In 2025, Vienna – the capital of Austria and music – will celebrate two hundred years since the birth of Johann Strauss Jr. (1825-1899) with great events and concerts [programa competo, aquí] in which to feel the music again. Strauss Sr. was also a conductor and composer of many waltzes, but none of them achieved fame. His son, on the other hand, is known as the king of the waltz, that irreverent dance in which “the bodies stuck together too much”. He composed more than 150 and his fame was extraordinary, something similar to a great current pop star.
The ‘Blue Danube’ is one of them, released February 13, 1867 in the Diana room under the direction of Rudolf Weinburm. This work was first a choral version with piano accompaniment, but the critical reception was lukewarm, with lyrics of dubious quality written by a Police official. In the Paris Universal Exhibition (1889) was presented without a chorus and under the direction of Strauss himself. Subsequently, it was performed in six concerts at the Covent Garden London. They say that soon after more than a million scores had been printed around the world.
Soon the ‘Blue Danube’ was considered the unofficial anthem of Austria. It even sounds when taking off and landing on Austrian Airlines planes. And yet, as is well known, the river is never blue.
Colors in 1900
Around 1900, Anton Bruszkayadvisor to the Viennese court, looked out over the Danube every morning between seven and eight in the small town of Mautern, near Vienna. He recorded his observations day by day and sent them to the Austrian Geographical Society and the Central Hydrographic Office in Vienna, which published the data. Well, according to that information the Danube was “brown, 11 days; clay yellow, 46 days; dirty green, 59 days; light green, 45 days; grass green, 5 days; steel green, 69 days; emerald green, 46 days, and dark green, 64 days.
Industrialization, waste, plastics and livestock activity in the area have given their own touch of color to the Danube over recent decades. But the blue tone was not even the predominant one in 1900, if Bruszkay’s meticulous observation is to be believed.
In Vienna, the Danube is always present, in the Donau-Auen national park, in the Old Danube, on the Danube Island (where every year in June there is a big festival) or in the Danube canalcreated between the years 1870 and 1875. This is the southernmost tributary of the original Danube from Vienna, which in its current form is 17.3 km long and flows through the historic center of the capital. And, in fact, the Viennese have a very special relationship with their shores and beaches. They go there to relax, play and play sports or to spend a few hours in the beach cafes. Gänsehäufe river beach.
Johann Strauss’s house, in a distinguished building on Praterstraße, where he composed the work, is one of the obligatory stops on the route to discover the world of the musician in Vienna. Located on the main floor, the home reflects Strauss’ elevated status at the peak of his career. Today it is a commemorative space, which houses an exhibition dedicated to the king of the waltz. His grave is in the central cemetery, near those of Brahms, Schubert and Beethoven.
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