‘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, 07. February 197119.00 o' clock Yamagata ⁄ Kenmin Kaikan
Concert in Yamagata First Japan tour
Willi Boskovsky conductor
Program Johann Strauss II : Ouverture to «Die Fledermaus» Josef Strauss : Watercolours / Waltz op. 258 Josef Strauss : Moulinet Polka / Polka française op. 57 Josef Strauss : Without a Care! / Quick polka op. 271 Johann Strauss II : Tales from the Vienna Woods / Waltz op. 325 Johann Strauss II : Light of Heart / Quick polka op. 319 Johann Strauss II : Emperor Waltz op. 437 Break Josef Strauss : The Chattering Woman / Polka mazurka) op. 144 Josef Strauss : Jockey / Quick polka op. 278 Johann & Josef Strauss : Pizzicato Polka Eduard Strauss I : Clear the Track! / Quick polka op. 45 Johann Strauss II : Cuckoo Polka / Polka française op. 336 Johann Strauss II : Hunting / Quick polka op. 373 Johann Strauss II : Thunder and Lightning / Quick polka op. 324 Johann Strauss II : The Blue Danube / Waltz op. 314 Encore Johann Strauss I : Radetzky March op. 228
Yamagata ⁄ Kenmin Kaikan 3 Chome-1-23 Nanukamachi Yamagata-shi 〒 990－8570 Yamagata city Japan
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