Unter Donner und Blitz, op. 324

Unter Donner und Blitz was written for the 1868 carnival and first played at a ball of the Vienna artists' association Hesperus. The thunder and lightning of the title are supplied literally by the percussion: bass drum and cymbals mark the storm, timpani rolls the thunder. Strauss set out the polka schnell in the usual three-part shape but let the percussion drive the argument rather than decorate it, which is unusual in his ballroom output. The piece has become a standard closing number, placed where an audience expects noise rather than nuance.