The Blue Danube Waltz is the common English title of An der schönen blauen Donau, Op. 314 (German for "By the Beautiful Blue Danube"), a waltz by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II, composed in 1866. Originally performed on 15 February 1867 at a concert of the Wiener Männergesang-Verein (Vienna Men's Choral Association), it has been one of the most consistently popular pieces of music in the classical repertoire.
It is the music that was used in "The Glass Slipper Ball" and "Go Team!".
Summary[]
In Season 2[]
In The Glass Slipper Ball, the blue Danube waltz was used to help June get to the dance, win the glass slipper and do the June and rocket dance at the end of the episode.
In Go Team, The Blue Danube Waltz was used to sing the go team song.
Episode Appearances[]
Season 2[]
Songs adapted from The Blue Danube Waltz[]
The Glass Slipper Ball[]
Go Team![]
Trivia[]
- Its initial performance was considered 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 "Beautiful Blue Danube" was first written as a song for a carnival choir (for bass and tenor), with rather satirical lyrics (Austria having just lost a war with Prussia). The original title was also referring to a poem about the Danube in the poet Karl Isidor Beck's hometown, Baja in Hungary, and not in Vienna.
- When Strauss's stepdaughter, Alice von Meyszner-Strauss, asked the composer Johannes Brahms to sign her autograph-fan, he wrote down the first bars of "The Blue Danube", but added "Leider nicht von Johannes Brahms" ("Unfortunately not by Johannes Brahms").
- The specifically Viennese sentiment associated with Strauss's melody has made it an unofficial national anthem of Austria.
- The main melody is traditionally sung in Mexico at birthday parties to the lyrics "Queremos pastel, pastel, pastel" ("We want cake, cake, cake"), as a way for the guests to indicate that they want the birthday cake to be served.
In popular culture[]
- The piece plays in the opening scenes and as background music in several other scenes of the 1932 film Grand Hotel.
- The piece is used throughout the Netflix series 2021 Squid Game to indicate the start of a new game.
- The piece also used in Netflix 2023 game show Squid Game: The Challenge.
- This piece is used as the tune for "Nick's B. Danube" from the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Jellyfishing", as well as heard in the Dexter’s Laboratory episode "Inflata Dee Dee".
- The piece was prominently used in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. After a leap from humanity's prehistoric past to its spacefaring future, the first two-thirds of The Blue Danube are heard as a space plane approaches and docks with a space station; it concludes while another spacecraft travels from the station to the Moon. The piece is then reprised over the film's closing credits.
- The piece was featured in the 1997 blockbuster film, Titanic, when Jack Dawson enters the Grand Staircase in first class on the ill fated liner. It was performed by I Salonisti as the ship's famous orchestra.
- The piece is used in the 2014 video game Elite Dangerous during the automated docking sequence of a players space ship, a homage to the docking scene in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
- This piece was acapella remixed in Crash Twinsanity during "Worm Chase" level.
- This piece was heard in Minions: The Rise of Gru during the plane scene to San Francisco, and it's partially sung by the minions.
- This piece also parodied in Merrie Melodies cartoon "A Corny Concerto" especially the young Daffy Duck's part.
- The piece is used in the 2017 DuckTales episode "What Ever Happened to Donald Duck?!", when Donald is escaping the Moon using a Rocket.
- The piece has been used in numerous Baby Einstein videos, and in a WeeSchool CD that was released under their new owner, ParentPal.
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