‘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.
Monday, 30. March 198120.00 o' clock Bregenz ⁄ Festspielhaus
Concert in Bregenz Austria tour 1981
Franz Kreuzer conductor
Program Johann Strauss II : Ouverture to «Die Fledermaus» Johann Strauss II : Anna Polka op. 117 Josef Strauss : Watercolours / Waltz op. 258 Josef Strauss : Without a Care! / Quick polka op. 271 Josef Strauss : Mysterious Powers of Attraction (Dynamiden) / Waltz op. 173 Johann Strauss II : Perpetual Motion / Musical joke op. 257 Johann Strauss II : Thunder and Lightning / Quick polka op. 324 Break Josef Strauss : My Character is Love and Joy / Waltz op. 263 Johann Strauss II : Eljen A Magyar! « Long Live the Magyar!» / Quick polka op. 332 Johann Strauss II : Cuckoo Polka / Polka française op. 336 Johann Strauss II : New Pizzicato Polka, from the Operetta «Fürstin Ninetta» op. 449 Johann Strauss II : Excursion Train / Quick polka op. 281 Johann Strauss II : The Blue Danube / Waltz op. 314 Encore Josef Strauss : Fire-Proof! / Polka française op. 269 Johann Strauss II : Chit-Chat Polka op. 214 Johann Strauss I : Radetzky March op. 228
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