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An der
schönen blauen Donau:
The first performance
Johann Strauß (Sohn) |
On February 15th, 1867, at the concert of the Vienna Männergesangsverein, the Danube Waltz had its premiere in the ballroom of the Dianabad. The concert lasted 5 hours (sic!), the Danube Waltz opening the second part of the evening. The public, which normally applauded Strauß thunderously, did not appreciate the waltz very much although it was given a repeat. The reason for this lacking enthusiasm was that in the opinion of the public the text was rather silly. In the Vienna of 1867 such texts were usually produced by Josef Weyl, poet and police headquarters official. His function was that of a humorist employed by the Vienna Männergesangsverein and so he started the text for the finished waltz with "Viennese, rejoice! Oh, but why?" This introduction did not correspond with the composer’s mood but expressed the prevailing feelings of public gloom by hinting at the political situation and satirising events after the lost battle of Königgrätz. Altogether Josef Weyl produced 3 different texts for this Strauß waltz.
By 1890 this waltz had only been performed 7 times by the Männergesangsverein.
In 1890 a member of the Supreme Court Dr.Franz Gerneth had produced a new text: "Danube, so blue, through meads and woods....." A summer choral recital in the Dreherpark, Meidling, included this work with the new text - from then on its path to world fame could not be stopped any more.
remarks on the texts 
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