What is the story behind the Blue Danube Waltz?

Few pieces of classical music are as instantly recognisable as Johann Strauss II’s dazzling Blue Danube Waltz. Its mysterious shimmering opening and elegant main melody take us effortlessly into the carefree world of Viennese balls, where dazzlingly clad and carefree couples move gracefully over the dance floor.

The story behind this graceful waltz is not, however, as straightforward as its sparkling surface might suggest—the piece was actually written as a response to the horror of war and military defeat and, despite the familiarity of the orchestral version of this piece, it was originally conceived as a choral work.

A response to the Austro-Prussian War

In 1866 the Austrian Empire suffered a devastating military defeat against Prussia, ceding territory to the nascent German state under Otto von Bismarck. In light of the defeat, Strauss was approached to write a new work for the the Vienna Men's Choral Association (Wiener Männergesang-Verein), which would act as a tonic to a depressed Viennese public.

Back-to-front composition

The process of composition was unusual. Instead of setting a text, Strauss composed the music first, to which words were added by the choral association’s poet Joseph Weyl. These words were satirical in tone, in recognition of the position of Austria following its defeat:

Viennese, be happy!
Oho, but why?
Well, just look around!
But tell me, why?
A shimmer of light!
We can’t see anything yet.
Well, it’s Carnival!
Well, so what?
So defy the times –
O God, the times!

More ‘official’ sounding lyrics were later added by Franz von Gernerth:

Danube so blue,

so bright and blue,

through vale and field

you flow so calm,

our Vienna greets you,

your silver stream

through all the lands

you merry the heart

with your beautiful shores.

The Vienna Men's Choral Association, for whom the work was originally written, sing The Blue Danube:

Neither choral version really caught on—the orchestral version is by far the most performed today.

The premiere was a bit of let down

Strauss considered the first performance only modestly successful and, perhaps in light of this, quickly revised it for purely instrumental forces. His orchestral version was premiered at the 1867 Paris Exposition with performances following quickly in New York and in London. It is this version that is now so ubiquitous, most especially in Vienna, where it is heard at the end of every New Year’s Day Concert and in bars, restaurants and shops throughout the city.

The work

The piece is actually not just that ‘Dum da-da-da Daah; dum, dum; dum dum’ main tune. It is actually a sequence of five waltzes, the first being the most famous. A performance of the whole piece lasts around 10 minutes, with the first waltz being reprised in the coda.

The Blue Danube in space

The waltz has been used endlessly in popular culture, perhaps the most famous example being in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001:A Space Odyssey (read more about the music from that film here), where it is used to suggest the beauty and weightlessness of spacecraft:

It has also been used in the movies ‘The Wages of Fear’ (1953), ‘The Jungle Book’ (1994), ‘Titanic’ (1997) and ‘Horton Hears a Who!’ (2008) amongst others; in the Netflix series ‘Squid Game’ (2021); and in the computer game ‘Elite’ (1984) and its sequels as a homage to the movie ‘2001: A Space Odyssey.’