VICCAManfred Permoser
Around 1830, the Viennese were spoiled for choice when it came to venues for the ultimate in musical enjoyment and dancing. Two resourceful entrepreneurs nevertheless deliver a new attraction: a “slide” with a music pavilion at the Tivoli on “Grüner Berg”. The establishment is highly successful, thanks in part to the choice of music. Two Strauss´s perform with their “Piecen”. (Full text on ORF Topos)
https://topos.orf.at/straussmania-tivoli100
Cornelia Szabó-Knotik
If the offer was attractive enough, the Viennese waltzers in the Biedermeier era also liked to go to the suburbs. A resourceful entrepreneur once had the idea of converting a disused brickworks into an amusement park in the countryside. With success. For several years, the Alte Landgut in Favoriten offered an unbeatable combination of Viennese waltzes and a colorful bouquet of attractions. (Full text on ORF Topos)
https://topos.orf.at/straussmania-altes-landgut100
Cornelia Szabó-Knotik
Even in Alsergrund, today’s 9th district of Vienna, the public once danced to music in three-four time. In the pub “Zum Weißen Schwan,” for example, Johann Strauss’s father was the bandmaster on several occasions. He even became an event organizer on his own account in this entertainment establishment. But also the fancy decoration should attract the Viennese to dance in the Rossau. (Full text on ORF Topos)
https://topos.orf.at/straussmania-weisser-schwan100
Oliver Rathkolb
The traditional Sträußelsäle have experienced a lot in the course of their history. The audience once danced here to the beat of three-four time. But political issues were also discussed in the Sträußelsäle, when Karl Marx spoke about “exploitation under capitalism” in the revolutionary year of 1848. And the famous Max Reinhardt later gathers Vienna’s culture chiceria here for exuberant celebrations. (Full text on ORF Topos)
https://topos.orf.at/straussmania-straeusselsaele100
Isabella Sommer
The Apollosaal on Schottenfeld was an opulently furnished entertainment establishment in 19th century Vienna. Anyone who crossed the threshold of the location was drawn into the spell of the magnificent rooms – complete with marble columns, artificial ponds, waterfalls and real trees. All this shone in the glow of thousands of candles, while the Viennese turned to the music in a waltzing rhythm. (Full text on ORF Topos)
https://topos.orf.at/straussmania-apollosaal100
The restaurant “Zum großen Zeisig” (today: 7., Burggasse 2) was a popular dance and folk singing venue in the 19th century. The house “Zum großen Zeisig”, located on Spittelberg at the Burg-Glacis, was built in 1698 by the court trellis-maker Fabian Fritz, who sold it in 1711 to the innkeeper and carter Mathias Zeissel. During the battles in 1809 the house was severely damaged, then rebuilt and provided with a large hall. The inn established there actually carried the sign “Zum goldenen Adler”. (German full text)
Katharina Pecher-Havers
In 19th century Vienna, the enjoyment of music was not reserved for the elite educated bourgeoisie. Rather, a diverse music scene existed in the public sphere. Bands played in the parks and gardens, and beggar musicians provided acoustic background music in the backyards. Barrel organ players were part of the street scene – and even provided orchestral music thanks to their instruments. (Full text on ORF Topos)
https://topos.orf.at/straussmania-oeffentlicher-raum100
Katharina Pecher-Havers
“I was born on the first of March 1865 in Hernals near Vienna as the son of a simple craftsman,” the Viennese zither teacher Eduard Johann Nikl (1865-1922) formulated autobiographically. Nikl was “descended from Sudeten Germans” on his father’s side and “from a Waldviertel farming family” on his mother’s. “Intended by his parents to be a sculptor” (Eduard Nikl himself describes the profession as “wood sculpting”), he “broke away” from this profession due to “poor business” and turned to the zither.
Katharina Pecher-Havers
Around 1800, Franz Anton de Paula Gaheis described the suburb of Neulerchenfeld (today part of Vienna’s 16th district) as “the largest tavern in the Holy Roman Empire”. Of the 155 houses, 83 possessed “Schankgerechtigkeit.” 16,000 people from the city would have sought recreation there on a Sunday. The frequency of visits to the innumerable taverns in the suburbs increased even more from 1829, when the Linienwall (today’s Gürtel) was declared a customs border. Due to the consumption tax that had to be paid, food and drink inside the “Lina” were more expensive, which is why the Viennese population migrated to the suburbs for consumption on Sundays and holidays.
Oliver Rathkolb
The New Dreher Beer Hall (Neue Dreher’sche Bierhalle) in Vienna’s third district not only offered a popular concert venue for well-known Viennese bands, it also provided the stage for the premier performances of the New Vienna Women’s Orchestra (Neue Wiener Damen-Orchester). This group of eight female musicians was led by violinist, conductor and pianist, Josephine Weinlich.In 1859, a dignified inn designed by Anton Dreher the elder (1810—1863) was located at Landstraßer Hauptstraße 97—101. Situated on the former site of two smaller buildings, including the inn Zur grünen Weintraube, Dreher’s inn boasted a large open-air restaurant and dance hall which could host 3,000 patrons. (Full text)
Philipp Maurer
From the Operetta Hall to the Scala Theater
Vienna Wieden was once home to the Johann Strauss Theater, whose eventful history leads through just five decades and from the operetta temple to the Scala Theater. Even Josephine Baker once performed here with her revue. Most recently, the theater became a stage for political plays of left-wing orientation and staged, for example, the controversial Berthold Brecht in Vienna. (Full text)
Isabella Sommer
Zum Schwarzen Bock
“Zum schwarzen Bock” was the name of a popular inn and entertainment venue on Wieden (today: 4th, Margaretenstraße 27). The inn had existed since 1700 and experienced a boom after 1800, as good dance orchestras always performed there; in the 1840s it lost its importance. In April 1820, the innkeeper Josef Weishappel announced that he had taken over the “well-known hall Zum schwarzen Bock on the Wieden, redecorated it and provided it with a parquet floor” and that the dance hall was connected to the guest garden for the convenience of the guests. (German full text)
Manfred Permoser
It seems that the Viennese could not get enough of music and dancing during the Biedermeier era. There were already many attractive venues when the “Golden Pear” (Zur Goldenen Birn) inn was renovated and remodeled. This inn became one of the most popular entertainment establishments of the period. The name Strauss was, once again, closely associated with this success of this musical destination. (Full text on ORF Topos).
https://topos.orf.at/straussmania-goldene-birn100
Christian Glanz
Vienna of the 19th century offered first class musical variety and with it made the Strauss family superstars. This is also where the globalization of the waltz began to go viral. Dances became major events; entertainment became a spectacle. Though the social contrasts were great, mainstream character and escapism dominated popular culture offerings. (Full text on ORF Topos)
https://topos.orf.at/straussmania-populaerkultur-damals102