At The Beautiful Blue Danube

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Blue Danube Waltz, title page of one of the first editions, 1867
Listen: On the beautiful blue Danube, playing time 2:58

The waltz On the Beautiful Blue Danube (often short: Danube Waltz ) was composed by Johann Strauss (son) in the late autumn of 1866 and winter of 1866/67 and premiered on February 15, 1867 with the Vienna Men's Singing Association . The first performance of the concert version of the waltz published as opus 314 took place on March 10, 1867 in the kk Volksgarten . In terms of composition, it is based on melodies that Strauss used in earlier works. The waltz soon became Austria's secret anthem and is played regularly at the turn of the year.

The Blue Danube Waltz is considered the unofficial national anthem of the federal state of Vienna .

Emergence

Title page of an edition from around 1910

Johann Strauss had initially been asked by the Vienna Men's Choir Association to participate in a summer table in Hietzing in July 1865 . Since his annual commitments in Pavlovsk did not allow this, he initially promised a composition for 1866.

In 1866 Strauss was reminded of his open promise by the men's choir association. However, in the meantime the war between Prussia and Austria with the battle of Königgrätz lost by Austria had taken place, so that the question of a suitable premiere quickly arose. Since many balls were also canceled during the carnival season, they agreed that a waltz should be created for the 1867 Liedertafel, with which the men's choir replaced its traditional fools' evening. Strauss kept the promise made in 1865 with the waltz On the beautiful blue Danube .

The waltz was conceived by Johann Strauss from the outset in two versions, with time initially until the end of the 1866 Condensed score was the orchestral version. Thereupon the police commissioner Josef Weyl , house poet of the men's choir, added his text with a parodistic character and time-critical satire, only then did Johann Strauss obtain a second version for men's choir and piano as a choral waltz for the rehearsals of the men's choir . The choir parts were set up by Rudolf Weinwurm , who gave the promise as early as 1866 to help. This was followed by the establishment of military music (i.e. for the performers of the orchestral music for the premiere), which was carried out by either Josef Wiedemann as the director of the military band performing for the first time or possibly Johann Proksch from the Strauss orchestra.

Strauss (or someone else, this is no longer verifiable) used two poems by the Hungarian poet Karl Isidor Beck for the original naming of the still nameless piece , each of which contains the text passage On the beautiful blue Danube . However, these do not refer to Vienna , but to Baja , Beck's birthplace - Baja is located on the “blue” Danube, the nearby Tisza is described as “blond”.

On February 15, 1867 in a nine-part program, the premiere of the choral version of the place (still without introduction and coda) in the hall Diana bath instead: performers were the Vienna Men's Choral Society and the Chapel of the infantry regiment 42. Both led Rudolf Weinwurm . The composer was not present at the premiere.

After the premiere

Contrary to claims to the contrary of almost all Strauss biographies and their uncritical adoptions, it is clear from the original sources , starting with Norbert Linke's research at the beginning of the 1980s, that this waltz was not only enthusiastically received that evening, it “[ …] 'Hit the bull's eye' […] On February 17, 1867, the New Foreign Journal even announced: 'The opening number of the second section was a decisive hit '. "This is the first time the term" hit "is used in music history. After the performance, the men's choral society presented Johann Strauss with a gold ducat as "honorary salary", the fee for such a commissioned work that was customary at the time.

It was only after the premiere on February 15, 1867, that Strauss created the introduction and the coda (at least as a short score) and he and his collaborators created the complete orchestral version. This was first performed on March 10, 1867 in the kk Volksgarten . Due to the large number of novelties in this carnival season (the three brothers Johann, Josef and Eduard created a total of 25 new works), the waltz initially did not prevail. After this first performance, Johann Strauss is said to have said to his brother Josef :

"The devil may fetch the waltz, but I'm sorry about the coda - I would have wished it a success."

However, because Strauss appeared in Paris at the 1867 World's Fair and created new compositions for them, he remembered including this waltz in the program. Under the name Le beau Danube bleu , the piece became a great success during this exhibition. It is assumed that the publisher's editions of the waltz, especially the two-handed piano version, sold almost 1,000,000 times in a short period of time.

