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Historically, during Fasching the lower classes were allowed to wear costumes and masks and to mimic aristocracy and heads of church and state without fear of retribution for mockery. When things got out of hand, the custom was forbidden, for a while anyway. Even Empress Maria Theresia (1717-1780) decreed at one point that masks would no longer be allowed in the streets; whereupon the revelry was moved indoors.
This was the beginning of the splendid balls, for which Vienna has become so famous and the real business of Fasching is, first and last, dancing, but it is also a season of jollification for the entire city.
The ball season starts with the New Year's Eve Imperial Ball (Kaiserball) at the Hofburg and ends with the Opera Ball in February. The season officially lasts until Ash Wednesday (Aschermittwoch). But in reality, you may attend a ball as early as November and as late as June.
There are some three hundred balls during this period. Of these about thirty are leading social events. The most famous are the Opera Ball, the Imperial Ball and the Philharmoniker Ball, which is organized by the famous Vienna Philharmonics. Others are the Physicians' Ball, the Hunter's Ball, the Flower Ball, the Coffeehouse Owners Ball and the Rudolfina Redoute. Full evening dress is obligatory at these principal events or hunting dress in the case of the Hunters' Ball, though there are some elaborate fancy dress occasions, and a children's costume ball. At the redoutes women are disguised in small romantic eye masks. There remain the other two hundred and seventy-odd events of the Fasching calendar. These are balls too, for the Viennese must dance always, but they are less expensive, less formal. There are postman's balls, police balls, factory balls, balls organized by every social club in every district of the city; Residents become weary of being asked for subscriptions to subsidize these functions, but no true Viennese would wish it otherwise. The Ball Calendar
These professionals can help you get ready for a memorable night at the ball.
Their are numerous rental services specializing in ball gowns and formal wear in Vienna.
The Viennese themselves also often make use of them – an inventive way of being clad in this year’s fashion without having to pay the full price. The place to go to in Vienna is:
Lambert
Hofer
Waltz music may not have been invented in Vienna, but it was there that the Vienna Waltz as a dance and as a musical form started its worldwide success. Read More
Elmayer
Dancing School More Dance Schools (German)
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To the foreigner there is something unreal in any of these balls. We are not accustomed to such positive romanticism. A hundred years ago every court in Europe held receptions such as these; London, Paris, all the capital cities had their seasons in the days when the guests arrived in their own carriages with coats of arms painted on the doors. Now we only know this particular form of gaiety from films and plays and as the background of operetta. Could it ever have existed outside the frontiers of Ruritania? It did, and does in Vienna today.
The past at its best: Lush luxury, true elegance and distinguished manners performed with grace and enjoyed a whole fairy tale night long - that means visiting a ball in Vienna. Throughout the night, one is surrounded by beauty: Vienna's balls usually take place either in a lovely old mansion, formerly owned by a member of the aristocracy; in a prince's former town palace; or, at the most desirable location in all of Vienna, the great halls of the Imperial Palace (Hofburg). And Vienna's ballrooms are dressed to the hilt, as it were, - quite suitable for the occasion: decked out with thousands of flowers, the walls adorned with magnificent trimmings and ablaze with glittering lights, they evoke an atmosphere of elegance and tradition. At the more elegant balls, liveried footmen may greet the ball goers, who come attired in gowns that will be discussed in next morning's paper, the ladies bejewelled, the gentlemen in black or white tie, complete with decorations. Fanfares announce the beginning of the ball. To the tune of a formal polonaise, the debutantes of the season and their escorts - the young girls almost always dressed all in white, the young men in white tie and tails - open the ball; until some time ago, the opening of an important ball was the equivalent of a "coming-out" for upper-class debutantes in Vienna. Nowadays, young people from all walks of society simply enjoy themselves. Some introductory words are spoken by an official and the first dance is invariably a waltz, still danced to perfection by these young scions of society. Only after the opening waltz is concluded does the dance master call out the words everyone has been waiting for: Alles Walzer! ( - Everybody Waltz). It is then that dance floor is turned over to the rest of the guests and becomes the arena of all ball goers. And everybody does indeed waltz - dancing goes on through the night in the main ballroom, even though the secondary rooms may resound with modern dances, maybe a jitterbug, a tango, disco tunes or house beats.
