Who composed 'The Blue Danube' waltz?

Johann Strauss II composed “The Blue Danube” waltz. Its German title, “An der schönen blauen Donau,” means “By the Beautiful Blue Danube,” and the work is catalogued as Op. 314.

Strauss wrote the music in 1866 for the Vienna Men’s Choral Association. It was first performed in Vienna on February 15, 1867, in a choral version with words by the association’s poet, Joseph Weyl. The original reception was modest, but an orchestral performance later that year in Paris helped turn the piece into an international success.

The work is now one of the best-known pieces of Viennese classical music. Its flowing melody, spacious introduction, and sequence of contrasting waltz sections helped establish it as a symbol of Vienna and the Danube. People sometimes confuse Johann Strauss II with his father, Johann Strauss I, who was also a prominent Austrian dance composer. Strauss II, however, wrote “The Blue Danube,” and the piece is often associated with New Year’s concerts and space-age imagery through its use in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey.”