One hundred years ago, the city of silver music was blessed by the birth of the Strauss family, amidst carnivals, dances and feasting. Vienna finally found its voice after hundreds of years of searching. The Strauss family brought musical glory to Vienna.

The representative style of the Golden Age of music in Vienna was the waltz and Johann Strauss II was fully deserving of the title “The Waltz King”. His works created an expression of Viennese life and described the resplendent requiem of the waltz. His waltzes formed a musical reader to Viennese life and a piece by piece chronicle of Viennese customs: An der schönen blauen Donau (the Blue Danube), Fruhlingsstimmen (Voices of Spring), Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald (Tales from the Vienna Wood) nand Wein, Weib und Gesang Walzer (Wine, Woman and Song Waltzes) … He brought music into the streets, the woods and the countryside and enabled it to coexist with both the city of Vienna and the nation. He created a myth, whether intentionally or unintentionally: the presence of Vienna as a city. This myth established Vienna’s position and this in turn enabled the relationship between the city and the people of Vienna to form an exceptional symbol. The myth of Strauss came to rest as soon as it was created, in the same way that the city of Vienna has remained in the memories of the people.

The second period of glory of Viennese music was the Silver Age. The representative figure of this period was Franz Lehár. His numerous operette in the style of the Viennese waltz are still performed in concerts to this day. The form of the operetta began in France in the mid 19^th century but it was in Vienna that it reached its peak. Prominent works of the operette form include Die Fledermaus (the Bat) and Der Zigeunerbaron (the Gypsy Baron) by Johann Strauss II and Franz Lehár’s Die lustige Witwe (the Merry Widow) and Das Land des Lächelns (the Land of Smiles), the latter of which was set in China.

“My friend Adam Yu has a genuine and all-consuming passion for Austrian music culture. Every year, he visits Vienna with the purpose of having his heartstrings stirred. His character is dignified and pure, and he has a knack for perceiving the finer things in life. He spares no effort to share bouts of happiness with friends, the seeds of which were sown by his talent. He’s made remarkable contributions towards boosting cultural exchange between China, Austria and the whole of Europe. We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude for the efforts he has undertaken and the achievements that have resulted from them. I’m extremely pleased to join you all here in my capacity as Austrian Ambassador to China, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of Sino-Austrian diplomatic relations, as we waltz into the year 2011. As we say in Austria: “Let us dance!”