Reuge Swiss Musical Movement Johan Strauss II The Blue Danube - Antique Works.

Good vintage condition

Music plays

Very well preserved

About Reuge

The founder of Reuge music boxes, by his name Charles Reuge, settled for the first time in Switzerland, in a small town, Sainte-Croix, where, in 1865 began manufacturing small watches that included small musical box movements. The business went just fine, so his older son, Albert opened the first Reuge workshop. He continued his father work and made musical movements. Incredible as it may seem, the Reuge factory can be found at the same address in Sainte-Croix Switzerland, making an astonishing range of movements, from simple ones to multi tune of up to 144 notes.

Nowadays, the Reuge music boxes cover a lot of items, such as wedding music boxes, jewelry music boxes, and simple music boxes. The materials that are used to make these exquisite items are very selective. Burr elm, walnut, rosewood and many other make these music boxes quite unique.

But here are some examples to understand better the Reuge style. You can find in a Reuge store a beautiful 'Swiss Romance' musical jewelry box manufactured in Switzerland. Once you open it you will see a couple dancing on nice 22 musical movements. It is specially hand crafted using natural burr elm wood veneers, giving it style and elegance.

There is another thing that you should know about Reuge music boxes. They are created in three collections: "1865", "Lounge" and "Studio", each with its own characteristics and styles. The"1865" collection is a classic line of great music boxes, horology and singing birds. Inlaid in the finest woods and precious metals they can be considered the best of the best.

The "Lounge' ones are contemporary line products, which bring the music boxes into a more up-to-date world. The items they create are great as decorative items. They have special designs which are meant to improve the quality of the sound.

The "Studio" creations are quite innovative models, very modern, aesthetic and yet with a developed cultural level. The rarest materials are used to create the finest mechanical music boxes.

Any of these styles is different in shape and design and they are also different in the number of notes used. In fact, all these differences are the base of every style. The size of the box, the materials used, the length of the cylinder, and the number of notes will be there to choose from.

These are great not only as decorating ideas, but as presents. They are very stylish and durable (sometimes besides using the best woods, they also use very strong and precious materials such as silver or gold) and due to this qualities, you can be sure they will last in time, and your gift will be remembered for years and years to come.

About Johan Strauss II The Blue Danube

It is the most famous waltz ever written – actually not one waltz but a chain of five interlinked waltz themes. It is Austria’s second national anthem. It is the inescapable conclusion to each New Year’s Day concert in Vienna. But how many of us have ever heard Strauss’s original version?

In 1865, Johann Herbeck, choirmaster of the Vienna Men’s Choral Society, commissioned Strauss to write a choral work; due to the composer’s other commitments the piece wasn’t even started. The following year, Austria was defeated by Prussia in the Seven Weeks’ War. Aggravated by post-war economic depression, Viennese morale was at a low and so Strauss was encouraged to revisit his commission and write a joyful waltz song to lift the country’s spirit.

Strauss recalled a poem by Karl Isidor Beck (1817-79). Each stanza ends with the line: ‘By the Danube, beautiful blue Danube’. It gave him the inspiration and the title for his new work – although the Danube could never be described as blue and, at the time the waltz was written, it did not flow through Vienna. To the waltz, the choral society’s “poet” Josef Weyl added humorous lyrics ridiculing the lost war, the bankrupt city and its politicians: “Wiener seid’s froh! Oho! Wieso?” (“Viennese be happy! Oho! But why?”).

The premiere of the Waltz For Choir at Vienna’s Dianabadsaal (Diana Bath Hall) took place on February 15, 1867. Considering its subsequent popularity, its reception was somewhat muted (apparently it received only one encore, which in Strauss’s terms equalled a flop). This may have been due to the fact that both the choir and the audience hated the words. But when, later that year, Strauss introduced the waltz in its orchestral garb to Paris at the World Exhibition, it created a sensation.

It’s said that Strauss’s publisher received so many orders for the piano score that he had to make 100 new copper plates so that he could print over a million copies. Twenty-three years later, Franz von Gernerth, a member of the Austrian Supreme Court, composed a more dignified text for the melodies of the waltz: "Donau, so blau, so blau" ("Danube, so blue, so blue”).

Did You Know?

J Strauss II made his American debut in Boston on June 17, 1872, conducting The Blue Danube for the World Peace Jubilee. For the occasion, Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore, an Irish bandmaster, assembled an orchestra of 2000 and a choir of 20,000.