Many people let themselves be carried into 2025 by a Strauss waltz. Or they banished their hangovers with the traditional New Year's Concert by the Wiener Philharmoniker, conducted by Riccardo Muti on the occasion of Strauss's 200th birthday. October 25th is the day, but the celebrations are organized throughout the year: a whopping 10 of the 17 works were by Johann Strauss Jr. The Wiener Staatsballett danced in pre-produced films in three-quarter time, and the Rosen aus dem Süden waltz medley swayed like floral decorations in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein. That's tradition.
At the wonderful balls celebrated in Vienna’s Opera, Musikverein, Hofburg, Town Hall, and various aristocratic palaces, the forgetfulness of being is celebrated in a whirl of movement, as Strauss musicalized it in ...
