Some of the characteristics of the polka appear in music performed by and written for Bohemian village musicians around 1800; aside from this, the dance's origins are obscure. A couple-dance in 2/4 meter, it seems the polka developed in Bohemia as a type of round-dance with three short, heel-and-toe half-steps on the first three half-beats and a rest on the fourth. The name may be derived from the Czech pulka (half) or polska, the Czech word for a Polish girl. Whatever its origins, it is certain that the polka first appeared in Prague in 1837. The dance was exported to Vienna in 1839 by a Bohemian regiment band, precipitating its rapid spread throughout Europe. By 1843-1844 it was the favorite dance of Parisians and in May, 1844, it was first performed in the U.S. Local musicians created variants of the dance, and in the 1850s in Vienna, the elegant Polka française and the lively Schnell-Polka developed. The polka was very popular in the late nineteenth century and examples were penned by nearly every major composer of dance music, performed by almost all military bands and distributed in the form of sheet music throughout the world. A French dictionary of dance terms dating from 1847 describes the polka as having a tempo of 104 beats per minute with an emphasis on the second beat of the measure. It exhibits a ternary (ABA) form with eight-measure subsections and sometimes includes an introduction and a coda.

With his brother Josef, Johann Strauss had composed the Pizzicato-Polka in 1869 for one of his several visits to Russia. Scored for strings and glockenspiel, the polka was published in Vienna the next year and became very popular, especially in Italy, where Strauss included it on the program of every one of his tours. Like other works on which Strauss collaborated with one or both of his brothers, the Pizzicato-Polka bears no opus number.

Consisting of four melodies, the Pizzicato-Polka is arranged in ternary form. As the title suggests, the entirety of the piece is scored for plucked strings, although a glockenspiel appears for the first half of the central section. Possibly because of the limited instrumentation, Strauss seems to have attempted to provide as much contrast as possible in other ways, such as the rhythm and shape of melodies. After a brief introduction, the first eight-measure tune falls into two sections and outlines chords with alternating eighth and sixteenth note rhythms. The second melody is quite different, with its falling scales, constant eighth note pulse and occasional rests. A literal return of the first melody rounds out the A section. The central section features the glockenspiel in the first of its two melodies, which derives its identity more from color than from melodic shape. Broken chords played on all instruments open the contrasting tune, the second half of which consists of descending scales. Each melody of the B section is repeated. A full return of section A and a brief coda of descending scales closes the piece.

© John Palmer, All Music Guide

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