Johann Strauss Junior

Dance to his music and imagine you are at an elegant dance party, a ball!

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Have a look in the display case at the ball gifts that are over 100 years old. These were known as “Ladies’ donations”. Women would receive them at the beginning of the ball. A little booklet in a beautiful case would have been an example of such a gift.

The booklet – a dance card – was intended to help the ladies plan their dance schedule. Each man wrote his name in a lady’s booklet for a particular dance, making a kind of reservation for that dance. This way, there was a mutual agreement to dance with each other.

Can you see a wooden box with a cylinder in gravel in the large display case?What could that be? Do you have any ideas?

This cylinder music box is a “mechanical musical instrument” and is around 150 years old! This is how it works:

Hundreds of tiny metal pins stick out from what is called a “pinned barrel” – they look like little silver dots. When you turn the handle at the side, the metal comb brushes over the barrel and hits these metal pins. Depending on how the little metal pins are positioned, a melody is played. Put simply, a piece of music is mechanically coded and saved on this pinned barrel. The dances by Johann Strauss Sohn were very popular compositions for these cylinder music boxes.

You are welcome to try out our “mini music boxes” in our museum shop on the fourth floor. Have fun!