Waltz

The waltz is a ballroom and concert dance in triple time, 3/4, that rose from Austrian and German folk dances to dominate European ballrooms in the nineteenth century. *Joseph Lanner* and *Johann Strauss I* established its Viennese form (a chain of short waltz sections framed by an introduction and coda) and *Johann Strauss II*, the 'Waltz King', perfected it in works such as "The Blue Danube" (1867). Beyond the ballroom, the waltz entered ballet, opera, piano and orchestral music worldwide, and its lilting one-two-three meter remains the defining sound of Vienna's New Year tradition.