1 Argentine tango has made its debut in traditional Viennese balls S. Elefante, S. Jovicic, M. Elefante, R. Rodriguez www.tangogroup.eu “… Gira tu vals, me pongo el frac ¡por favor! vamos los dos a bailar …” Vals del 18 A. Piazzolla and H. Ferrer (1981) Viennese balls have a long cultural tradition in the Austrian capital and their origin can be traced back to the 19 th century, to the time of the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) [1] [2]. Indeed, since the beginning of the 19 th century several professional groups (e.g. medical doctors, lawyers, pharmacists) used to honor their respective profession by organizing balls. However, not only guilds held balls but also other interest groups (e.g. hunters) as well as persons who liked, for instance, masquerade balls. This tradition has survived until today and people can still enjoy the fascinating aspects of the balls and choose among more than four hundred different balls every year which underlines the still ongoing vivid interest for these events. The majority of the balls takes place in the beautiful historical Viennese palaces that offer a wide choice of rooms and halls with different musical styles allowing dancers to enjoy not only the classical three-quarter rhythm of the glorious Wiener Walzer, but also other dance styles such as rock ´n´ roll, salsa or even disco music. These balls spread across Europe and also reached the New World. In fact, there are historical documents that show that already in 1877 (Fig. 1) balls were organized in Buenos Aires. The following article published in the newspaper “El mosquito” on 7 th January 1877 refers to a masquerade ball in the city of Buenos Aires. Fig. 1. Article extracted from the newspaper “El Mosquito”, 7th January 1877 [3]. The balls were high class events in which the aristocracy could meet and apart from enjoying dancing also take the opportunity to discuss business matters. Both in Vienna and Buenos Aires, balls followed a certain protocol, for instance, ladies had a carnet de bal (Fig. 2), a booklet in which the tunes scheduled to be played during that night were written. Next to the type of the dance, a lady used to write the name of the gentleman who invited her to dance.
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1
Argentine tango has made its debut in
traditional Viennese balls
S. Elefante, S. Jovicic, M. Elefante, R. Rodriguez
www.tangogroup.eu
“… Gira tu vals,
me pongo el frac ¡por favor!
vamos los dos a bailar …”
Vals del 18
A. Piazzolla and H. Ferrer (1981)
Viennese balls have a long cultural tradition in the Austrian capital and their origin can be traced
back to the 19th century, to the time of the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) [1] [2]. Indeed, since the
beginning of the 19th century several professional groups (e.g. medical doctors, lawyers,
pharmacists) used to honor their respective profession by organizing balls. However, not only guilds
held balls but also other interest groups (e.g. hunters) as well as persons who liked, for instance,
masquerade balls. This tradition has survived until today and people can still enjoy the fascinating
aspects of the balls and choose among more than four hundred different balls every year which
underlines the still ongoing vivid interest for these events. The majority of the balls takes place in
the beautiful historical Viennese palaces that offer a wide choice of rooms and halls with different
musical styles allowing dancers to enjoy not only the classical three-quarter rhythm of the glorious
Wiener Walzer, but also other dance styles such as rock ´n´ roll, salsa or even disco music.
These balls spread across Europe and also reached the New World. In fact, there are historical
documents that show that already in 1877 (Fig. 1) balls were organized in Buenos Aires. The
following article published in the newspaper “El mosquito” on 7th January 1877 refers to a
masquerade ball in the city of Buenos Aires.
Fig. 1. Article extracted from the newspaper “El Mosquito”, 7th January 1877 [3].
The balls were high class events in which the aristocracy could meet and apart from enjoying
dancing also take the opportunity to discuss business matters. Both in Vienna and Buenos Aires,
balls followed a certain protocol, for instance, ladies had a carnet de bal (Fig. 2), a booklet in which
the tunes scheduled to be played during that night were written. Next to the type of the dance, a lady
used to write the name of the gentleman who invited her to dance.
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Fig. 2. Example of a carnet de bal [3].
At these balls guests also danced rhythms in which dancers needed to embrace each other. One
example included in ball programs was the habanera, known in Europe as “Tango Americano”. The
Opera Ball of Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st January 1877 in Buenos Aires included the habanera as
second dance in the program of the night (Fig. 3).
Fig. 3. Poster of the Opera Ball in Buenos Aires on 20th and 21st January 1877 [3].
The advertising poster of another masquerade ball organized during the carnival season in the Gran
Teatro Broadway, Calle Corrientes 1155, Buenos Aires at the beginning of March (year unknown)
(Fig. 4), announced that four different rhythms were going to be played that night: Tango, Foxtrot,
Vals and Rumba. The famous orchestra tipica Lomuto was invited to perform, and, therefore, it
seems reasonable to assume that Argentine tango instead of ballroom tango was played. On the
other hand, it can not clearly be deduced if Wiener Walzer or Vals criollo was played on that
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occasion as no specific information was provided on the advertising poster.
Fig. 4. Example of an advertising poster of a ball (year unknown), but probably during the 1930s.
Eighty musicians named profesores were on the stage [4].
