# Richard Strauss



## Hazel (Oct 23, 2010)

I would like to hear somebody who knows more about classical music than I - in other words, any and all of you - talk about Richard Strauss's music. It is probably me but what I am hearing is such a sharp, cutting sound. I wouldn't say "harsh" but certainly something close to that. To be specific, I am listening to a Decca CD of "Also Sprach Zarathustra", "Ein Heldenleben", "Eine Alpensinfonie", "Don Juan" and "Till Eulenspiegel".

Some of those are easier to hear than others but all are (Hmmm? - "different", perhaps?). 
The one that inspires this note is "Don Juan". On the other hand, "Also Sprach Zarathustra" sends me out of the room. I have never been able to appreciate that one.

Is it me? I'd appreciate some intelligent thoughts about Richard Strauss's music. Maybe I need an attitude adjustment?

Thank you.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

I know what you mean, i used to feel that way. Not really sure what you can do to get rid of it, perhaps just expose yourself more often.

The last two on your Decca CD are alright arent they?


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## Hazel (Oct 23, 2010)

emiellucifuge said:


> I know what you mean, i used to feel that way. Not really sure what you can do to get rid of it, perhaps just expose yourself more often.
> 
> The last two on your Decca CD are alright arent they?


Thank you. As to your question, there are two CDs here. I'd ask which you mean. Here are the pieces exactly:

CD 1: Ein Heldenleben
Also Sprach Zarathrustra

CD 2: Don Juan
Till Eulenspiegel
Eine Alpensinfonie

The last two on CD 2 are certainly more comfortable to listen to. In fact, I felt quite "taken" by what was going on in one section of "Eine Alpensinfonie". It seem to be two totally different arrangements being played at the same time. The main one pictured climbers; the background one, perhaps the winds around the climbers?

That was my interpretation but I did find it interesting to be able to play two different pieces at the same time. It did not seem to work until I got the picture. Then it did.

I'll stop. Are those the two you meant? On the whole, his compositions just don't move smoothly. There seems to be a constant argument going on among the instruments. At first I thought it might be the CD at fault. As you said, more listening and I'll probably get used to it and like it.

Thanks again.


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## emiellucifuge (May 26, 2009)

Yes those are the two i meant. Glad to see i was right


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

Richard Strauss is one of my favorite composers (I can't pick one single favorite) every since I was a teenager. He's best known for his tone poems ,opera and songs.
Strauss is a late romantic who began as a daring innovator and ended as what many other composers considered being old hat, but he is without a doubt one of the greatest composers of the 20th century.
He lived from 1864 to 1949, when Berlioz and Rossini were still alive, and died at a time when such avant-garde 20th century composers as Boulez,Henze, Stockhausen,Messiaen and Carter were beginning to emerge on the scene.
The music of Strauss ,who was no relation to Vienna's waltz king Johann Strauss, , is sumptuous, warm , and heady as wine. It's full of romantic ardor as well as sly humor .
The Strauss tone poems are filled with some of the most vividly descriptive programmatic music ever written. Don Juan has nothing to do with Mozart's Don Giovanni,but is based on a 19th century poem about a man who flits from woman to woman in the vain search for his feminine ideal , but gives up in frustration after being unable to find that ideal woman and lets himself be killed in a duel.
Till Eulenspiegel is an uproarious work about the legendary medieval north German or 
Flemish prankster of that name who eventually got into so much trouble he was hanged ; this is the witty side of Strauss.
Death and Transfiguaration is the depiction of the last hours of a dying old man and his struggles,as well as his remembrance of his youth , ending with the peace which death finally bribngs.
Also Sprach Zaratghustra (This spake Zarathustra) was inspired by the philoposphy of Nietzsche and portrays the philosopher's fanciful imagination. The opening was used in the classic Stanley Kubrick film 2001,a Space Odyssey . It's a mystical ,enigmatic but intoxicating work.
Don Quixote is based on the classic Cervantes novel, as is a theme and variations which graphically illustrates episodes from the book such as bleeting sheep, tilting at windmills and the Don's madness. A solo cello portrays the mad knight, and a solo viola Sancho Panza. 
Ein Heldenleben(A Hero's Life) is a sort of autobiographical work filled with verve and bravado . There's an elabotate part for solo violin portraying the composer's mercurial and capricious wife. The hero faces his enemies, who are actually the jmusic critics who hated Strauss's music. It's hard to tell whether it's a piece of egomania or just tongue-in-cheek humor, but it's an exhilherating piece.
Symphonia Domestica is a clever depiction of the daily life of the Strauss family, his wife and baby son. It's also highly biographical and great fun.
The final tone poem is A Alpine Symphony , which is an incredibly vivid depiction of what it's like to go mountain climbing in the Bavarian alps, which overlooked the composer's villa in Southern Germany. 
It begins in darkness with the ascent into the mountains , and ends with the same music after the descent. In the middle there is the vivid depiction of babbling streams, mountain pasutres with cow bells, the majestic arrival at the summit in the middle, leading to an alpine storm to torrential you'll run for conver. 
These works are filled with the most sumptuous and colorful orchestration you could ever imagine, and oftencall for very large orchestras.
The Alpine symphony calls for a humongous orchestra with 12 horns offstage,
a thinder machine and the whole kitchen sink !
Check the recordings by such great conductors and Straussians as Herbert von Karajan, Rudold Kempe, Karlk Bohm(a close friend of the composer) , Fritz Reiner,
Sir Georg Solti . If you don't mind the antiquated sound, there are a number of recordings of them led by the composer himself, who was a famous conductor in his day.
The music of Strauss is high calory stuff indeed, but you won't gain any weight, obnly enormous enjoyment !


