Lagunen-Walzer (Lagoon-Waltz) op. 411 is a

waltz The waltz ( , meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom dance, ballroom and folk dance, in triple (3/4 time, time), performed primarily in closed position. Along with the ländler and allemande, the waltz was sometimes referred to by the ...

Johann Strauss II Johann Baptist Strauss II (; ; 25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (), was an List of Austrian composers, Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas as well ...

written in 1883. The waltz melodies are drawn from his

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs and including dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, and length of the work. Apart from its shorter length, the oper ...

Eine Nacht in Venedig '' Eine Nacht in Venedig '' (''A Night in Venice'') is an operetta in three acts by Johann Strauss II. Its libretto was by F. Zell and Richard Genée based on ''Le Château Trompette'' by Eugène Cormon and Richard Genée. The farcical, roman ...

(A Night in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

) which was a fiasco when premiered in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

on 3 October 1883. The waltz's primary melody was from the Act 3 song by the character Duke of Urbino. The Berlin production incorporated many outrageously silly lyrics during this waltz song where the singer has to sing the embarrassing 'Nacht sind die Katzen ja grau, nachts tönt es zärtlich Miau!' (At night, the cats are grey, at night "meow" they tenderly say!'). Without further ado, for the hurried

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

premiere, the tempo was reduced and the words were replaced with the more agreeable 'Ach, wie so herrlich zu schaun, sind all' die lieblichen Frau'n!' (Oh, how splendid to see, all of these lovely ladies!).

Eduard Strauss Eduard "Edi" Strauss (15 March 1835 – 28 December 1916) was an Austrian composer who, together with his brothers Johann Strauss II and Josef Strauss made up the Strauss musical dynasty. He was the son of Johann Strauss I and Maria Anna Streim ...

first performed the orchestral work on 4 November 1883 in the Golden Hall ( Goldener-Saal) of the Vienna

Musikverein The ( or ; ), commonly shortened to , is a concert hall in Vienna, Austria, which is located in the Innere Stadt district. The building opened in 1870 and is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. The acoustics of the building's 'Grea ...

, site of the modern day

Neujahrskonzert The Vienna New Year's Concert () is an annual concert of classical music performed by the Vienna Philharmonic on the morning of New Year's Day in Vienna, Austria. The concert occurs at the Musikverein at 11:15. The orchestra performs the same co ...

References

Waltzes by Johann Strauss II {{classical-composition-stub