Sheet Music: The Blue Danube

TitleThe Blue Danube
Alternate titlesAn der schönen blauen Donau
Opus numberOp. 314
ComposerJohann Strauss II (1825–1899)
InstrumentationFlute and Piano
KeyD major
RangeC#4–F#6
Time signature3/4
Tempo60 BPM
Performance time1:10
Difficulty levelintermediate
Download printable scorePDF Sheet Music (91 kB) (preview)
Download audio tracksMIDI (change tempo/key) MP3 (972 kB)
Play-along accompanimentMIDI (change tempo/key) MP3 (972 kB)
Date added2009-06-12
Last updated2009-06-12
Download popularity index☆☆☆☆☆ 5.7 (very popular)
Categories
Dance tunes, Film music, Romantic, Show-off pieces, Waltzes

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Friday 12 June 2009

Tune of the Day: The Blue Danube

by Johann Strauss II

“The Blue Danube” is the common English title of An der schönen blauen Donau, op. 314 (literally ‛On the Beautiful Blue Danube’), a waltz composed in 1866. Originally performed 13 February 1867 at a concert in Vienna, it has been one of the most consistently popular pieces of music in the classical repertoire, though its initial performance was only a mild success.

The sentimental Viennese connotations of the piece have made it into a sort of unofficial Austrian national anthem. It is a traditional encore piece at the annual Vienna New Year's Concert.

The soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey is also particularly remembered for using this well-known waltz during the extended space-station docking and lunar landing sequences. “The Blue Danube” may seem comical at first in this situations, but it certainly suggests the dance of spacecrafts under the slow inexorable influence of Newtonian mechanics. The space station pirouettes as the shuttle yaws into alignment, while inside a member of the cabin crew demonstrates walking under zero gravity conditions.