Miles Hamby
6505 Hillside Lane
Alexandria, VA 22306
(703) 768-1353
atcmiles@aol.com

Viennese Waltz

Flying Like the Wind

If Tango is passion, then Viennese Waltz is sublime! Next to Tango, this is my favorite. The Viennese Waltz is an unparalleled expression of elegance and sophisticated love. It is, as Curt Sachs describes it "exaltation, surrender, and the extinction of the world round about!"

The origins of waltz.
Prior to the 19th century, the form of dance accepted in polite society, in essence, forbade touching anyone other than hand to hand. Although more aggressive postures were certainly practiced in the more casual environs, the "ballroom" pose was not known in polite society until the turn of the century. Yet, with the rise of the bourgeois, the "characterless tripping" of the English country dances, as described by an observer of the time, began to give way to the more zestful forms of the peasantry. What the age was seeking, it found in the close turning dances such as the Landler, from southern Germany. Character, spirit, expression, and passion -- everything that the new era demanded -- was found in the new waltz.

As with anything new, the waltz was regarded as controversial. In 1797, Salomo Jakob Wolf wrote a treatise called (English translation) "Proof that the waltz is a main source of the weakness of body and mind or our generation; most urgently recommended to the sons and daughters of Germany." Though the treatise sold out two editions, fortunately, few actually followed Wolf's recommendation.

However, some did agree with Wolf. In 1804, Ernst Arndt wrote: "Thus, the turning went on in the most indecent positions; the hand holding the dress lay hard against the breasts pressing lasciviously at every movement; the girls, meanwhile, looked half mad and ready to swoon. As they waltzed around in the darker side of the room. The clasps and kisses became still bolder. It is the custom in the country, and not as bad as it looks, they say: but I can now quite understand why they have forbidden the waltz in certain parts of Swabia and Switzerland."

However, not all felt this way. Goethe in his work Werther confesses "never have I moved so lightly. To hold the most adorable creature in one's arms and fly around with her like the wind, so that everything around us fades away . . ." Even so, the waltz was still prohibited at the court of Wilhelm II.

From Germany, the magic of the new waltz spread to France where it was met with great enthusiasm. From there, the waltz came to America in 1810, but was not accepted in England until 1812.

An accelerated variation of the popular Landler of the time, the first real Viennese waltz was introduced rather early in Vienna in 1796 in Vinzenz Martin's opera Una Cosa Rara. It took Vienna by storm. In 1797, a Breslau journalist wrote "the Vienna waltz surpasses everything in wild fury."

Like the Tango in Buenos Aires, the new waltz form appeared at first in the coffee houses of Vienna. Though unlike the Tango, these establishments were much more socially acceptable. Up to 1808, the waltz had been a simple, 16 bar melody, evenly divided into two, 8 bar phrases. In 1808, however, Hummel, a protégé of Mozart, composed ten waltzes combined into one coherent pattern. The concert waltz was born.

Today, waltz takes many forms, generally dictated by the character and culture of the music to which it is danced. Virtually the only common thread is the triple time, or three-quarter time, of the music. It would be a disservice to all forms to say "waltz is waltz". Waltz forms include country, folk, Slavic, Cajun, American, International Ballroom, Viennese, and others. They all have their unique character, excitement, and rich, cultural history. My favorite is the Viennese!

The Waltz King -- Johann Strauss.
The grace and charm of Viennese life, its Gemutlichkeit, is expressed in no better way than in the music of the waltz kings. The first of these, without question was Johann Strauss (the Father). Born the son of an inn-keeper in Vienna in 1804, Father Strauss, as he is sometimes called, began playing the violin at a very early age. As a teenager, he played with Josef Lanner's band in cafes in Vienna. Their musical stylings grew to fame and soon "Blond head" (Lanner) and "the Black Moor" (Strauss) as the Viennese termed them, were the talk of Vienna. Lanner usually opened his waltzes with a stately introduction followed by several waltz themes with a principle theme suggested. This was the foundation of the modern Viennese waltz we know today.

Johann Strauss learned well and, following Lanner's lead, began composing his own waltzes. Then, one day, in 1825, in an exchange of hot words and fisticuffs, the two separated, irrevocably. The young Father Strauss composed a series of waltzes, Trennungswalzer (Separation Waltzes), marking the event. Strauss struck off on his own. By 1833, Father Strauss was so popular that Heinrich Laub wrote "The Strauss waltzes are to the Viennese what the Napoleonic victories were to the French." By this time, Strauss's stylings were so unique, incorporating much more innovation than Lanner, that he was hailed by the Viennese as a waltz king in his own right.

Father Strauss was not confined to waltzes. Perhaps his most famous work is The Radetzky March, composed in 1848 in honor of Marshal Radetzky who led the Hapsburg forces to victory in Italy. In Vienna, the renowned annual Opera Ball, and following this tradition, so too with Andre Rieu's Johann Strauss Orchestra, performances are concluded with a grand march always set to The Radetzky March.