Argentine tango, born and developed in the region of the Río de la Plata, reached Europe relatively
soon afterwards and quickly became popular in the major capitals.
In 1910, the Deutschmeister Mimi Hermann and his band travelled to Buenos Aires and performed
in Teatro Colón by presenting marches and waltzes. After returning to Vienna on 16th December
1910, the orchestra gave a concert at the Volksgarten in Vienna and played as a "gift for the
Viennese: a tango" [5].
An article in the Viennese newspaper “Das Wiener Tagblatt” on 19th November 1913 [6] provides
insights into the reaction of the European society to this new rhythm and dance. As reported in the
article, Argentine tango reached Paris first “One year ago, the name tango first appeared in public
in Paris. The Figaro performed a show on a strange Argentine dance, which was danced in a posh
nightclub.” Soon it also spread to Vienna “Tango is now being danced in all Viennese dance
institutions, tango is the talk of the day in all families, and the dance teachers, who are barely able
to meet the requirements, rub their hands and smile happily.”
Many cafés in Vienna used to play Argentine tango (e.g. Parisien-Bar in Schellingasse 4) and also
theatres featured Argentine tango shows (e.g. Franz Léhars “Tangokönigin” on 9th September 1921
in Apollo-Theater) [5].
However, it remains unclear if Argentine tango was ever included into the program of any of the
traditional Viennese balls as no evidence has yet been found. What is certain is that the sentiments
and feelings for this new dance were mixed among the Viennese society.
On 30th November 1913 an article was published in the Wiener Zeitung reporting that as a result of
a meeting of the ball committee of the Ball of the City of Vienna in the presence of the mayor it was
decided that Argentine tango would be excluded from the program of the 23rd Ball of the City of
Vienna (“… that the Tango, as it was subsequently decided with vivid approval, is not included in
the Tanzordnung”) (Appendix C) [7].
During the Industrienball an unpleasant event occurred. When the orchestra started playing a tango
and a couple stood up and started dancing, immediate whistles from the other guests made them
stop dancing (Appendix C) [7].
The Habsburg’s opinion on this new dance was not clearly expressed, however it is known that the
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Kaiser Franz Josef gave the order to his officers in uniform to sit down when Argentine tango
music was being played (Appendix C) [7].
Considering this historical perspective [1] [2], the university association Argentine Tango@TU
Wien & IST-Tango has achieved a milestone in the diffusion of Argentine tango in the Viennese ball
culture. Indeed, since 2017 the university group is in charge of organizing an Argentine tango event
including a milonga during the Technische Universität Ball (TU Ball) [8] which is celebrated in the
Imperial Hofburg Palace1 and whose origin can be traced back to the 1815. In this respect, 2017
can be regarded as an influential year for Argentine tango in Vienna as other balls have followed the
example of the TU Ball by also including Argentine tango in their program: Concordia Ball (2018)
[9] and Wissenschaftsball (2019) [10].
This achievement has been possible due to the worldwide increase in popularity of Argentine tango
during the last two decades. Vienna's Argentine tango scene has played an important role in this
respect. Thanks to the work and enthusiasm of the tango professionals and dancers, tango’s
popularity has seen a steady growth in schools, milongas and events. This context has eased the
opening up of new ways in which both UNESCO intangible cultural heritages could meet:
Argentine Tango and Wiener Walzer. The encounter and entanglement of these two dancing cultures
is very fascinating and may be very enriching and beneficial for both Argentine tango and Wiener
Walzer.
Acknowledgements
The university group Argentine Tango@TU Wien & IST-Tango would like to express its
appreciation to the tango professionals Chiara Greco & Martin Acosta, Doriska Tango, Jorge
Talquenca Tango, Marcelo and Noémi (Tango Mango), Maria Victoria Arenillas, Maxi Gotan,
ElTango.at Michael & Laura, Milonga El Firulete Nicolás and Karin, Nastasja Sas & Rafael
Ramírez, Sabine and Thomas Mayr from SaTho Tango, Sayaka & Joscha, Tango Entrenado and
TangoGermano for offering their time as well as tango knowledge to the group.
Special thanks to Espacio Montevideo, Sandra Dudek from Wollonga, Sylvia Tango, Susanne Köb,
Tango Café, TANGO-TV Latinanza and Wolfgang Lachkovics for their continuous help and support.
Gratitude also goes to Alejandra Rogel Alberdi, Beate Wist, Bernard Siegl, Brigitte Belfin, Dimitri
Papanikas, José María Otero, Marcelo Castelo, Marcos Iaffa Sanchez and Otto Eder for providing
the author with the historical documents and constructive suggestions to write this document.
Special recognition to Ana Puttonen, Kurt Loeffelmann and all the members of Argentine
Tango@TU Wien & IST-Tango for having contributed to reach this achievement.
Many other people deserve to be acknowledged, whoever has not been mentioned, we kindly
apologise.
1 To the authors’ best knowledge, in 2017 for the first time an Argentine tango event including a milonga has
been organized in the Imperial Hofburg Palace within the context of a traditional Viennese ball.