The waltz was scandalous
It was thought disreputable at first because it held the partners close.
Michael Kranewitter — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Michael Kranewitter — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Thomas Ledl — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Anton-kurt — CC BY-SA 4.0
Generally better than what is sold on the streets of the centre, because this is an institution with a programme rather than a sales point for visitors. Check the programme and the ensemble before booking regardless. The rule in Vienna: avoid whatever is sold to you in the street by someone in period costume.
If Strauss's music matters to you, yes — nowhere else combines the exhibition with the original hall. If your interest is general, the Haus der Musik in the centre is closer and broader in subject.
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A Biedermeier ballroom and concert hall in the Döbling district of northern Vienna, built in the mid nineteenth century and among the places where Johann Strauss performed. It was restored and reopened in 2022 as the House of Strauss. The idea is to put the music back in its own place rather than display it in a neutral museum. The building today combines a permanent exhibition on the Strauss family and the culture of the Viennese waltz with a concert hall where performances actually take place. The exhibition explains what the tourist concerts do not: the waltz was not always respectable, and was thought scandalous at first because it held the partners close; Strauss father and son were in bitter conflict; and the concert business was a large and thoroughly modern commercial operation in its day. Practical points: Döbling is outside the centre and needs a tram or the metro. The exhibition is ticketed and concerts are ticketed separately. Check the programme — hearing a concert in the hall itself is the best form the visit can take.
It was thought disreputable at first because it held the partners close.
Strauss the elder opposed his son's path, and the feud was public.
The concert business was large and strikingly modern in its methods.
Döbling, northern Vienna