The famous waltz “The Blue Danube ” by Austrian composer Johann Strauss II officially “traveled among the stars” on May 31, when the European Space Agency (ESA) broadcast the piece live into space to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the musical genius’s birth.
The piece, which has become synonymous with space travel after being used in Stanley Kubrick's classic film 2001: "A Space Odyssey" (1968), now becomes the first piece of music to be transmitted into space by the ESA as part of a special concert called “The Interstellar Concert.”
The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra performed the waltz live in the Austrian capital. The concert was not only streamed online, but also screened in public venues such as Bryant Park in New York and near ESA's Cebreros antenna in Spain.
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said the digitized audio signal would be transmitted to a 35-meter-diameter satellite dish at Cebreros, then continue traveling as electromagnetic waves into space.
The director of the Vienna Tourist Board, Norbert Kettner, called the piece “the unofficial hymn of the universe,” emphasizing Kubrick’s role in cementing the waltz’s image in the public memory as associated with space.
He added that the melody is also regularly heard during docking operations on the International Space Station (ISS).
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra executive director Jan Nast, who programmed the hour-long performance, commented that the waltz had a “light, almost gliding feeling.”
He emphasized that music is a universal language that has the ability to connect people and convey joy and hope.
After leaving Earth at the speed of light, the audio signal will take about 23 hours and 3 minutes to reach NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft - the most distant man-made object ever launched into space - and continue its "interstellar" journey./.
Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/giai-dieu-valse-kinh-dien-the-blue-danubengan-vang-giua-cac-vi-sao-post1041882.vnp
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