1867, this work premiered in Vienna. Because Vienna at that time was under the siege of Prussia, people were pessimistic and disappointed, so this work was unfortunate and its premiere failed. It was not until February 1868, when Johann Strauss II lived at No.54, Brett Street, not far from the Danube River, that this chorus was changed into an orchestra, and many new contents were added, named "Blue Danube Waltz".
In the same year, this piece was a great success when it was performed in Paris. Only a few months later, this work was released in the United States. In an instant, this waltz spread all over the world and later became the author's most important masterpiece. To this day, this piece of music is still deeply loved by people all over the world. At the "New Year Concert" held in Vienna on New Year's Day every year, this song even became a reserved track.
This piece of music consists of an overture, five waltzes and an epilogue:
At the beginning of the overture, the violin played a slow roll in A major, as if the water waves of the Danube were turning gently. In this context, the French horn plays one of the most important motives of this piece of music, symbolizing the arrival of dawn.
The first waltz describes the scene where people intoxicated with nature dance along the Danube (fragment 1).
The second waltz first appeared in D major, and the ingenious and changeable second waltz described the little girl dancing happily in southern alps (fragment 2). Suddenly the music changed to B flat major, and the changeable colors were particularly touching (segment 3).
The third waltz is a singing melody, which adopts syncopation rhythm and gives people a cordial and novel feeling (fragment 4).
The rhythm at the beginning of the fourth waltz is relatively free, and the arpeggio melody is so beautiful that even the composer himself is proud of it, as if it were full of spring and refreshing (fragment 5).
The fifth waltz is the continuation and development of the artistic conception of the fourth waltz, but it is transferred to A major. The undulating, wavy melody reminds people of carefree boating on the Danube (fragment 6). The next part is the climax and ending of the whole song. There are two kinds of music endings, one is the chorus ending, which is very short after the fifth waltz. The other is the end of orchestral music, which is longer and reproduces the themes of the third waltz, the fourth waltz and the first waltz in turn, and finally ends in a stormy carnival atmosphere.