For this activity, you are going to compare two very different interpretations of waltz music. Make sure to read about each piece of music before you listen! 

1. THE BLUE DANUBE 

Watch dancers waltz to Johann Strauss's famous work, The Blue Danube. 

Fun Fact: There is another famous composer with the last name Strauss. Not related to the composer of The Blue Danube, Richard Strauss wrote a lot of music in an Expressionist style! See if you can find some of his works in this playlist. 

2. WOZZECK • Act II, Scene 4 

Listen to the frantic dance music as the main character, Wozzeck, sings about his growing anger. Does this sound like something you'd want to waltz to? 

Interested in listening to more waltzes? 

Chopin's Minute Waltz

The Romantic composer Frédéric Chopin originally titled this zippy little waltz Valse du petit chien or Waltz of the Little Dog. Legend has it that he was inspired by a little dog named Marquis who ran around Chopin's house while he composed. 

Shostakovich's Waltz No. 2

Dmitri Shostakovich, whom you learned about in your Modernism magazine, wrote this famous waltz for a 1950s film called The First Echelon. 

Tchaikovsky's Waltz from Sleeping Beauty 

Pyotr Tchaikovsky wrote the music for a famous ballet about the Sleeping Beauty fairytale. Compare the original music to this song in Disney's Sleeping Beauty...do you think Disney was inspired by Tchaikovsky?