‘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
Sunday, 06. June 199919.30 o' clock Vienna ⁄ Musikverein ⁄ The Große Musikvereinssaal
Concert at the Musikverein Vienna
Alfred Eschwé conductor
Program Johann Strauss II : Overture to the operetta «Carnival in Rome» Johann Strauss II : Parisian Polka op. 382 Johann Strauss II : Let’ s Away! / Quick polka op. 383 Johann Strauss II : Travel Adventures / Waltz op. 227 Johann Strauss II : Egyptian March op. 335 Johann Strauss II : Quick Off the Mark / Quick polka op. 409 Johann Strauss II : Voices of Spring / Waltz op. 410 Johann Strauss II : Thunder and Lightning / Quick polka op. 324 Break Johann Strauss II : Festival March op. 452 Johann Strauss II : Illustrations / Waltz op. 331 Johann Strauss II : Cuckoo Polka / Polka française op. 336 Johann Strauss II : Ball bouquet / Quick polka op. 380 Johann Strauss II : Intermezzo from «Thousand an One Nights» Johann Strauss II : Excursion Train / Quick polka op. 281 Johann Strauss II : The Blue Danube / Waltz op. 314 Encore Johann Strauss I : Radetzky March op. 228
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