Stardom --The next generation -- Johann Jr.
Johann Strauss married Anna Streim in 1801. In 1825, his son, Johann Strauss, Jr. (often referred to as The Son) was born. Johann Jr., like his father, took up the violin early. The marriage between Father Strauss and Anna was tumultuous. Father Strauss, some may argue, actually discouraged Johann Jr. from music. In 1840, Father Strauss left his family of six children (Johann Jr. being the eldest), never to return. Johann Jr. continued in music. Rising to his own notoriety, he began to threaten his father. In 1844, Strauss Jr. debuted his own orchestra at Dommayer's Casino in Hietzing, playing his own compositions. The event was a sellout. Father Strauss refused to be present. The concert culminated with the son playing a popular waltz of the father, the Lorelei-Rheinklange. The event was a smash hit! Wiest, editor of the Wanderer, wrote "Good night, Lanner! Good evening, Father Strauss! Good morning, Son Strauss!" Lamperlhirsch reported "Vienna has found a new waltz king. And, believe me, Johann, he may well become the greatest of them all!"

Johann Jr. composed voraciously. Some of his most famous works include Pizzicato Polka (composed ca 1858 in collaboration with brother Josef), Acceleration Waltz (1860), Morning Journals (1864), Artist's Life (1867), Tales of the Vienna Woods and Wine, Women and Song (1869), Vienna Blood (ca 1871) , Roses From the South (ca 1878), Voices of Spring (ca 1884, written in celebration of his third wife Adele Deutsch), The Emperor Waltz (ca 1890) , and perhaps his most famous, The Beautiful Blue Danube (1867).

In 1855, Johann Jr. took his orchestra to Russia for ten summer seasons. His popularity was immense. So much so, that a certain Russian nobleman, convinced that his wife was having an affair with the celebrated waltz king, evidenced by her constant showering of flowers upon Strauss, went to Strauss's suite to demand satisfaction. Johann Jr. invited the nobleman into a room filled with flowers and exclaimed, "Sir, if you can find your wife's flowers, please accept them back!" The nobleman let the matter drop.

Johann Jr. proved himself not only adept with waltzes and polkas, but, with the encouragement of his friend Offenbach, with opera as well. His best known work is Die Fledermaus (the Bat). Die Fledermaus was considered a failure in Vienna when it opened in 1874, but very soon after, the operetta went on world tour and returned to Vienna in triumph. To this day, Viennese New Year's Eve tradition is to attend a performance of Die Fledermaus and conclude the old year with a rousing round of Strauss waltzes!

In May 1899, Johann Jr. took ill with pneumonia. On June 3, his doctor turned to Adele and said quietly, "Frau Strauss, the sun has set." That afternoon, at a concert at the Volksgarten in Vienna, the conductor, upon having the news delivered to him during the performance, played, pianissimo, The Blue Danube.

The heirs to the throne.
Like Richard Strauss's (no relation) famous work, with death there is transfiguration. In 1870, Johann Jr.'s mother, Anna, passed away. In that same year, Oskar Straus (one 's', no relation), who would follow in the master's footsteps, was born. But perhaps the birth of that year most significant for the musical tradition of Vienna, was that of Franz Lehar.

The son of a Hungarian Army officer, Franz Lehar was born in Kamaron, Hungary, on April 30, 1870. He studied at the Prague Conservatory and began his career as a conductor of military bands in Hungary. In 1902, he made his home in Vienna, Austria, where he concentrated on operetta and composing most of his most famous works, including Die lustige Witwe (The Merry Widow, 1905). During the Great War era, Lehar's notoriety waned but enjoyed a resurgence in the 1920s and 30s. He composed four major works which included Giuditta (1934) produced for the State Opera in Vienna and the Royal Opera in Budapest.

Franz Lehar died on October 24, 1948. Albeit a prolific and competent composer of operettas, Lehar's most famous work is arguably the waltz Vienna, City of My Dreams. To many, including Dutch born director of the Johann Strauss Orchestra Andre Rieu, City of My Dreams summarizes the essence of Vienna and music. Even though it was not composed by Strauss, City of My Dreams is often in Rieu's program.

At the annual Viennese Waltz Ball held at the Organization of American States, in Washington, DC, I met an elderly gentleman who knew Franz Lehar. Hearing his stories, the legend of Viennese waltzing and the reality of the music at hand became one for me. Strauss summarized the feeling in the name of one of his famous waltzes, Vienna Blood. From that meeting on, Viennese waltzing will never be simply a dance -- but a passion! - fin.

Written by Miles Hamby; Sources -- "Tales From the Vienna Woods: the Story of Johann Strauss" by David Ewen, Henry Holt and Company, 1944, "The Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians", and "World History of the Dance" by Curt Sachs, WW Norton, 1937.