Strauss did not receive his own fee for the waltz; he had an annual contract with his publisher C. A. Spina, which obliged him to deliver a precisely defined number of compositions. The waltz was counted towards this number. His annual salary at Spina shows that this waltz received a fee of 25 guilders. Strauss (son) received a so-called honorary salary of a small amount much later, but it was out of proportion to the publisher's income.

Over the years, only the orchestral version of the waltz (in different line-ups) has prevailed, and a choral version is seldom performed. The reconstruction of the world premiere (and its incorporation into the program at that time) on February 15, 1867 is still the subject of scientific discussion.

Melodies

Like all waltz composers, the waltz itself consists of five individual waltzes (Nos. 1 to 5, in older editions also I - V), each of which consists of two melody parts (a and b), as was usual with Strauss at that time, as was the case with all waltz composers ten individual melodies. In 2015, Strauss researcher Norbert Linke was able to prove that all ten melodies without exception were taken from earlier waltzes by Strauss and were thus recycled .

Linke proves the following origins:

  • Waltz part 1a (head motif with the famous D major triad): from op. 268 (“Wiener Chronik”, waltz), waltz part 5a: transposed from E flat major to D major. Four bars each are picked up (expanded) a total of six times and contrasted with six stop tones to follow up dim dim / dom dom. The four follow-up tones are already rhythmically pre-marked in bars 4 and 8.
  • Waltz part 1b: also from op. 268, waltz part 5b: transposed from C minor to B minor. The initial model (bars 1 and 2) expanded to four bars is followed by four bars in an echo-like manner, in which the final formula of 1a (f sharp> e / h> a) is taken up literally and doubled.
  • Waltz part 2a: Modeled after waltz part 1a, the following dim dim / dom dom (a sequence of bars 7 and 8 from op.268 / 5a) condensed into an ostinato , the order of 1a (aa / f sharp-sharp - aa / gg) is now exchanged and shortened (ag etc. - a f sharp etc.).
  • Waltz part 2b: from op. 265 ("Motoren", waltz), waltz part 4b: The eight-bar template is expanded to double by repeating the first four bars and the continuation of bars 5/6 and 7/8 of the template to two different ones Closing formulas of four bars each were processed.
  • Waltz part 3a: after op. 251 (“Klangfiguren”, waltz), waltz part 3a: the original appears almost literally taken out of rhythm, supplemented by two-bar insertions (Strauss: bars 5/6 = repetition of op. 251 bars 1/2; bars 9 / 10 = replay of bar 6 of the original).
  • Waltz part 3b: after op. 105 (“Five Paragraphe from the Walzer Codex”, waltz), waltz part 2b: transposed from B flat major to G major. An almost literal implementation in a simplified manner (4 times 4 bars each), whereby the top notes g and b are reached in two attempts (d - g - d - h).
  • Waltz part 4a: Also after op. 268, but waltz part 2b: transposed from G major to F major. First of all, Strauss takes up the lower part of the thirds of the original and repeats bars 3 and 4, then he brings the original version with the oberterz (without repeated bars).
  • Rolling part 4b after op. 251, rolling part 5a: differently anchored repetitions. Bar 1 of the original is stretched to two bars and repeated immediately. Bars 3 and 4, on the other hand, are shortened and pulled together into one bar. The subsequent two-time two-bar sequence is simplified to a mere repetition (two times two bars).
  • Waltz part 5a again after op. 268, now waltz part 3b: transposed from D major to A major. The two harmonies 2 times A and 2 times D appear swapped and stretched to twice the size: bars 3/4 of the original (D major) first (with two bars appendix) and then bars 1/2 of the original (A- Major) to bars 5/6 with appendix.
  • Waltz part 5b was formed from op. 215 ("Flying Thoughts", waltz), and waltz part 5a, a waltz from 1859, was rewritten.

