Austria 50 Schilling Silver Coin 1967 The Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss
Commemorative issue: 100th Anniversary of the Blue Danube Waltz
Obverse: Face value within a circle of the nine shields of the federal provinces of Austria, Coat of arms of Austria above the face value.
Obverse Designer: Edwin Grienauer
Engraver: Kurt Bodlak
Reverse: Johann Strauss the Younger, playing the violin, date below
Lettering: · REPUBLIK · 50 SCHILLING ÖSTERREICH
Reverse Designer: Kurt Bodlak
Engraver: Edwin Grienauer
Edge Description: Plain with engraved lettering: FUENFZIG SCHILLING -*-
Composition: Silver.
Fineness: 0.900.
Weight: 20 g.
ASW: 0.5787 oz.
Diameter: 34 mm.
The Blue Danube
The Blue Danube 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 in February, 1867 at a concert of the Wiener Männergesangsverein (Vienna Men's Choral Association), it has been one of the most consistently popular pieces of music in the classical repertoire. 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!"
After the original music was written, the words were added by the Choral Association's poet, Joseph Weyl. Strauss later added more music, and Weyl needed to change some of the words. Strauss adapted it into a purely orchestral version for the 1867 Paris World's Fair, and it became a great success in this form. The instrumental version is by far the most commonly performed today. An alternate text was written by Franz von Gernerth (de), "Donau so blau" (Danube so blue). "The Blue Danube" premiered in the United States in its instrumental version on 1 July 1867 in New York, and in Great Britain in its choral version on 21 September 1867 in London at the promenade concerts at Covent Garden.
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 adding "Leider nicht von Johannes Brahms" ("Alas! not by Johannes Brahms").
The specifically Viennese sentiment associated with Strauss's melody has made it an unofficial Austrian national anthem. The waltz is traditionally broadcast by all public-law television and radio stations exactly at midnight on New Year's Eve, and on New Year's Day it is a customary encore piece at the annual Vienna New Year's Concert. The first few bars are the interval signal of Österreichischer Rundfunk's international programs.
The piece was prominently used in the Stanley Kubrick film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The waltz is heard as a space plane docks with a space station while another spacecraft departs for the Moon. It is also heard over the film's closing credits.