Friday, 13th February: "I'm smarter Danube think"

Today in 1867...

"The premier, in Vienna, of Johann Strauss's famous waltz, The Blue Danube"

Johann Strauss Jr: great chops!

wikipedia sez:

The Blue Danube is the common English title of An der schönen blauen Donau op. 314 (On the Beautiful Blue Danube), a waltz by Johann Strauss II, composed in 1866. Originally performed 13 February 1867 at a concert of the Wiener Männergesangsverein (Vienna Men's Choral Association), it has been one of the most consistently popular pieces of music in the classical repertoire. Its initial performance was only a mild success, however, and Strauss is reputed to have said "The devil take the waltz, my only regret is for the coda—I wish that had been a success!"

The waltz originally had an accompanying song text written by Josef Wey. Strauss adapted it into a purely orchestral version for the World's Fair in Paris that same year, and it became a great success in this form. The instrumental version is by far the most commonly performed today. An alternate text by Franz von Gernerth, Donau so blau (Danube so blue), is also used on occasion.

Here it is in 2001: A Space Oddysey:

And here is the Portsmouth Sinfonia version:

Wikipedia on the Portsmouth Sinfonia:

The Portsmouth Sinfonia was a real orchestra founded by a group of students at Portsmouth School of Art in Portsmouth, England, in 1970—however, the Sinfonia had an unusual entrance requirement. Players had to be either non-musicians, or if a musician, play an instrument that was entirely new to them. Among the founding members was one of their teachers, English composer Gavin Bryars. The orchestra started as a one-off, tongue-in-cheek performance art ensemble but became a cultural phenomenon over the following ten years, with concerts, record albums, a film and a hit single. The impact of the Portsmouth Sinfonia was considerable and their name and reputation has endured even though they last performed publicly in 1979.

Michael Nyman wrote a piece of music called The Otherwise Very Beautiful Blue Danube Waltz in 1976. I found this text in a google book search, and typed it up and everything (book previews do not, criminally, allow cut and paste):

"The piece's title is taken from a passage in Arnold Schoenberg's essay 'Brahms the Progressive', where he admonishes Johann Strauyss' use of "slightly varied repetitions... in the otherwise very beautiful Blue Danube Waltz". Schoenberg's comments suggest that he is rather dismissive of the somewhat formulaic and predictable nature of Strauss's waltz, though acknowledging at the same time its "simple beauty". Nyman's use of Schoenberg's quotation, however, pays homage to the work's "otherness" by breaking down and rebuilding each musical fragment from the found soure. In this case, Nyman's composition has been constructed out of Strauss's well-known waltz, An der schonen, blauen Donau"

(from The Music of Michael Nyman: Texts, Contexts and Intertexts By Pwyll ap Siôn)

Last in this little Blue Danube special, is this video of someone's Nan hesitating her way through Strauss's piece on the piano. This is my favourite version so far:

Today's quote:

"Make a point to do something each day that you don't want to"

This isn't attributable to any quote king (not even Churchill), and isn't exactly inspirational, either. I mean, every day I go to work and I don't want to, but that's just life. Yeah, nice one, calendar!