The piece
Johann Strauss the younger wrote The Blue Danube in 1866 for a Viennese men's choir, which first sang it on 15 February 1867. The welcome was polite; it was the orchestral version, played in Paris during the World's Fair that same year, that made it the most famous waltz in the world. It returns every year as an encore at the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert. The version played here is the one Strauss published for the piano with Spina in 1867, checked note by note against that edition.
The introduction opens with a shimmer in the right hand, two notes alternating very quickly, while the left hand calls like a horn. Then come five waltzes and an ending that recalls them. In each waltz, the left hand plays a bass note and then two chords: the bass on the first beat, the chords lighter. Count "one, two, three" and let the first beat carry the bar.
