An der schönen blauen Donau, op. 314

The Vienna Men's Choral Association commissioned a carnival waltz from Strauss for the season of 1867, and An der schönen blauen Donau was first sung on 15 February that year at the Dianabad-Saal with a mocking text by the association's poet Josef Weyl. The choral premiere was a modest success at best. Five months later Strauss took the purely orchestral version to the Paris World Exhibition, where it caught on immediately and began its independent career. The title comes from a poem by Karl Isidor Beck, not from the river's actual colour.