My orchestration from the piano score of this waltz by Franz Ballin. It was written for the opening. It was written for the opening of the Neue Elysium on 1st March 1840. This was a sort of subterranean pleasure garden, complete with horse drawn railway.

Ballin had played in the orchestras for Joseph Wilde, Joseph Lanner and Johann Strauss I and had led the remainder of the latter’s orchestra while Strauss was away on his grand tour of Europe. He was responsible for the first Viennese performance of some of the works Strauss wrote while on tour.

Ballin made the most of the opportunity to establish himself as a band leader and composer in his own right. He ran his own orchestra for a while and then became a regimental band leader.

His compositions have disappeared into oblivion and some would say deservedly so. This piece is pretty enough but there is little, if anything, to raise it above the ordinary. Certainly, he was never going to be a serious threat to Lanner or Strauss.

The interesting spelling of Elisium is on the score.