‘Dear Sirs / Herewith I have the honour to submit to the esteemed committee the title “Shooting Star” for a composition – to be precise a quick polka – for the Hesperus Ball.’ This brief announcement was sent by Jetty Strauss to Hesperus, an association of actors and musicians, and the letter was signed ‘Yours faithfully’ by her husband Johann. The date for the Hesperus Ball had already been advertised as 16 February in the Wiener Zeitung, a Vienna daily, on 10 January 1868. Jetty’s letter is undated.
Hesperos – the evening star of Greek mythology – is the planet Venus, seen sometimes in the evening, sometimes in the early morning (Hesperus had a sister society named Aurora). So how did the polka get the title “Shooting Star”? On the evening of 30 January 1868 a meteor was observed in towns to the north of Vienna. It must have been an impressive event, as from 1 February it was reported in many newspapers, both in Austria and abroad, ‘The phenomenon, a ball of blue flame […] disappeared with a crash like thunder’ (Neue Freie Presse, 1 February); ‘The luminous phenomenon was one of splendour and magnificence […] a meteor moving slowly forward in an easterly direction […] The speed of the luminous body increased unusually rapidly and with it the phenomenon grew bigger […] almost the diameter of the sun […].’ (Neue Freie Presse, 3 February).
This means that Jetty’s letter was written at the beginning of February 1868, not earlier, but not later either, because from 6 February there were already announcements that Johann Strauss was preparing a quick polka with the title “Shooting Star” for the Hesperus Ball. He thus had ten days to complete a composition which is orchestrated so as illustrate in music dazzling flashes of light and thunder.
Johann Strauss II. Thunder and Lightning op. 324 © by WJSO-Archive
Tuesday, 01. May 201811.00 o' clock Vienna ⁄ Musikverein ⁄ The Große Musikvereinssaal
Spring concert
Alfred Eschwé conductor
Program Johann Strauss II : Overture to the operetta "The Gypsy Baron" Johann Strauss II : By the Moldau / Polka française op. 366 Johann Strauss II : Let's dance! / Quick polka op. 436 Johann Strauss II : Viennese Bonbons / Waltz op. 307 Johann Strauss II : Fata Morgana / Polka mazurka op. 330 Josef Strauss : On Holiday Travels! / Quick polka op. 133 Johann Strauss II : The Publicists / Waltz op. 321 Break Johann Strauss II : Overture to «A Night in Venice» Johann Strauss II : Fairy tales from the Orient / Waltz op. 444 Johann & Josef Strauss : Pizzicato Polka Joseph Lanner : Tarantel-Galopp op. 125 Johann Strauss II : Czárdás from "Die Fledermaus" Hans Christian Lumbye : Champagne Galop op. 14 Johann Strauss II : Emperor Waltz op. 437 Encore Johann Strauss II : Thunder and Lightning / Quick polka op. 324 Johann Strauss I : Radetzky March op. 228
Jubiläum Am 2. Jänner 1983 stand Alfred Eschwé zum ersten Mal am Pult des Wiener Johann Strauss Orchesters. Wir gratulieren Maestro Eschwé ganz herzlich und freuen uns auf die nächsten 35 Jahre!
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