An der schönen blauen Donau (By the beautiful blue Danube), Op. 314, a.k.a. The blue Danube is a waltz by Johann Strauss II, composed in 1866 and premiered the following year. It has become one of the most consistently popular pieces of music in the classical repertoire. Its initial performance was only a mild success. After the original music was written, the words were added by the Choral Association's poet, Joseph Weyl. Strauss adapted it into a purely orchestral version for the World's Fair in Paris that same year, and it became a great success in this form, being by far the most commonly performed today. The Viennese sentiments associated with the waltz have made it an unofficial Austrian anthem. The waltz is traditionally broadcast on television and radio stations exactly at midnight on New Year's Eve. The first few bars are the interval signal of Österreichischer Rundfunk's international programs. When Strauss's stepdaughter, Alice von Meyszner-Strauss, asked Brahms to sign her autograph-fan, he wrote down the first bars of The Blue Danube, adding "Alas! not by Johannes Brahms''.
