Composer · Late Romantic
Richard Strauss
1864–1949 · German
Richard Strauss was the heir to Wagner and Liszt, the composer who carried the late Romantic tradition into the twentieth century. Born in Munich in 1864, the son of the principal horn player of the Munich Court Orchestra, he received a conservative musical education before an encounter with Alexander Ritter, a violinist married to one of Wagner’s nieces, converted him to the “music of the future.”
Between 1889 and 1898, Strauss composed a series of tone poems that made him the most famous composer in Germany: Don Juan, Death and Transfiguration, Till Eulenspiegel, Also sprach Zarathustra, Don Quixote, and Ein Heldenleben. Each pushed the orchestra to new extremes of virtuosity and expression. Then he turned to opera, creating the scandalous Salome (1905), the shattering Elektra (1909), and the nostalgic masterpiece Der Rosenkavalier (1911).
Strauss lived long: through two world wars, the Nazi era, and the destruction of the German musical culture he had embodied. His late works, including the Metamorphosen for strings and the Four Last Songs, are elegies for a lost world. He died in 1949, shortly after completing those final songs.
Works
- Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 2
- Also sprach Zarathustra, Tone Poem, Op. 30 1
- Der Rosenkavalier, Suite 2
- Don Juan, Tone Poem, Op. 20 1
- Don Quixote, Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character, Op. 35 2
- Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40 3
- Four Last Songs 1
- Le bourgeois gentilhomme, Suite, Op. 60 1
- Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings 1
- Oboe Concerto in D major, TrV 292 1
- Salome, Op. 54: Dance of the Seven Veils 1
- Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, Op. 28 1
- Waltz Sequence No. 1 from ‘Der Rosenkavalier’ 1
Performed at
Upcoming
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New Year’s Eve Concert with Kirill Petrenko and Alexander Malofeev Nicolai · Shostakovich · Prokofiev · Strauss · Strauss II
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François-Xavier Roth conducts Strauss, Berlioz and Boulanger Strauss · Berlioz · Boulanger
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On Tour in Ann Arbor: Maconchy, Elgar’s Cello Concerto and Ein Heldenleben Maconchy · Elgar · Strauss
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On Tour at Carnegie Hall: Beethoven’s Triple Concerto and Ein Heldenleben Beethoven · Strauss
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Vienna on Tour: Der Rosenkavalier and Korngold’s Sinfonietta Strauss · Korngold
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Muti’s Bridge from Haydn to Beethoven Haydn · Strauss · Beethoven
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Strauss’s Oboe Concerto and Schoenberg’s Pelleas Strauss · Schoenberg
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Season Finale at the Waldbühne with Daniel Harding and Augustin Hadelich Strauss II · Ravel · Stravinsky · Strauss · Sarasate
Past guides
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Cho’s Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky’s War Symphony Tchaikovsky · Stravinsky · Strauss
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Rattle: Gerhard, Strauss’s Four Last Songs and Mahler’s Fourth Gerhard · Strauss · Mahler
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Stutzmann: Beethoven’s Third Concerto, Rienzi and Der Rosenkavalier Beethoven · Wagner · Strauss
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Knights Errant: From Wagner’s Pilgrims to Strauss’s Windmills Wagner · Henze · Strauss
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Hannigan: Bowler’s The White Book, Ligeti and Also sprach Zarathustra Bowler · Ligeti · Strauss
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Sunrise and Northern Light Kurtág · Strauss · Sibelius
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Two Knights and a Passion Strauss · Haydn
Sources 1
- Richard Strauss, Wikipedia