The Blue Danube is the common English title of An der schönen blauen Donau op. 314 (On the Beautiful Blue Danube), a waltz by Johann Strauss II (1825-1899), composed in 1867. He was known in his lifetime as "the waltz king" and was largely responsible for the popularity of the waltz in Vienna during the 19th century. He revolutionized the waltz, elevating it from a lowly peasant dance to entertainment fit for the royal Habsburg court. Used during the sequences of space travel from the Earth to the Moon in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
