Danube once appears as the mother of Vrtra, "a dragon blocking the course of the rivers." The Finnish word for Danube is Tonava, which is most likely derived from the word for the river in Swedish and German, "Donau". Its Sámi name "Deatnu" means "Great River". It is possible that "dānu" in Scythian as in Avestan was a generic word for "river": "Dnieper" and "Dniestr", from "Danapris" and "Danastius", are presumed to continue Scythian "*dānu apara" "far river" and "*dānu nazdya-" "near river", respectively. The river was known to the ancient Greeks as the "Istros" (Ἴστρος) a borrowing from a Daco-Thracian
Stories of the Danube Stories of the Danube Stories of the Danube is a symphony by Joe Zawinul, which was commissioned by the Brucknerhaus, Linz. It was first performed as part of the "Linzer Klangwolke" (a large-scale open-air broadcast event), for the opening of the 1993 Bruckner Festival in Linz, on September 12. In its seven movements (plus a finale), the symphony traces the course of the Danube from Donaueschingen through various countries ending at the Black Sea. The symphony was recorded as a studio album by the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Caspar Richter, at Dukla Radio Studio, Brno, in November 1995 and