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Richard Georg Strauss (German: [ˈʁɪçaʁt ˈʃtʁaʊs]; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his tone poems and operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt. [1]
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Richard Strauss (born June 11, 1864, Munich, Germany—died September 8, 1949, Garmisch-Partenkirchen) an outstanding German Romantic composer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His symphonic poems of the 1890s and his operas of the following decade have remained an indispensable feature of the standard repertoire.
Strauss’s father, Franz, was the principal horn player of the Munich Court Orchestra and was recognized as Germany’s leading virtuoso of the instrument. His mother came from the prominent brewing family of Pschorr. During a conventional education, Strauss still devoted most of his time and energy to music. When he left school in 1882, he had already composed more than 140 works, including 59 lieder (art songs) and various chamber and orchestral works. These juvenilia reflect Strauss’s musical upbringing by his father, who revered the classics and detested Richard Wagner both as a man and as a composer, even though he was a notable performer of the horn passages in performances of Wagner’s operas.
Through his father’s connections, Strauss on leaving school met the leading musicians of the day, including the conductor Hans von Bülow, who commissioned Strauss’s Suite for 13 Winds for the Meiningen Orchestra and invited Strauss to conduct that work’s first performance in Munich in November 1884. Following this successful conducting debut, Bülow offered Strauss the post of assistant conductor at Meiningen. Thenceforward Strauss’s eminence as a conductor paralleled his rise as a composer. Among the conducting posts he went on to hold were those of third conductor of the Munich Opera (1886–89), director of the Weimar Court Orchestra (1889–94), second and then chief conductor at Munich (1894–98), conductor (and later director) of the Royal Court Opera in Berlin (1898–1919), and musical codirector of the Vienna State Opera (1919–24).
At Meiningen Strauss met the composer Alexander Ritter, who reinforced that admiration for Wagner’s music which Strauss had previously nurtured in secret so as not to upset his father. Ritter urged Strauss to abandon classical forms and to express his musical ideas in the medium of the symphonic, or tone, poem, as Franz Liszt had done. Strauss had to work his way to mastery of this form, a half-way stage being his Aus Italien (1886; From Italy), a “symphonic fantasy” based on his impressions during his first visit to Italy. In Weimar in November 1889, he conducted the first performance of his symphonic poem Don Juan. The triumphant reception of this piece led to Strauss’s acclamation as Wagner’s heir and marked the start of his successful composing career. At Weimar, too, in 1894 he conducted the premiere of his first opera, Guntram, with his fiancée Pauline de Ahna in the leading soprano role. She had become his singing pupil in 1887, and they were married in September 1894. Pauline’s tempestuous, tactless, and outspoken personality was the reverse of her husband’s aloof and detached nature, and her eccentric behaviour is the subject of countless anecdotes, most of them true. Nevertheless the marriage between them was strong and successful; they adored each other and ended their days together 55 years later.
The years 1898 and 1899 saw the respective premieres of Strauss’s two most ambitious tone poems, Don Quixote and Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life). In 1904 he and Pauline, who was the foremost exponent of his songs, toured the United States, where in New York City he conducted the first performance of his Symphonia Domestica (Domestic Symphony). The following year, in Dresden, he enjoyed his first operatic success with Salome, based on Oscar Wilde’s play. Although Salome was regarded by some as blasphemous and obscene, it triumphed in all the major opera houses except Vienna, where the censor forbade Gustav Mahler to stage it.
In 1909 the opera Elektra marked Strauss’s first collaboration with the Austrian poet and dramatist Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Strauss wrote the music and Hofmannsthal the libretti for five more operas over the next 20 years. With the 1911 premiere of their second opera together, Der Rosenkavalier, they achieved a popular success of the first magnitude. Their subsequent operas together were Ariadne auf Naxos (1912; Ariadne on Naxos), Die Frau ohne Schatten (1919; The Woman Without a Shadow), and Die ägyptische Helena (1928; The Egyptian Helen). But in 1929 Hofmannsthal died while working on the opera Arabella, leaving Strauss bereft.
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Learn about the life and achievements of Richard Strauss, a German Romantic composer and conductor of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Explore his symphonic poems, operas, and collaborations with Hugo von Hofmannsthal.
- 26 min
- Also Sprach Zarathustra. Strauss is best known for his tone poem, Also Sprach Zarathustra, which was used as the main theme of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey directed by Stanley Kubrick, and by the BBC in their coverage of the Apollo Moon landings.
- An Alpine Symphony. The last of Strauss’ masterly series of symphonic poems depicts the experiences of eleven hours (from twilight just before dawn to the following nightfall) spent climbing an Alpine mountain.
- Death And Transfiguration. Death And Transfiguration is a tone poem by Richard Strauss which depicts the death of an artist. The vast and varied orchestration is typical of the mature Strauss.
- Der Rosenkavalier. Der Rosenkavalier, a comic opera in three acts, is one of Richard Strauss’ best works and has remained his most performed opera. Der Rosenkavalier was Richard Strauss’s first original collaboration with the playwright Hugo von Hofmannsthal and marked the start of one of opera’s most important artistic partnerships.
Sep 4, 2024 · Learn about the life and achievements of Richard Strauss, a German composer of operas, symphonies, and tone poems. Explore his musical style, influences, and legacy in this comprehensive article.
Learn about the life and works of Richard Strauss, one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. From his childhood prodigy to his court music director roles, from his Wagnerian phase to his symphonic masterpieces, discover his musical legacy.
A tone poem by Richard Strauss based on Nietzsche's philosophical treatise of the same name. Listen to the nine sections played by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons, with explanations and paintings.
- 31 min
- 4.7M
- IlaryRhineKlange
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Aug 11, 2023 · Learn about the life and works of Richard Strauss, a German conductor and composer of late-Romantic and Modernist music. Discover his famous symphonic poems, operas, and his role in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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