"Blue Danube" - Waltz, op. 314

When Austria suffered defeat in the Battle of Königgrätz (now Hradec Králové) on July 3, 1866, the national morale plummeted. Numerous balls and festivals were canceled to express the nation’s sorrow. As a result, the popular Narrenabend (Fools’ Evening) of the Vienna Male Choral Society was also called off. Instead, in 1867, a replacement event was organized in the form of a Liedertafel, for which the society requested a specially composed waltz. The society approached Strauss, who agreed to fulfill the request. He composed his first concert waltz intended for choir. During the carnival season, on February 15, 1867, the waltz titled The Blue Danube premiered at the Liedertafel in the Dianasaal. The concert performance lasted five hours, with the Danube Waltz opening the second part. The audience’s initial reaction to the waltz was lukewarm, yet it was still encored.

The lack of enthusiasm was likely due to the uninspired lyrics by Josef Weyl, which accompanied the waltz and made satirical references to the lost battle at Königgrätz. Up until 1890, the Male Choral Society performed the Danube Waltz only seven times. However, Dr. Franz von Gernerth later wrote a new text for the piece, marking the beginning of its path to fame. In music history, rivers have often inspired the names or ideas behind compositions. Strauss’s father had previously composed a waltz titled Loreley-Rhine Sounds. Béla Kéler followed with On the Beautiful Rhine I Think of You, and Karl Komzák seems to have been inspired by Strauss when naming his great concert waltz On the Beautiful Green Narenta. Other songs and orchestral works have also drawn on rivers, such as Smetana’s The Moldau and Lehár’s Song of the Volga or On the Banks of the Tagus. Strauss himself chose the title for the Danube Waltz, as many of his works’ names were usually proposed by the dedicatee or commissioner.

Today, The Blue Danube is undoubtedly the most famous waltz in the world. It is a fixture of every New Year’s concert, watched by around one billion people. The Danube Waltz is also regarded as Austria’s unofficial national anthem, and it has become a tradition that, at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, the Danube Waltz plays across Vienna, with people dancing joyfully—even in nightclubs.

The introduction begins with a mysterious, soft tremolo that seems to depict a gentle landscape. Soon, a subdued version of the main waltz theme appears. The introduction builds to a loud climax, which then descends in a sequence of decrescendos, leading into the famous main theme. The upbeat opens with three dominant notes forming a triad, and with the first quarter note of the second measure, the enchanting waltz tempo sets in. Waltz after waltz follows, and, as is customary, the main theme returns at the end, concluding with a resounding finale.