The introduction (only listed with the first purely instrumental performance) begins with flickering strings and a gentle allusion to waltz part 1a. In a second part, which starts up gradually, the bass only serves the tone a. The coda, in turn, begins with a performance of the waltz part 3a, then waltz part 2a is quoted true to note. After 16 transition bars, Walzer 4a follows true to note and a transition of 11 bars. The final part with the slowly wistful main motif 1a and a concluding stretta is accompanied by the bass exclusively on note d (16 bars arco , 12 bars pizzicato , 11 bars arco).

Linke, who describes the introduction and coda "because of their poetic effects ... [as] highly effective, compositionally admittedly of admirable simplicity", refers to the fact that the finale on the key note d as drone ( organ point ) uses a means that is used in folk music worldwide is common. He also points out that in the coda Strauss only used melodies from his waltz “Wiener Chronik”, op. 268 (waltz parts 5a and 2b).

Text versions

In the first version of the waltz, Josef Weyl, poet of the Vienna Men's Choir, first wrote a text that began with the words Fasching ist da . This was rejected by him and the text of the premiere was created, whereby parts of the rejected version were taken up by him. This now read (in the version of the premiere, excerpts, Bb = basses, T = tenors):

B: Wiener, be happy ...
T: Oho, why?
B: No-so just look around -
T: I ask why?
B: A shimmer of light ...
T: We don't see anything yet!
B: Well, Mardi Gras is here!
T: Oh, well!
B: So defy time ...
T: (pitifully): O God, time ...
B: The sadness.
T: Ah! That would be wise!
   What good is the regret,
   the grief, so be
   happy and funny!

As early as 1868, Weyl changed his text again, which now began with the words: What more do we want?

At that time, however, the text "in two sections", which was underlaid by the Viennese folk singer Ignaz Nagel (Nagl; 1831–1872), was considerably more popular. In the late spring of 1867, on the one hand, Nagel underscored the melody with a text that began with "There is a country - on the Danube beach" and alluded to the compensation that had just been concluded in the 4th waltz , while the 1st waltz began in the second section with the words " On the Danube Quai - in the near vicinity ”.

In 1889 Franz von Gernerth composed a new text which, with “Danube so blue”, now also took into account the title of the waltz.

Danube so blue,
so beautiful and blue
through valley and
floodplain you calmly wave there,
our Vienna greets you,
your silver ribbon
ties land to land,
and happy hearts beat
on your beautiful beach.

The first performance with this text took place on July 2, 1890 on the occasion of the summer table of the Vienna Men's Choir Association in Dreher Park in Meidling ( Schönbrunner Strasse 307).

Anthem and New Year

Silhouette of Otto Böhler

As early as 1874, the music critic Eduard Hanslick described the Danube Waltz as a “wordless Marseillaise of peace .” In a book from 1888, the folk anthem , O du mein Österreich and Strauss's Danube Waltz are named in a row . And about the first performance of Gernerth's text, the press wrote: "It is gratifying that the 'Hymn of the City of Vienna', which has long since become popular outside of Austria and even beyond the ocean, is now finally backed by a text worthy of it." ()

When on April 27, 1945, on the occasion of the proclamation of Austria's independence , no national anthem was available, the waltz on the beautiful blue Danube was sung in front of parliament . It was also played in the first games of the Austrian national soccer team after the Second World War. Alongside the Radetzky March , O Du mein Österreich , the much more modern I am from Austria and some others, it is still used as the secret hymn.

The waltz on the beautiful blue Danube is traditionally broadcast at the turn of the year on Austrian radio (on all ORF programs, including the youth channel FM4 ) and on television shortly after midnight - after the pummer has rung. It is also an integral part and highlight of the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concerts , although it has never been or is part of the official program and is always played as an encore (like the Radetzky March ).

The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation began on August 1st, 1955 at 17 o'clock his television pilot program for importing landscapes with music with a logo still image to which the Danube waltz was played. Probably in the 1960s, at the latest in the 1970s, it became a stylized electronic version of eight tones. Until the late 1980s, this station identification was played shortly before the start of each broadcast (in the morning and in the afternoon) with the ORF logo, then came the sentence “Here is Austrian radio with its television program”, a slightly longer break with clock and logo and then the tone sequence again. As long as there was a broadcast deadline , the official national anthem was played to him. Since March 25, 1984, a variation of the Danube Waltz has been part of the theme song of the Zeit im Bild broadcasts.