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I have an article by Janice Wu which has helped me understand where Strauss was coming from in his tone poems. She puts Strauss' music in the context of the invention of photography and the introduction of pictorial thought into society. "It is in relation to these wider cultural circumstances that the pictorial and self-representational elements in many of Strauss' tone poems can be understood. His self-portrayal in compositions such as . . . Sinfonia Domestica can be seen as the musical equivalents of portraits which were being produced in painting and photography at the time. They are musical examples of the broader trend of realism which became particularly pronounced in the second half of the nineteenth century. Certainly, more than one commentator has described works such as the Sinfonia Domestica and the later Alpensinfonie as suggestive of a photographic realism . . . The music is intended to be seen as much as heard."


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## Hazel (Oct 23, 2010)

Manxfeeder said:


> I have an article by Janice Wu which has helped me understand where Strauss was coming from in his tone poems. She puts Strauss' music in the context of the invention of photography and the introduction of pictorial thought into society. "It is in relation to these wider cultural circumstances that the pictorial and self-representational elements in many of Strauss' tone poems can be understood. His self-portrayal in compositions such as . . . Sinfonia Domestica can be seen as the musical equivalents of portraits which were being produced in painting and photography at the time. They are musical examples of the broader trend of realism which became particularly pronounced in the second half of the nineteenth century. Certainly, more than one commentator has described works such as the Sinfonia Domestica and the later Alpensinfonie as suggestive of a photographic realism . . . The music is intended to be seen as much as heard."


That is going to take some thinking which I promise to do as soon as I settle. Just got home. Thank you.


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## Hazel (Oct 23, 2010)

Superhorn, I am going to copy/paste this to a special folder that I have so I can study it more. I like your word "innovator". When I was puzzling my reaction to his music, I was trying to think that he was doing something different and unusual.

Thank you. I'll absorb more of this after a good lunch.


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## Sebastien Melmoth (Apr 14, 2010)

Don't miss out on Strauss' 'Indian Summer' of works written in his advanced old age from 1940-on including _Capriccio_.


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

In addition to his beautiful tone poems and songs, you probably should also try his operas. He really excelled in this genre and composed several operatic masterpieces. Later operas like Arabella, Daphne and Capriccio are more easily listening, when he was going back to a more romantic style. His earlier operas are more modernist in scope and harder on the ear (but phenomenal) such as Elektra and Salome. The ones in the middle years are excellent too and more transitional between these styles, such as Der Rosenkavalier, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Die Frau ohne Schatten (the latter is my favorite among his operas). One of the rare pieces by him that I don't like is Intermezzo.


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## Hazel (Oct 23, 2010)

Almaviva said:


> In addition to his beautiful tone poems and songs, you probably should also try his operas. He really excelled in this genre and composed several operatic masterpieces. Later operas like Arabella, Daphne and Capriccio are more easily listening, when he was going back to a more romantic style. His earlier operas are more modernist in scope and harder on the ear (but phenomenal) such as Elektra and Salome. The ones in the middle years are excellent too and more transitional between these styles, such as Der Rosenkavalier, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Die Frau ohne Schatten (the latter is my favorite among his operas). One of the rare pieces by him that I don't like is Intermezzo.


I shall. Thank you.


