Social choreography of the Viennese waltz : the transfer and reception of the dance in Vienna and Europe, 1780-1825

Abstract

As its title, the social choreography of the Viennese waltz, suggests, the thesis can be situated in the research tradition that studies dance history from sociocultural and sociopolitical point of views. In this work, however, the term social choreography is not understood merely as a system, in which the choreography of the dance reflects and represents society. Rather, what is of interest here are the socio-cultural and economic circumstances in which the Viennese waltz developed. In other words, this thesis examines the consumption of the Viennese waltz within the different social classes in Vienna and Europe between the years 1780 and 1825. In practice, this is done via two different strategies, the first of which includes local developments, more precisely the development of the Viennese waltz in the turn-of-century Vienna. The second strategy, for its part, includes the study of the transfer of the waltzes in and out of Vienna. Despite the fact that in ealry 19th-century Europe the fast waltz style began to be called Viennese, the dance did not develop merely in the Viennese dance halls. Since turn-of-century Vienna was anything but an isolated city, its dance culture was open for all kinds of external influences. The early forms of the waltz were danced in the ballrooms of the European elite from where they spread into Vienna through dancing-masters, dance manuals and printed dance scores. Then these dances, first adopted by the Viennese elite, were taught to the lower classes in the suburban dance schools and dance halls. Thanks to the wide networks of the contemporary music publishers, Viennese waltz music circulated over large distances in Europe already at the beginning of the 19th century.