10. Waltzing Through Europe

This chapter explores how the music of Johann Strauss the Elder, the King of the Waltz, was distributed during the 1830s. By examining the reception of Strauss touring with his orchestra, it establishes how his dance music became popular on a supra-regional level. It argues that while the study of the music alone does not explain the spread of the dance tradition, the dissemination of well-known dance music certainly influenced the distribution of the Waltz as a dance.