
Johann Strauss, jr. "An der schönen blauen
Donau"
https://youtu.be/IDaJ7rFg66A
15 year old Julie Andrews - The Blue Danube
Blue Danube Dream with English Lyrics