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## Sebastien Melmoth (Apr 14, 2010)

On 23 April we'll get *Capriccio* live from the met: http://www.operainfo.org/


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## Moscow-Mahler (Jul 8, 2010)

*Lucia Popp* was great in Vier Lezte Lieder (btw, I don't find Solti tempos too fast as some youtube users, I think slow tempos are more dangerous in Strauss)


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## Almaviva (Aug 13, 2010)

Hazel said:


> I shall. Thank you.


You're welcome. I hope you enjoy these operas. Please let us know, once you listen to them or watch them.:tiphat:


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## DTut (Jan 2, 2011)

I'm no R. Strauss fan but I really like METAMORPHOSEN. It's for "23 solo strings" and it's a wonderful 26 minute arc. The peak is quite emotional IMHO.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

DTut said:


> I'm no R. Strauss fan but I really like METAMORPHOSEN. It's for "23 solo strings" and it's a wonderful 26 minute arc. The peak is quite emotional IMHO.


I agree, I'm not a huge fan of R. Strauss but I quite like _Metamorphosen_ - his response to what happened to the world and Germany in particular during WW2. It gets played every couple of years here in Sydney by the Australian Chamber Orchestra, & I've seen them play it live three times over the years...


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

I don´t like all of his works but I think Elektra is one of the best operas ever.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

I love Strauss' music deeply but like a lot that I love, I heard it playing around the house since before I knew what I was listening to. 

I find your inquiry interesting because if I had given a composer a try and the sound didn't get me, I believe I would probably just move on. But you sound interested in seeing if you can find what Strauss is all about. I can tell you that people are often strongly divided about his works.

Someone on here addressed the tone poems and that could be a good way to go. I tend to take whatever happens from the title and the music with program music. Death and Transfiguration s perfect that way....the title can set you off on a bit of a program. The music is for me absolutely glorious...perfect for Karajan's slow treatment. On the same recording you have Gundula Janowitz silvery soprano singing the four last songs, beloved of Strauss fans.

Someone recommended Capriccio which was a long evening for me in the house. Die Frau hone Schatten is magnificently symphonic. If you don't like the harsh in Strauss stay away from Salome and Elektra...both have some greatest hits that are not so harsh but the operas as a whole are not looking to seduce you with beautiful sound. Der Rosenkavalier is one of my favorite operas. Some find it filled with long dry spells but I don't. The trio at the end is, for a Strauss fan, heartbreakingly beautiful.

Hope you find, or found, something...didn't check the date on this. If you find something great let me know...I might not know it.


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## Nawdry (Dec 27, 2020)

Hazel said:


> I would like to hear somebody who knows more about classical music than I - in other words, any and all of you - talk about Richard Strauss's music. It is probably me but what I am hearing is such a sharp, cutting sound. I wouldn't say "harsh" but certainly something close to that.


I too have struggled to understand and appreciate the music of Richard Strauss, but I don't perceive it as "cutting" or "harsh"; my own impression is "heroic", grand", "humorous", but I'm still struggling to connect in a way to unlock for myself and to experience adequately the psychic journey it offers. I believe the summary provided by the comments of "superhorn" in this thread constitute a very useful conceptual approach. Incidentally, the use of the opening bars of _Zarathustra_ in the soundtrack of Kubrick's film _2001_ energized my interest not just in this work but in Strauss's music as a whole.


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## progmatist (Apr 3, 2021)

Richard is the only composer with the surname Strauss whose music I like.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Nawdry said:


> I too have struggled to understand and appreciate the music of Richard Strauss, *but I don't perceive it as "cutting" or "harsh"; my own impression is "heroic", grand", "humorous"*, but I'm still struggling to connect in a way to unlock for myself and to experience adequately the psychic journey it offers. I believe the summary provided by the comments of "superhorn" in this thread constitute a very useful conceptual approach. Incidentally, the use of the opening bars of _Zarathustra_ in the soundtrack of Kubrick's film _2001_ energized my interest not just in this work but in Strauss's music as a whole.


 Got a kick out of the fact that I seem to see something in Strauss's music at different places that coincided with all of the adjectives! Cutting and harsh, for many people, would certainly apply to Salome and Electra . Heroic would seem to apply in the most obvious sense to Ein Heldenleben but that title could be a little misleading. sections of heroic sounding music show up again and again In places like Die Frau ohne Schatten, the Alpine Symphony. Extensive passages in the operas and the tone poems could be called grand… for non-Strauss lovers overblown  Alpine Symphony, Death and Transfiguration. Humorous...depends on who you ask, but the attempt is there in Till Eulenspiegel and Rosenkavalier. And as always....do you just hear that sound and find you have a bias towards it!


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