‘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, 21. May 197422.00 o' clock Buenos Aires ⁄ Hotel Alvear Palace
Concert in Buenos Aires 1st. South America-Tour
Kurt Woess conductor
Program Ludwig van Beethoven : Ouverture to «Egmont» Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Symphony No. 36 in C major, KV 425 «Linzer Sinfonie» Break Johann Strauss II : Opening march from the operetta «The Gypsy Baron» Johann Strauss II : Artist’s Life / Waltz op. 316 Josef Strauss : Chatterboxes: musical joke / Polka op. 245 Johann Strauss II : Chit-Chat Polka op. 214 Johann Strauss II : Morning Papers / Waltz op. 279 Johann Strauss II : Perpetual Motion / Musical joke op. 257 Johann Strauss II : Cuckoo Polka / Polka française op. 336 Johann Strauss II : Thunder and Lightning / Quick polka op. 324 Encore Johann Strauss I : Radetzky March op. 228
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