Johann Strauss II - Vienna Blood Waltz

On 20 April 1873, the Archduchess Gisela Louise Maria (1856-1932), eldest daughter of the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef and the Empress Elisabeth, married Prince Leopold of Bavaria (1846-1930) in Vienna. To commemorate this major occasion a series of glittering festivities was arranged around the date of the Imperial wedding, including a Court Ball in the Hofburg Palace and a festival in the Prater, and the most important organisations of the nobility and citizenry, as well as the authorities of the City of Vienna itself, vied with each other in the organising of numerous celebrations and festive events.

For their part, the personnel of the Wiener Hof-Operntheater (Vienna Court Opera Theatre) devised a very special attraction and announced for 22 April 1873 a "Court Opera Ball" - a forerunner of the present-day Vienna Opera Ball - the proceeds from which were destined for the theatre's Pensions Institute, which arranged the event. However, since at this time the Austrian Emperor was unprepared to sanction dancing in the Hof-Operntheater, which he looked upon as 'his' opera house, the event was instead held in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein building - home of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Society of the Friends of Music) and today the setting for the annual New Year's Day Concerts of the Vienna Philharmonic. As hosts of the Court Opera Ball, the artistes of the Hof-Operntheater were keen to present themselves as favourably as possible to their public, and so offered their guests a particularly beguiling programme. They engaged the Strauss Orchestra and its conductor, 'Court Ball Music Director' Eduard Strauss, to provide the music for dancing, but withheld their pièce de résistance until around midnight, when a break in proceedings of one hour¡¦s duration was announced for the benefit of both orchestra and dancers.

Now the highlight of the evening was revealed as the resident orchestra of the Vienna Court Opera, the Vienna Philharmonic, presented a short concert of music. Since the Director of the Wiener Philharmoniker, Johann Herbeck, had been taken ill shortly before the ball, the first item - Carl Maria von Weber's Aufforderung zum Tanz (Invitation to the Dance), in Hector Berlioz's orchestration - was conducted by Otto Dessoff, who at that time was also leader of the Philharmonic Concerts. The critic of the Fremden-Blatt (24.04.1873) observed of this performance that it was played "with such verve and precision that perhaps nobody will be able to recall having heard this piece of music better [played]". The journalist continued: "After this, Johann Strauss stepped up to the conductor's podium to perform his latest waltz, 'Wiener Blut'. We do not believe that we are overstating our praise if we count this work amongst the best by the beloved Waltz King. This dance piece is a collection of genuine Viennese tunes, full of melody and electrifying rhythm. On tempestuous demand the waltz had to be repeated". The reviewer for the Neues Wiener Tagblatt (23.04.1873) was equally enthusiastic, numbering the waltz Wiener Blut "amongst the most beautiful which Strauss has written in recent years. In these three-four bars, sometimes cheeky, sometimes sentimental, flows fresh, free and red Viennese blood".

This performance of the waltz Wiener Blut, on the night of 22/23 April 1873, marked the first occasion on which the Viennese Waltz King conducted the renowned Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and thus also the commencement of the orchestra's 'Strauss tradition'. (Some six months later, on 4 November 1873, the Wiener Philharmoniker would cement this relationship still further when, under the composer's direction, they performed Strauss's waltz An der schönen blauen Donau for the very first time at a concert in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein, hosted by the Committee of the Chinese World Exhibition.)

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