Strauss’s “Brudanow” Waltz Soars into Space to Celebrate His 200th Birthday

Cape Canaveral, Florida – This month, Strauss’ Brudenau will embark on a journey into space. Discover the origins of King Waltz.

Timeless compositions will shine across the cosmos through a performance by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. The celestial event, titled Heavenly Saying, is set for May 31 and will be broadcasted via free public screenings in Vienna, Madrid, and New York, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the European Space Agency.

ESA staff have noted that music can be transmitted as radio signals in real-time; however, to circumvent potential technical difficulties, a pre-recorded version from the orchestra’s rehearsal will be aired the day before, with the live performance accompanying it.

Radio signals travel at the speed of light, approximately 670 million miles per hour (over 1 billion kilometers per hour).

As a result, the music would reach the Moon in just an hour and a half, Mars in 4.5 minutes, Jupiter in 37 minutes, and Neptune in 4 hours. Within a day, the signal would be over 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) away, as far as NASA’s Voyager 1, the most distant human-made object in interstellar space.

In 2008, NASA also commemorated 50 years by sending The Beatles’ “Across the Universe” into Deep Space. Furthermore, last year, they transmitted Missy Elliott’s “The Rain (Supa dupa Fly)” to Venus.

Music is not only traveling through space; NASA’s Mars Rover has made waves back to Earth. In 2012, flight controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California sent a recording of Will.i.am’s “Reach for the Stars,” which was then broadcasted by the Rover.

This interstellar transmission adds to a legacy of melodies shared between NASA mission control and astronauts since the mid-1960s.

Now it is Strauss’ turn, following its earlier inclusion in the Voyager Golden Records almost fifty years ago.

Released in 1977, NASA’s twin Voyager spacecraft each carry gold-plated copper gramophone records, equipped with styluses and instructions for playback.

These records feature earthly sounds and images alongside 90 minutes of music, curated by the late astronomer Carl Sagan and his committee, which included works by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Stravinsky, among contemporary and indigenous artists.

Notably omitted was Johann Strauss II, whose “Blue Danube” famously accompanied Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi film “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

The Vienna Tourism Board, located where Strauss was born on October 25, 1825, aims to rectify this “cosmic oversight” by sending the world’s most renowned waltz into the stars.

ESA’s large radio antenna in Spain, part of the agency’s deep space network, honors this initiative. The dish is directed toward Voyager 1, allowing “Blue Danube” to resonate through the cosmos.

“Music connects us across time and space in a unique way,” stated ESA Director Joseph Ashbacher. “The European Space Agency is sharing the spotlight with Johann Strauss II and inspiring future space scientists and explorers who will one day journey to the anthem of the universe.”