Champagne is the drink of the night. And at some balls, being seen by or with the right people counts as much as the good time one is having. Most balls last until two or three o'clock in the morning, some of them until five. After midnight, a hearty Gulaschsuppe (gulyas soup) may be served to provide strength to the untiring dancers. Usually, it is the "kids" that remain until the wee hours of the morning - their energy seems to be boundless. Going home after a ball? No way! There's still time for a Katerfrühstück, a "hangover breakfast." And if no coffeehouse is open that early (even though some coffeehouses extend their opening hours during the ball season), there's always a hot dog stand somewhere near the ballroom. It is not unusual, during Vienna's ball season, for early risers on their way to work to encounter a group of lively youngsters in splendid gowns and formal suits, in elegant coats with silk shawls wrapped around their necks devouring a hot dog at an all-night Würstelstand. Vienna's ball tradition also demands a Damenspende, a present for the ladies to take home. Originally, the present was designed to hold the Dance Card where all dances of the night were listed and young men reserved their dance with a particular young lady by writing their name next to the dance they desired. Around the turn of the century, these Damenspenden were unusually inventive - some, signifying the advent of the modern age, consisted of miniature steam locomotives or tiny sewing machines. Today, the Damenspenden may be somewhat more prosaic - an exquisite perfume, a nice waltz CD or a lovely piece of custom jewelry - but still meant as a compliment to the lady. Vienna's debutantes have prepared for many months for their grand entrance by first attending one of Vienna's elegant dance schools and later rehearsing the opening ceremony and waltz on location. Dance schools such as the famous Elmayer's or Fränzl's, offer "crash courses" for ballgoers visiting from outside Vienna, or outside the country, at reasonable prices. And of course, visitors to the city don't always travel with a ball gown or tuxedo in their luggage - here, too, numerous rental places specializing in ball gowns and formal wear come to rescue. The Viennese themselves also often make use of them and may rent a ball-gown or two if they are to be seen at different balls during one season.
All that goes to show that the Viennese love celebrating carnival, the days preceding Lent season, called Fasching in Vienna, which usually last from the beginning of the New Year until Ash Wednesday. Despite the love of the Viennese for festive occasions, it is all the more surprising that Vienna, unlike Venice, Rio de Janeiro or Cologne, does not have an extended period of cavorting in the streets and hardly any parades of masked revelers - one exception being the parade of the "Faschingsgesellschaft" which takes place in a different district of Vienna every year - even though one finds some famous Carnival parades in the Austrian countryside. This tradition, or lack thereof, goes back to one of Austria's much respected rulers, Empress Maria Theresia (1717 - 1780). Despite being admired by her people, she often played the role of a stern mother figure: she did not approve of the Viennese Fasching of her day, which still included wearing masks on the streets, because brawls and tumult sometimes erupted under the cover of anonymity. Therefore she banned the wearing of masks in the Viennese streets. But she permitted the aristocrats at her imperial court to celebrate with masks inside their own "homes" (which were, in fact, palaces or at least mansions). After her death her son Josef II, a "People's Emperor" who was even closer to the Austrian people - especially the working class - than his mother, relaxed her rule to include permission for all Viennese to celebrate Fasching indoors, with or without masks. At that time, balls were rather sedate affairs, with stylized minuets, gavottes, polonaises and other dances involving very little body contact. What no one could foresee was the infusion of a new musical energy that the advent of the waltz brought to Vienna and, thence, to the rest of the world. At first, the waltz was considered exceedingly immoral: the constant invitation of today's dance masters, much to the chagrin of timid young girls and boys, namely Tuchfühlung ("Get closer!") was precisely what outraged the old guard at that time. In 1787, Johann Count Fekete described a ball where waltzing was done: "It was wild and immoral. The women behaved in a Bacchanalian manner, all innocence fled from the place." And the Duke of Devonshire declared unequivocally: "I would never marry a woman who dances the waltz!"
However, there was no stopping the popularity of the waltz. And with the appearance of the Strauss dynasty on the international waltz scene, waltzes began to reign supreme in the ballrooms of the world. In 1837, the waltz obtained legitimacy with a royal stamp of approval, when Johann Strauss Father composed and played a waltz at the coronation of Queen Victoria. He later dedicated his Myrtle Waltz to her on the occasion of the wedding of "Her Majesty Queen Victoria to his Royal Highness Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg." Throughout the nineteenth century, balls became the order of the day during Fasching for all levels of society - not even the revolution of 1848 put a stop to it; on the contrary: the rising star Johann Strauss Son composed a Revolution March, took it to the barricades - and had to suffer some consequences for it. Later, it was played in Vienna's ballrooms. Even though every Viennese was now entitled to attend a ball, the Viennese Fasching still mirrored the class system of Viennese society: while the gentry celebrated at their mansions or at the Imperial Palace and the bourgeoisie rented elegant establishments, the rest of the people gathered in inns and taverns near their homes, often on the outskirts of the city. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, various professions and guilds began to create their own balls: in Vienna, to this day, there is hardly a professional group without its own ball. Waiters, chimney sweeps, pastry makers, hatmakers, detectives, flower girls or chamber maids each celebrated and still celebrate Vienna's Fasching season. One of the liveliest and merriest of all Viennese balls, without a doubt, used to be the Wäschermädel Ball (The Laundry Maids' Ball). Technologists created the Techniker Cercle, physicians the Ärzteball, lawyers the Juristenball. And of course, with coffeehouses experiencing their heyday in Vienna, there was a separate Kaffeesiederball (Ball of the Coffeehouse Owners). Many of these balls are still put on today - and will probably last well into the third millennium.
