Balls

Categories / Population/Urban Living
BALLS, evening parties with dances, one of the entertainments of high society in St. Petersburg from the 18th - the early 20th centuries. Balls originated from assemblies, where, according to Tsar Peter the Great's order, minuet, allemande, courante, and other dances were danced. Gradually evening parties with dancing became popular among the general public (firstly among the nobility), even hierarchy of balls was created: courtier etiquette balls, court regular balls, aristocratic and private balls (parties, domestic gatherings), public balls (popular dancing parties, where one could get in by entrance tickets) and others. Balls were often combined with carnivals, dinner parties, masquerades balls etc. The ball season in the capital began in autumn and continued all winter until Lent. In the early 19th century a strict sequence and repertoire of dances were fixed: polonaise, matradour, gavotte, ecossaise, anglaise; later waltz, mazurka and cotillion were added. In the 1820s French quadrille went into fashion, in the 1840s - polka. Sometimes participants danced the cossack, galop, and solo dances. By the early 19th century balls had turned into an important element of a nobleman's life: landowners, and noblemen who considered themselves to be the members of elevated society, were obliged not only to visit balls regularly, but also to arrange one or two balls annually. In the early 19th century exchange of balls among private people, as well as social groups and estates, became customary (for example, a merchant ball was given in response to the one of the nobility, etc.). The main component of any ball was dancing, though in the 19th century other forms of social communication were also added (mazurka chattering, word games, connected with dancing and so forth). Balls represented one of permitted ways of collective life; important business affairs were arranged there, and love affairs sometimes started; they also became a trade fair for brides. Music for balls was written by A.N. and K.N. Lyadov, M.I. Glinka, O.A. Kozlovsky, A.A. Alyabiev and other composers. Balls were arranged in the English club, in the Big Bourgeois club (Admiralteyskaya Square), in the Commercial Club (Angliyskaya Embankment; not preserved) and others. In the early 19th century some dancing gatherings and clubs appeared: Big dance club in Kosikovsky’s House (15 Nevsky Prospect), Little Dance Club in Kusovnikov's house (30 Nevsky Prospect). The most magnificent balls were set in Engelgardt's House (30 Nevsky Prospect), also in the early 19th century the following balls were well-known: in Saltykov's House (2-4 Dvortsovaya Embankment,), Laval's House (4 Angliyskaya Embankment), Kochubey's House (16 Fontanka River Embankment), Bobrinsky's House (122 Fontanka River Embankment) and other places. Guests were invited to aristocratic balls individually, whereas city balls with entrance by tickets were open to all provided that they were of corresponding rank and class. Visiting court balls which were held in Anichkov Palace was obligatory for everybody who held a place at court. Ball culture reached its peak in the 1830-40s; later on balls were given in pleasure gardens (like the Garden by Manufactured Mineral Water House, Aquarium Garden and others), in ballrooms that were specially built for dancing etc. After October 1917 balls disappeared from the ordinary life to be revived only in the 1930s as a component of different festivals (New Years, students', school festivals etc.). Since the early 1990s balls have acquired the character of a mass show mixed with dancing (mass city balls on Dvortsovaya (Palace) Embankment, Elagin Island etc.).

References: Лотман Ю. М. Беседы о русской культуре: Быт и традиции дворянства (XVIII - нач. XIX в.). СПб., 1994. С. 90-102; Дуков Е. Бал в культуре XVIII - первой половине XIX вв. // У истоков развлекательной культуры нового времени, XVIII-XIX вв. М., 1996. p. 160-184.

Y. N. Kruzhnov. Alyabyev Alexander Alexandrovich
Engelgardt Vasily Vasilievich
Glinka Mikhail Ivanovich
Kochubey Viktor Sergeevich, Duke
Kosikovsky Andrey Ivanovich
Kozlovsky Osip (Iosif) Antonovich
Kusovnikov M.S.
Laval Alexandra Grigoryevna, Countess
Lotman Yury Mikhailovich
Lyadov Anatoly Konstantinovich
Lyadov Konstantin Nikolaevich
Peter I, Emperor
the Bobrinskys, Counts
the Saltykovs
Angliiskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 4
Angliiskaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city
Dvortsovaya Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 2-4
Dvortsovaya Square/Saint Petersburg, city
Elagin Island/Saint Petersburg, city
Fontanka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 122
Fontanka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 16
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 15
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 30
Лотман Ю. М. Беседы о русской культуре: Быт и традиции дворянства (XVIII - нач. XIX в.). СПб., 1994
Дуков Е. Бал в культуре XVIII - первой половине XIX вв. // У истоков развлекательной культуры нового времени, XVIII - XIX вв. М., 1996 English Club
Chicherin House
Laval, House of
Anichkov Palace
Manufactured Mineral Water House