Vienna Philharmonic to broadcast "Blue Danube" waltz into space

The Vienna Philharmonic will perform the famous "Blue Danube" waltz, composed by Johann Strauss the Younger, in a special concert in the Austrian capital on May 31. The event will have a cosmic dimension, as the performance of this waltz will be transmitted to the Voyager 1 space probe, currently in interstellar space.

The transmission will be made via the Deep Space Antenna telescope in Spain, operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). Norbert Kettner, director of the Vienna Tourist Office, announced that the Viennese orchestra will perform the waltz in the Museum of Applied Arts (MAK) in Vienna. At the time of its launch in 1977, Voyager 1 carried on board a gold audio-video disc containing photographs, information about the Earth and 27 pieces of music, including works by Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. However, Johann Strauss' famous waltz was not included, although it became a symbol of space exploration, being used in the soundtrack of the film "2001: A Space Odyssey", directed by Stanley Kubrick. The transmission of this waltz to Voyager 1 is part of a campaign organized by the Vienna Tourist Office to celebrate the bicentenary of the birth of Johann Strauss. The event also marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of ESA. Voyager 1 is located at a distance of about 25 billion kilometers from Earth, beyond the boundaries of the Solar System. The transmitted audio signal will need about 23 hours to reach the probe. The organizers of the project say that the possibility of this signal being intercepted by another civilization depends on the technical skills of any receivers. Anyone who wishes to symbolically participate in this unique project can sponsor one of the 13,743 musical notes of the waltz for free, thus contributing to an artistic endeavor of cosmic scope.