There are balls for every taste and (every pocketbook) in Vienna. At New Year's Eve, the elegant Kaiserball (Imperial Ball) at the Imperial Palace (Hofburg), a relatively recent ball, attracts tourists and Viennese alike. Of course, the crowning glory of Vienna's ball season or, for that matter, the European ball season, has traditionally been the Vienna Opera Ball, held at Vienna's venerable State Opera whose stage and auditorium are transformed into a giant dance floor. This is an event of such magnitude in Austria that it is broadcast live on television - and everybody participates, be it in dazzling ballgowns at the ball itself or watching it in the comfortable surroundings of one's home. The Jägerball (Hunters' Ball) is a special event, where almost everybody turns up in elegant versions of Austria's native dress. The floor-length dirndls of the ladies are made of velvet and silk and the Alpine jackets of the men of the finest materials. One of the highlights in this city where music reigns supreme is, of course, the ball put on by the Wiener Philharmoniker at their "home," the Musikverein concert hall: the members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra put aside their instruments and let another orchestra play for them - to dance themselves for a change! The Rudolfina Redoute is the only masked ball of significant stature in Vienna - and until midnight, the floor belongs to masked ladies: it is ladies choice until then. If your heart is set on an elegant masked ball, of which there are not that many in Vienna, this Redoute at Vienna's Imperial Palace may be your best bet. But if you wish to wear a mask in less intimidating surroundings, you can participate in one of the numerous Gschnasfeste, usually organized by young artists and bohemians, where the motto is: anything goes! Of course, there are numerous other balls of differing degrees of elegance. They all have some things in common: they are festive, they are fun - and they offer an occasion to dance the night away in three-quarter time.
The New York Times devoted an entire article full of praise to the alternative ball scene in Vienna: "Homeless - but my Dance Card is full". As a counterpoint to the glittering, century-old Opera Ball featuring the elite of Europe, some enterprising young people staged a Homeless Ball - the participants showed up in parkas, sneakers and baseball caps. Organized by the homeless magazine Augustin, this ball is a counter-culture response to the famous opera ball (Opernball) - however, it is a fair guess that not many opera ballgoers will visit the Opferball (Victim's Ball) by mistake &ldots; Different other ideas for privately organised balls appear every year. You have to look for them in the Ballkalender. One was or perhaps still is the Ball des Schlechten Geschmacks, which strived hard to remain true to its name - literally: Ball of Bad Taste - very trashy, bad music, awful clothes. Another one was the Mauerblümchenball: Despite its name no one was left out at the Wallflower Ball - the rule was that colorfully dressed people where not even permitted to enter: only if one wore such drab colors as beige and gray one was certain of admittance. And at midnight, the drabbest wallflower obtained a prize! The Life Ball, which usually takes place in May, is not only one of the biggest charity events in Europe (all proceeds go to help of victims of AIDS or HIV), but has also become one of the most glamorous events of Europe's social life. Thousands of visitors dance the night away and enjoy fashion shows of international designers as well as live acts, hot music and sexy go gos. There is no doubt that this is the most avant-garde ball in Vienna - it is hip and it is zany!
The official Ball season and Fasching come to an end with Ash Wednesday the beginning of the 40 days of Lent, However there are balls for months to come and you have a chance to waltz into the month of June. |
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Vienna
is the only place in the world where balls, as distinct from the
smaller modern dinner dance, still rule the social life of winter.
Balls in the Hofburg Palace (Imperial Palace), where the Habsburgs
reigned, in concert halls and the Opera House, under glittering
chandeliers, among mirrors which multiply the hundreds of dancers to
thousands. Balls where evening dress is de rigueur, where each
debutante wears a little crown like a prima ballerina, women carry
fans, and music and champagne blend with the jewels and color,
laughter and wealth.©Virtual Vienna Net 1998-2007