‘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
Saturday, 05. May 198411.00 o' clock Vienna ⁄ Musikverein ⁄ The Große Musikvereinssaal
Concert at the Musikverein Vienna
Kurt Woess conductor
Program Johann Strauss II : Ouverture to «Die Fledermaus» Johann Strauss II : Singers Joy / Polka française op. 328 Josef Strauss : Without a Care! / Quick polka op. 271 Johann Strauss II : Roses from the South / Waltz op. 388 Johann Strauss II : Chit-Chat Polka op. 214 Johann Strauss II : Voices of Spring / Waltz op. 410 Johann Strauss II : Thunder and Lightning / Quick polka op. 324 Break Johann Strauss II : Egyptian March op. 335 Carl Michael Ziehrer : Walk In / Waltz op. 518 Eduard Strauss I : Brakes off / Quick polka op. 238 Johann & Josef Strauss : Pizzicato Polka Johann Strauss II : Bandits Galop / Polka schnell op. 378 Karl Komzák II. : The girls of Baden / Walz op. 257 Encore Johann Strauss II : The Blue Danube / Waltz op. 314 Johann Strauss II : Explosions Polka op. 43 Johann Strauss I : Radetzky March op. 228
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