Danube Waves

#ValurileDunării #Waltz
The most famous and performed waltz in the world, the Danube Waves, was composed by Ioan (Jovan, Ion, Ivan, Iosif) Ivanovici from Timisoara.
In 1889, Romania participated in the Paris Exhibition with 736 competitors, who obtained 271 prizes – 2 grand prizes, 26 gold medals, 63 silver medals, 73 bronze medals and 107 honorable mentions. The Romanian delegation was led by Prince George Bibescu, the General Commissioner of the Romanian Principalities for this exhibition, and the Government allocated a budget of 200,000 lei and the right to organize a lottery with a capital of 300,000 lei, says Simona Antonescu, in the book Photographer of the Court Royal.
The organizers of the exhibition in Paris made available to Romania a space of 1146 square meters, and the net benefit brought by Romania was 62,000 lei...
Grand Prix of the 1889 Paris Universal Exhibition
Silver medals were awarded to the Azuga Hydraulic Lime Factory (for the quality of the products) and to Ștefan Ionescu Vaibudea, for the Victorious sculpture.
Gold medals were awarded to Casa Capșa (for the quality of confectionery products), Constantin Istrati (for the discovery of franceines, organic dyes), Iordache Restaurant, whose patron invented the traditional cookies (for products), for the ones sewn by Mrs. Paraschiva Topârceanu, the mother the poet, for the mineral waters from Slănic Moldova, compared to those from Karlovy Vary or Vichy, but also the Botoșani Steam Mills Society and Gavriil Musicescu, composer, for the collection of 12 National Songs.
The Grand Prize of the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1889 was obtained, from the Romanian delegation, by Podgoria Cotnari - for the quality of the wines presented, as well as by Iosif Ivanovici, composer, for the March that represented the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1889.
The melody of Iosif Ivanovich was chosen from 116 candidate compositions
The Paris Universal Exhibition of 1889 was the eighteenth universal exhibition held, but it remained in history because of the theme, the centenary of the French Revolution, and the inauguration of the famous Eiffel Tower, the 324 m high steel frame structure in Paris, which became the most widespread symbol of France worldwide. Built between 1887 and 1889, inaugurated on March 31, 1889 and opened to the public on May 6, the Eiffel Tower served as the entrance arch to the Universal Exhibition, the world's fair held from May 6 to October 31, 1889.
The melody of Iosif Ivanovici, declared the official anthem of the Universal Exhibition in Paris, was chosen from 116 candidate compositions. The version presented at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1889 was actually a re-orchestration of Iosif Ivanovici's piece by the French composer Emile Waldteufel, the author of "Estudiantina".
The Banatian born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but who lived as a Romanian soldier in Galați
Born in 1845, during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ioan (Jovan, Ion, Ivan, Iosif) Ivanovici dedicated his life to Romanian military music. Timișoara is almost unanimously accepted as his place of birth, although at one point he was also "adopted" by Alba Iulia. The local administration from the Becicherecu Mic commune in Timișoara considers it to be the place where it saw the light of day.
Clarinetist, conductor and composer, the creation of Iosif Ivanovici includes over 350 pieces, mostly dances, from waltz, quadrille, polka, to marches. He left Banat at the age of 14, living his whole life in Galaţi, as an officer and conductor of several military music bands, in 1900 being appointed general inspector of military music in Romania.
This is how he arrived in Bucharest, where he died a year later, on September 16/28, 1902.
Accordion: prof. Adrian Bordeianu