Johann Strauss II - The Blue Danube Waltz

Johann Strauss, Jr. (II) | An der schönen, blauen Donau (On the Beautiful, Blue Danube), waltz for orchestra (with chorus ad lib), Op. 314 (RV 314), 1867. Johann Strauss Jr.’s status as an internationally recognized Austrian icon began with the success of his waltz, An der schönen, blauen Donau (The Blue Danube Waltz), at the Paris Exhibition of 1867. The Austrians, still smarting from their military defeat at the hands of the Prussians at Königgrätz in July of 1866, whole-heartedly supported Strauss’s music; when the Blue Danube achieved a resounding success at the Paris exhibition, the Viennese felt they had shown the French that Austria, despite its recent military setback, was still an important cultural force. Writers even described Strauss’s triumph with military imagery, calling Strauss a “Napoleon among composers.“ Strauss’s international triumph in Paris makes it easy to forget that this was neither the first performance of the Blue Danube, nor representative of the piece’s original conception. Co