Further reception

50 Schilling silver coin for the 100th anniversary (1967)

His apartment at Praterstrasse 54 is connected to the waltz : on the occasion of Strauss (son) 's 100th birthday, the Wiener Schubertbund unveiled a plaque on the house on October 24, 1925. Part of this apartment (it has since been reduced in size through renovations) is a branch of the Vienna Museum and is open to the public.

A number of composers and pianists around the turn of the century, such as Moriz Rosenthal , but also later ( György Cziffra ), wrote highly virtuoso concert paraphrases about the work. The best known comes from Adolf Schulz-Evler .

In 1924 Léonide Massine choreographed the ballet Beau Danube to the music of the Danube Waltz (arranged by Roger Désormière ) .

The Blue Danube Waltz is also well known for its use in Stanley Kubrick's science fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssey .

It is used as a melody for traffic radio in New Zealand and for coastal radio in Uruguay .

According to Marcel Prawy, domestic Chinese airlines played it in the 1970s and 1980s as a reassurance on landing. Since 2016, it has been the head tune of Austrian Airlines' break program .

The Viennese psychoanalyst Alfred Pritz considered the image of the beautiful blue Danube to be a product of the dark Viennese humor, the Viennese shame : “During the Second Napoleonic War , ... a Russian battalion had pushed a French regiment directly into the Danube and hundreds of French soldiers drowned . Now the Danube was full of the blue uniforms of the French. The Danube was 'so blue, so blue, so blue'. "

literature

  • Monika Fink: On the beautiful blue Danube, waltz, op. 314. In: Monika Fink, Hans-Dieter Klein, Evelin Klein: Master Waltz . Lang, Frankfurt am Main a. a. 1999, ISBN 3-631-35189-5 , pp. 5-14 ( Persephone. Series of publications on aesthetics. Vol. 4).
  • Jeroen HC Tempelman: By the Beautiful Blue Danube in New York , Vienna Music - Journal of the Johann Strauss Society of Great Britain, no. 101 (Winter 2012), pp. 28–31.
  • Norbert Linke : Outstanding information on the master waltz “On the beautiful blue Danube” by Johann Strauss - or: On the secret of melodic recycling . In: Deutsche Johann Strauss Gesellschaft (ed.): New Life - The magazine for Strauss lovers and friends of Viennese operetta , issue 51 (2016, no. 1), pp. 38–56, supplemented with issue 52 (2016, no. 2), pp. 73-74. ISSN  1438-065X - on the origin of the melodies with musical examples and on the course of the composition.
  • Joachim Brügge (Ed.): "Cosmic Arcadia" and "Wienerische Schlampigkeit". Johann Strauss (son), On the beautiful blue Danube, op. 314 - Studies on the history of reception and interpretation (= sound-speaking. Writings on the history of musical reception and interpretation, vol. 21), Freiburg i. Br .: Rombach 2018, ISBN 978-3-7930-9909-3 .

