Wo die Zitronen blühen


"Wo die Zitronen blühen", Op. 364, is a Waltz by Johann Strauss II written in 1874. The waltz was composed during a tour of the composer in Italy where he travelled with the Langenbach Orchestra of Germany and performed the work at the Teatro Regio in Turin on 9 May 1874.
The waltz came after a successful premiere of his famous operetta Die Fledermaus and Strauss originally entitled the waltz as "Bella Italia" for his Italian audiences before renaming it "Wo die Zitronen blühen" after a quote from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's novel Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre — "Kennst du das Land, wo die Zitronen blühn?".
Strauss's waltz follows the structure of an introduction followed by three two-part waltz sections and a coda, instead of his earlier format of five two-part sections. This structure was to feature in most of his later waltzes although he did not set it as a definite and permanent structure.
Waltz 1
\relative b'

The work begins in a tranquil fashion in G major, with a reflective solo violin melody in the Introduction. A series of loud chords precedes the gentle first waltz section. The second section is more animated with a second part in D major. The wistful nature of the waltz is further expanded in the third section. A lively coda recalls earlier melodies and the first waltz section makes another entry. Near the end of the work, the introduction's solo violin melody returns before the waltz rises to a forte and climaxes with a timpani drumroll.

Vienna New Year's Concert

The waltz was part of the Vienna New Year's Concert programmes as follows.