APOD: Blue Danube Analemma (2016 Jul 29)

[Chris Peterson]

I was wondering why the Danube looked so beautifully blue.

I've been many times on or along the Danube, and I'm sorry to report that it is generally the same muddy green color that virtually all European rivers are once they're out of the mountains.

[neufer]

I was wondering why the Danube looked so beautifully blue.

I've been many times on or along the Danube, and I'm sorry to report that it is generally the same muddy green color that virtually all European rivers are once they're out of the mountains.

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<<In 1866, following Vienna's horrible defeat at the hands of the Prussians and the Italians, Johann Herbeck, master of the Vienna Men’s Choral Society, commissioned Johann Strauss to write a Waltz to lift the spirits of the people. Strauss had just read a poem by Karl Beck. Each stanza ended with the line: ‘By the Danube, the beautiful blue Danube’. Now Strauss had both the inspiration and the title he needed for his new work. Only one problem... oddly enough, at the moment the beautiful blue Danube could hardly be described as blue. It seems that ever since the recent flood, the muddy Danube had been closer to red-brown in color. Nor did anyone in Vienna even like the Danube River. All the Danube ever did was cause problems. Not only was an entire season of crops ruined by the flood, no one dared live anywhere near it. Due to flooding concerns, Viennese engineers avoided going anywhere close to this dangerous river. Consequently, unlike Budapest, Vienna's downstream neighbor, Vienna didn't want anything to do with the massive river. Therefore at the time Strauss wrote his waltz, the river didn’t even flow through Vienna. It wasn’t until 1970 that technology made it safe to finally allow Vienna to expand to the banks of the Danube.

But Strauss didn’t let small details like these deter him. He took to to writing his uplifting song with great passion. In 1867, Johann Strauss composed a Waltz titled An der schönen, blauen Donau. The song got off to a very slow start. It didn't help that Josef Weyl ruined the song. Weyl was an Austrian humorist affiliated with the Choral Society. Weyl decided to add humorous lyrics to the song: “Wiener seid’s froh! Oho! Wieso?” (“Viennese be happy! Oho! But why?”). Weyl's satirical lyrics ridiculed the lost war, the bankrupt city and its politicians.

Strauss believed in his Waltz, but agreed the lyrics were pure sabotage. So he debuted an orchestral version of his song in Paris later in the year at the 1867 World Exhibition. Without the lyrics, the song was greatly improved. The Parisians and the visitors to the World Exhibition absolutely loved the song. Once the Parisians made such a fuss, now the Austrians began to pay better attention. With the lyrics removed, they too embraced the song.>>