A Vienna Classic Waltzes Into the Final Frontier

Vienna is righting an interstellar wrong as part of the year-long 200^th birthday celebrations for Waltz King Johann Strauss II.

The composer of “The Blue Danube” waltz, Strauss gave the world a hummable tune that still sets people swaying. From Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 masterpiece “2001: A Space Odyssey”, to Homer Simpson munching chips in weightless space, “The Blue Danube” is welded into popular culture.

In a place where music reigns, it’s undeniably the theme song of Vienna. It’s even played to ring in every New Year. Take it from the composer’s great-grand-nephew, Eduard Strauss: If you want to get to know Vienna, stream some Strauss.

“I feel it’s my music. Strauss’s music is part of Vienna and for me, there is no other place in the world where it could have been composed,” says Strauss, a retired judge who serves as chair of the Vienna Institute for Strauss Research. He also sang baritone with the Vienna Men’s Choral Society, the choir that commissioned “The Blue Danube” in 1866. It was performed for the first time the following year.

Strauss urges tourists to pop on some headphones and play Strauss compositions as they wander through the city for inspiration and connection.

Like a violin-toting Elvis of the 19th century, Strauss has been called the world’s first pop star. He had global reach with a huge catalogue of lively music, including catchy compositions that popularized the then-scandalous dance craze, the waltz.

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Yet “The Blue Danube” didn’t make the cut for the two Golden Record time capsules launched with twin spacecraft Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 in 1977 to introduce Earth to extraterrestrials. The snub was made right with “Waltz into Space” on May 31, when a live performance of the classic in Vienna was digitized and transmitted towards Voyageur 1 by deep-space antenna. The rest of the globe can stream the joint project of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Vienna Symphony at space.vienna.info. Fans can also “claim” one of the 13,743 notes in the waltz on the website.

What does Strauss feel when he hears the first bars of his relative’s famous composition? Most of the time it’s disappointment.

“When it comes to the first bars of the waltz, I always feel that it’s interpreted wrong,” he says, humming the first few bars and adding a jaunty “tcha, tcha.”

“The Blue Danube” was written as a choral waltz with satirical lyrics, Strauss says. It should be sharp, lively and light, not the ponderous approach that today’s conductors favour.

Vienna, especially in its magnificent historic heart, certainly deserves a soundtrack. There’s a sense of imperial grandeur in the palaces, squares, and splendid boulevards of the central First District.

Take the 3.3-mile (5.3-kilometre) Ringstrasse (Ring Road), which passes the city’s most important and impressive buildings, including museums and the Vienna State Opera. The dramatic show of architectural splendour is breathtaking.

It’s easy to do the Ringstrasse tour on public transit. Several red tram lines follow the route. A ticket is 2.40 euro (about $2.50 USD or $3.50 CAD) and an unlimited city-wide tram/bus/metro pass is about 8 euro (about $8.60 USD or $12 CAD) and is good for 24 hours of use.

Hop off at Stadtpark, Vienna’s first public park, to visit the gold-plated monument to Johann Strauss, violin in hand. Then walk about 10 minutes to the center of Vienna to view St. Stephen’s Cathedral. It’s a grand must-see Gothic work of art, especially for the mosaic-like tiled roof. And it’s where Strauss married the first of his three wives, Jetty Treffz, in 1862.

Strauss newbies can get up to speed on the composer and his life at the newly opened Johann Strauss Museum: New Dimensions. Visitors wear GPS-tracked headphones for the self-guided, immersive exhibition that takes them through seven acts of Strauss’s life in just over an hour.

“You get a perfect introduction,” says Helena Steinhart of the Vienna Tourist Board.

But Eduard Strauss wasn’t swept up by the experience. He found the headphones made him feel cut off from sharing the exhibition, unable to chat with his wife.

The House of Strauss Museum in the former Casino Zögernitz is the best place for visitors to get to know the Strauss dynasty, he says. Opened in 1837 by Johann Strauss senior, it was a hub for Viennese society. The restored concert hall ballroom is the only remaining venue where four members of the Strauss family performed and concerts with dinner are held here regularly.

You may even meet Strauss, who often leads tours.

“This is the real place where all the Strauss family of the 19th century played. You have original information, the original place,” he says. “And when I’m there, you have original person, too. They book me and then I can lead them through.”

Both Strauss and Steinhart recommend a visit to the Strauss apartment in the Second District, a neighborhood known as Leopoldstadt. It’s where Strauss composed “The Blue Danube”.

It’s also walking distance to Prater amusement park and the Riesenrad (Ferris wheel) made famous by the Vienna-shot 1948 drama “The Third Man”. Built in 1897, spacious wooden wagons make the slow trip around the wheel. Take in city views from the top of the 213-foot (65-meter) wheel.

Movie fans can visit the world’s only museum dedicated to “The Third Man”, which is often included on lists of greatest films. It’s in the Fourth District, not far from Naschmarkt, Vienna’s largest street market.

For lunch, get back on the tram and head to one of the outdoor cafés in the chic Servitengasse neighbourhood in the 9th District, called Little Paris by locals.

This area is also where Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, worked and lived for almost 50 years at Berggasse 19. The rooms, including his office waiting room, are part of the Sigmund Freud Museum, which was updated in 2020.

Add to the experience with Tourism Vienna’s free ivie app, which has more than two dozen guided walks, including ones for Freud and Strauss.

Vienna is famous for its Kaffeehaus culture where patrons relax, read or converse over a simple meal, or coffee and pastry, in unhurried style. Some of the buildings are Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) gems. It’s easy to imagine Freud or Leon Trotsky sipping coffee in the Café Central.

Unwind with an Einspänner, a small cup of hot espresso topped with several inches of whipped cream. Spoil yourself with a slice of Viennese apple strudel, served with more whipped cream. Try Demel, which has been making Viennese pastry and chocolates since 1786. I sat in a pale green upholstered booth at circa-1910 Café Goldegg and had a delicious Wiener Schnitzel. The lineups can be long for the elegant Café Bel Étage in the historic Hotel Sacher, birthplace of decadent Sacher torte. A slice of the famous chocolate cake, topped with whipped cream and served with tea or coffee, is about 22 euro (about $25 USD or $35 CAD).

After sunset, music reigns in the city of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and, of course, Strauss. Each evening, an estimated 10,000 people listen to a live classical performance somewhere in Vienna, then walk back to their hotels humming.