Having a Ball in Vienna: A Guide to Waltzes and Vienna by Hermione Cameron
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Austria’s capital may famously sit beside the blue Danube river but the Viennese certainly know how to banish the winter blues: they dance the night away during Fasching, the Carnival season which runs from mid November until the end of February, with a season of more than 300 balls culminating this week in its most dazzling, the Vienna Opera Ball.
For a lucky few, the night begins with the exquisite six-course Gala Dinner at Hotel Sacher. The grandest of Vienna's grand hotels, the Sacher holds one of the country’s largest art collections and is famously the home of the Sachertorte chocolate cake. Elisabeth Gurtler, the doyenne of the Hotel Sacher, is also the mother of the Ball and she takes an understandable pride in the quality of the evening. At no other occasion she maintains are people so perfectly presented as on the night of the Opera Ball.
Admission to the Ball begins at 9 p.m. and guests arrive drawing the attention of the paparazzi cameras. Ball-gowns rustle and swish and jewellery sparkles as guests sweep up the Grand staircase to take their positions for the opening ceremony.
Electric Anctipation
The sense of anticipation is electric as the orchestra of the State Opera strikes its first chord and 160 impeccably dressed young couples in white ball-gowns and tails make their debut with a perfectly executed quadrille across the dance-floor. Witnessing this moment are the 4000 guests who have booked tickets a year in advance, and millions more who watch this national occasion on television.
In preparation for this night, both the stage and auditorium of the magnificent Opera House have been completely cleared, dressed with thousands of roses and floral arrangements, chandeliers and draperies, and the Opera boxes set for heads of state, politicians, celebrities and guests of honour as well as Vienna’s high society.
The fantasy becomes a reality as Thomas Schafer-Elmayer announces "alles walzer" let the waltzing begin. Gentlemen in white-tie and tails are joined by ladies in red silk, apricot chiffon or blue taffeta ball-gowns and as the music swells to fill the auditorium, it seems the whole Opera House is spinning in a sea of colour.
The Art of the Waltz
‘It’s enough for people to hear my name; it automatically puts them on their best behaviour’ says Thomas Schafer-Elmayer with a twinkle in his eye. For nearly a century his family have been instructing the youth of Vienna in the art of the Waltz and in perfect etiquette.
His own manual of etiquette is an Austrian bestseller. The Elmayer Dance School, close to the Imperial Palace is the finest in the country and the first stop for visiting celebrities who want to polish their dance steps before the big night.
Although though the waltz is the dance formally celebrated at the Ball, dancers can let their hair down on other smaller floors offering pulsating live disco, jazz and even country music. And while the champagne flows, and the roulette wheel in the casino spins, dancers can boost their energy with a buffet offering international cuisine. Back on the main floor, two orchestras alternate throughout evening. One plays waltzes and polkas, the other swing music.
The evening concludes at 5 a.m., when the orchestra plays Strauss' "Blue Danube" and petals from 20,000 pink carnations rain gently on the remaining couples.
Wandering out into the crisp February air, the first thought is not bed but Katerfruhstuck a hangover breakfast, usually at an all-night Wurstelstand, the finest kind of hot-dog stall.
Mozart’s House
This is a must see in the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Although Mozart lived at a dozen different addresses in Vienna, the only apartment that has survived to this day is at Domgasse number 5 where he lived from 1784 till 1787. Mozart’s House has just opened to the public and offers displays and recordings that offer a colourful insight into the composer’s character.
His first floor apartment was positively grand, and Mozart seems to have spent the happiest years of his life here, staying here for longer than in any other apartment. During this period, Mozart was acknowledged as a celebrated composer, had an illustrious circle of friends, and was asked to give countless concerts at the houses of the nobility.
And it was here at Domgasse that he also penned his best compositions, including what is perhaps his most popular opera “The Marriage of Figaro”. For a tour of Vienna in Mozart’s footsteps, the stand just beside the Opera House is the first place to start, offering maps and audio guides of all the sites in Vienna associated with the great man himself.
The Spanish Riding School
Founded in 1572, the Spanish Riding School is the oldest and last school of its kind in the world where classic dressage is practised in its purest form. Its Lipizzaner horses were of Spanish origin, hence the name. Arrive at 9.30 a.m. to see rehearsals or the morning exercise – poetry in motion!
Feel the Heat
If, after all this exertion, you need to recover or you just enjoy the thought of a little pampering, hide yourself away in blissful comfort for a couple of hours in the Hammam at Aux Gazelles, one of Vienna’s best kept secrets. The peaceful silence of traditional-style marble steam rooms delivers total relaxation.
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