Web links

Commons : On the beautiful blue Danube  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Vienna Institute for Strauss Research: Strauss Elementary Directory . Thematic-bibliographical catalog of the works of Johann Strauss (son) . Verlag Hans Schneider, Tutzing, 1997, ISBN 3-7952-0873-4 , (Volume 7), p. 478.
  2. ↑ Norbert Linke : Johann Strauss (son) with personal testimonies and photo documents . rowohlts monographs 304, rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek, 1982, ISBN 3-499-50304-2 , p. 82. The later score from March 1867 was donated by Johann Strauss to the Male Choir Association and is still there.
  3. ↑ Linke, Outstanding Information, p. 38
  4. ↑ Linke, Outstanding Information, p. 43.
  5. ^ The occasional statement on February 13, 1867 comes from Ludwig Eisenberg , the first Strauss biographer (1894) and is still perpetuated without reflection. However, this date is clearly refuted.
  6. ↑ Norbert Linke : Johann Strauss (son) with personal testimonies and photo documents . rowohlts monographs 304, rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek, 1982, ISBN 3-499-50304-2 , p. 83, with further references.
  7. ↑ The entire section is based on the article by Norbert Linke : Outstanding information on the master waltz “On the beautiful blue Danube” by Johann Strauss - or: The secret of melodic recycling . The Strauss researcher Ingolf Roßberg , on the other hand , calls this recycling upcycling , since the reuse resulted in a higher quality product than its starting material: Ingolf Roßberg: upcycling . In: Deutsche Johann Strauss Gesellschaft (Ed.): New Life - The magazine for Strauss lovers and friends of Viennese operetta , Issue 51 (2016, No. 1), p. 5. ISSN  1438-065X
  8. ↑ a b Linke, Outstanding information, p. 44.
  9. ↑ Kulturverein Wiener Blut (Ed.): Almanach - The magical world of the Strauss family , January 2017, issue 22, p. 13. Without ISBN.
  10. ↑ Isabella Sommer : Johann Strauss and the Wienerlied In: Vienna Institute for Strauss Research (ed.): Die Fledermaus - Mitteilungen 14–17, January 2003. Hans Schneider, Tutzing 2006, ISBN 3-7952-1115-8 , p. 255–273, here p. 257.
  11. ^ Franz von Gernerth, entry in the database of the Johann Strauss Society Vienna ( Memento from October 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  12. ↑ a b Liedertafel the Vienna Men's Choral Association .. In:  The Press , July 3, 1890, p 10 (Online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / maintenance / apr
  13. ↑ July 2, 1890, summer table of the Vienna Men's Choir, entry in the database of the Johann Strauss Society Vienna ( Memento from October 21, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ↑ Hans Weigel: Escape from Greatness: Contributions to the Knowledge and Self-Knowledge of Austria , Wollzeilen Verlag, 1960, p. 244
  15. ^ Wiener Gemeinderat (eds.), Robert Hamerling, Heinrich Zeissberg, Max Wirth, Karl Weiss, Karl Glossy, Robert Zimmermann, Emanuel Hannak, Karl Friedrich Arnold von Lützow, Jacob von Falke, Heinrich Richter, Eduard Hanslick, Ludwig Speidel, Friedrich Uhl : Vienna, 1848–1888: The Babenberger awakened on the night before December 2nd. 1888 , p. 96
  16. ↑ Ina Weber: TV, brushing your teeth, sleeping , Wiener Zeitung , August 13, 2010 (accessed November 25, 2013)
  17. ↑ ORF signature 1988
  18. ↑ All ORF Zeit im Bild intros from 1957 to 2015 , youtube.com
    history of the ZiB 2 intros of the ORF , youtube.com
    history of the midnight ZiB intros of the ORF
  19. ↑ New "ZiB": Blue Danube Waltz as a Kennmeldodie, new moderators, [...] In: News . Magazine. No. 14 . Vienna 1993, p. 3 .
  20. ↑ "Zeit im Bild" new: Why Armin Wolf should always moderate with matching trousers - derstandard.at/2000010594472/Zeit-im-Bild-neu-Warum-Armin-Wolf-stets-mit-passender. In: Der Standard / derstandard.at. January 19, 2015, accessed on September 17, 2016 : “You can see more clearly - if you haven't noticed it yet - the Blue Danube Waltz in the“ ZiB ”division. It was always there, but in the new version it came more to the fore. "
  21. ↑ The Johann Strauss Celebration. Unveiling of a plaque. In:  Wiener Zeitung , October 25, 1925, p. 5 (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / wrz
  22. ^ Johann Strauss apartment in the Vienna History Wiki of the City of Vienna
  23. ^ Emil Bobi: The shadow city. Salzburg 2014. ISBN 978-3-7110-0060-6 . Chapter 6 - Vienna, humor and the Germans. Page 67f.