Viennese ball season

Ball in the Vienna Hofburg around 1900, dancing to the Viennese waltz (painting by Wilhelm Gause )

The Viennese ball season takes place in the carnival season from November 11th to Shrove Tuesday in Vienna . The big balls do not take place until New Year's Eve (December 31), the first being the Hofburg New Year's ball, formerly known as the Kaiserball , in the Hofburg .

Special features of the Viennese balls

Dress code

Very strict clothing regulations often apply to traditional Viennese balls. Men wear black suits, tuxedos or tailcoats , although tuxedos or even tailcoats are sometimes required ( opera ball , philharmonic ball , technician cercle). Ladies wear large ball gowns that have to be floor-length for many balls. Debutantes wear white.

procedure

opening

A Viennese ball is traditionally opened with the arrival of the young ladies and gentlemen's committee - mostly - for the fan polonaise op. 525 by Carl Michael Ziehrer . This may be followed by the entry of the guests of honor for a fanfare , possibly further music, ballet and vocal performances. A fixed component of every opening is a choreography by the opening committee and at the end a Viennese waltz traditionally danced to the left , whereupon the master of ceremonies concludes the opening with the request "Alles Walzer".

The opening of a "big" Viennese ball is very important, and the demand is correspondingly high, which is why the candidates for the opening committee at the opera ball have to prove their dance skills to a jury, which then decides which couples are allowed to dance.

quadrille

At midnight, a quadrille is traditionally danced, mostly the Fledermaus Quadrille op. 363 by Johann Strauss Sohn , a quadrille française , the sequence is announced by a master of ceremonies. There may be further audience quadrilles at 2:00 or 4:00.

Instead of or before the midnight quadrille, there is sometimes a dance show or singing interlude as a midnight interlude.

Finale

Viennese balls last i. A. until the early hours of the morning and only end at 04:00 or 05:00. The final waltz is "Little Brother Fine" from The Girl from the Feenworld or The Farmer as Millionaire by Ferdinand Raimund ; the ladies received when starting a Damenspende as a gift - at the big balls, there are also Mr. donations. Ball guests who hold out to the end are allowed to take flowers with them from the floral decorations.

to eat and drink

The opening ceremonies of the great traditional Viennese balls do not start until 10 p.m., which is why most ball guests have dinner before the ball. Individual balls, e.g. B. the Hofburg Silvesterball , offer a pre-ball dinner on the premises of the ball, but this is more the exception than the rule.

Traditional dishes on the Vienna balls are Sacher sausages with mustard and horseradish ( horseradish ) and bread ( buns ), or goulash soup with bread, in addition to drink beer , wine , sparkling wine or champagne .

Since eating and drinking at balls is very expensive, it is quite common to leave the venue during the ball - this applies especially to the opera ball - and to fortify yourself at the nearest sausage stand .

The coffee houses near the venues open early on the day following a big ball, so you can end the ball with a Viennese breakfast .

The Vienna Ball as Intangible Cultural Heritage

The Viennese ball in its specific tradition, which has shaped the style of balls throughout Central Europe since the imperial era, was included in the list of intangible cultural heritage in Austria in 2010 . After the fact that the Vienna Corporations Ball was also on the list of 17 Viennese balls, the entry Wiener Ball was removed from the list by the Austrian UNESCO Commission in 2012. This was justified with the incompatibility of the Vienna Corporation Ball with the basic values and principles of UNESCO . In addition, the two most famous Viennese balls, namely the Opera Ball and the Philharmonic Ball , were not listed.

List of Viennese balls (selection)

ball	since	place	When	particularities
Hofburg New Year's Eve Ball , in front of Kaiserball	1970	Hofburg	New Year's Eve	tourist-oriented New Year's Eve ball with gala dinner
Ball of the Vienna University of Economics and Business		Hofburg	Saturday 8 to 14 January
Officers' Ball	1926	Hofburg	Friday between January 15th and 21st
Pharmacy Ball	1932	Hofburg	Saturday between January 15th and 21st
Confectioner's ball		Hofburg	January
Vienna Ball of Sciences	2015	townhall of Vienna	Saturday between January 25th and 31st
Flower ball	1920	townhall of Vienna	Mid-January	Organized by the Vienna City Gardens (MA 42)
Philharmonic ball	1924	music Society	Thursday between January 18th and 24th	Tailcoat , opening with a festival fanfare composed by Richard Strauss especially for this ball
Techniker-Cercle , formerly Technician's circle	1842	music Society	Saturday between January 20th and 26th	Tailcoat
TU ball	1815	Hofburg	Thursday between January 25th and 31st
Vienna Academic Ball	1952	Hofburg	Friday between January 24th and 30th	Organized by FPÖ Vienna since 2013 until 2012 WKR-Ball organized by Wiener Korporationsring
Vienna Medical Ball	1949	Hofburg	Saturday between January 25th and 31st
Hunter ball	1905	Hofburg		Appear in costume mandatory
Ball of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU Ball)		Hofburg	February	Possibility to come in costume; Folk dance performances in the opening program.
IAEA Ball		Hofburg	February
Hofburg Gala of Viennese Business		Hofburg	February
Ball of the Austrian Real Estate Industry		Hofburg	February
Coffee maker ball	1957	Hofburg	February	Most of the time, all of the corresponding rooms in the Hofburg, including the redoutes, are open
Opera Ball	1877 as a court opera soirée , since 1935 as an opera ball	State Opera	last Thursday in Mardi Gras	Tailcoat, highlight of the Viennese carnival
Candy ball	1949	Wiener Konzerthaus	last Friday in Mardi Gras	Choice of Miss Bonbon , which is outweighed by Manner cuts
Jurists Ball		Hofburg	Shrove Saturday
Rudolfina Redoute	1899	Hofburg	Mardi Gras	Mask compulsory for women and women's choice (until midnight)
Elmayer wreath	1920	Hofburg	Shrove Tuesday	The end of the carnival and ball season. Early start at 6 p.m., ends at midnight with the end of Mardi Gras.

There is almost no day in Mardi Gras that does not have at least one ball, as there is hardly a school, parish, professional group or association that can take it, even if on a small or very small scale, to ask for a dance. Around 450 balls take place in Vienna during the season.

Other balls out of season , i.e. H. between Ash Wednesday and New Year's Eve:

ball	since	place	When	particularities
Life Ball	1993-2019	townhall of Vienna	May	AIDS - charity event (discontinued, last 2019)
Concordia Ball	1863	townhall of Vienna	June	Summer ball with the possibility of using the inner courtyards
Fête Impériale	2010-2018	Spanish Riding School	June	Summer Ball of the Spanish Riding School (discontinued, last 2018)
Diversity Ball	2008	Kursalon Vienna	May	barrier-free ball