‘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
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Programm ヨハン・ シュトラウス2世 : 序曲/喜歌劇「ジプシー男爵」 ヨハン・ シュトラウス2世 : ポルカ『モルダウ川のほとり』 op. 366 ヨハン・ シュトラウス2世 : Let's dance! / Quick polka op. 436 ヨハン・ シュトラウス2世 : 「ウィーンのボンボン」 op. 307 ヨハン・ シュトラウス2世 : 蜃気楼 op. 330 ヨーゼフ シュトラウス : ポルカ・シュネル『休暇旅行にて』 op. 133 ヨハン・ シュトラウス2世 : ワルツ『ジャーナリスト』 op. 321 ヨハン・ シュトラウス2世 : ヴェネツィアの一夜 序曲 ヨハン・ シュトラウス2世 : Fairy tales from the Orient / Waltz op. 444 ヨハン·ヨーゼフ シュトラウス : ピツィカート・ポルカ ヨーゼフ・ ランナー : タランテラ・ギャロップ op. 125 ヨハン・ シュトラウス2世 : Czárdás from "Die Fledermaus" Hans Christian Lumbye : Champagne Galopp op. 14 ヨハン・ シュトラウス2世 : ワルツ「皇帝円舞曲」 op. 437 ヨハン・ シュトラウス2世 : ポルカ「雷鳴と電光」 op. 324 ヨハン・ シュトラウス1世 : ラデツキー行進曲 op. 228
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