Johann Strauss II, “An der schönen blauen Donau, Op. 314.” (Blue Danube) 1866.- Annotation
This post discusses a sound document:
Johann Strauss II, “An der schönen blauen Donau, Op. 314.” 1866.
"An der schönen blauen Donau, Op. 314” by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss II is a beautiful waltz that has a recognizable upbeat tempo. Dimitris Papaioannou changes this famous tempo dramatically to suit the pace of The Great Tamer. This song is memorable in the performance text particularly because it paid homage to the piece and its notable use in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), a film exploring the impact of technology on both human evolution and artificial life. Similar to the space motifs 2001: A Space Odyssey, Papaioannou’s production features a performer in a spacesuit as a spinning wheel glows on the black faceless helmet, a symbol synonymous with the buffering sign exclusive to screens of technology in the 21st century. The suited actor continues to walk down the intricate minimal set to discover a hidden human coming to life.
With this condition of production for reference, it’s useful to hear a song with such popular cultural importance be used in relation to the themes that are explored in The Great Tamer. It will be helpful to use alongside the video trailer of The Great Tamer, available on the Avignon Festival’s website, to hear how the performance text altered it to suit the needs of their story, keeping in mind that the song is scored to the video trailer itself and does not accurately reflect the performance text.
As I closely analyze Papaioannou’s production in terms of semiotics and language, this allusion to Kubrick’s work is important; as I focus my research on the production of meaning with media technology as language, the cultural significance of this song presents a whole other layer of what kind of semiotic language it represents. I have not seen Papaioannou comment that it was his intention to pay tribute to the ideas and notions present in Kubrick’s film, but whatever the intention, I chose to see this reference as a form of communication with the audience, adding another semiotic language to the performance text.
Other Works Referenced
2001: A Space Odyssey. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. Perf. Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1968.
