Born in Vienna in 1825, Johann Strauss was the eldest son of the composer of the Radetzky March. His father wanted him to become a banker, but he learned the violin in secret and, at nineteen, conducted his own dance orchestra in a casino on the outskirts of Vienna. When his father died in 1849, he took over the family orchestra as well. Nicknamed the "Waltz King", he wrote nearly five hundred waltzes, polkas and marches, and operettas, among them Die Fledermaus (1874). He died in Vienna in 1899.
The catalogue presents The Blue Danube in the piano version Strauss published with Spina in 1867. The left hand plays a bass note and then two chords in each bar: keep it light and supple, so that the waltz turns without weighing.
