A black and white
photograph of Richard Strauss in 1918 shows a somewhat handsome man with a
direct gaze and an authoritative air in his expression. A band of white hair
frames the back of his head, a thick mustache sits above his lip, and a bowtie
puts a neat finish on the white collared shirt and vested suit. He would have
been 54 that year, his life spanning both the 19th and 20th centuries from 1864
to 1949, the year of his 85th birthday.
He must have had a sense of humor for he is quoted as a conductor
saying, "Never look at the trombones. You'll
only encourage them." His father Franz was a French horn player in his
birth city of Munich.
Strauss’ career took him
from the heights of fame and fortune to bankruptcy at the end of the Second
World War. Known for his tone poems and operas, Richard Georg Strauss is
referred to as the last of the great Romantics in German music. He wrote his
first work at age six and had his Symphony in D Minor performed in 1880, the
year he turned 16. His tone poem “Don Juan” first brought him into the
spotlight in 1889. He would have been 23. It’s reported that the audience both
cheered and booed at the premiere when they first heard the dramatic work. The
melodic motif played by soaring violins can still make you catch your breath
today. The work happened to coincide with his
courtship of a soprano, Pauline Maria de Ahna, who would become his wife.
Symphonic tone poems,
first created by Franz Liszt, are defined as “an orchestral composition based
on literature or folk tales” and often programmatic, that is, instruments
imitating the sound of something real. You may not even realize you know
Strauss’ music because the opening of his tone poem “Also Sprach Zarathustra”
became familiar as the theme from the Stanley Kubrick film, “2001: A Space
Odyssey.”
After a succession of tone
poems including “Death and Transfiguration,” “Till Eulensiegel’s Merry Pranks”
and “Don Quixote,”Strauss moved on to opera.
His “Salome” shocked Dresden audiences of 1905. Because the soprano at the
premiere found the work “distasteful and obscene,” a ballerina performed the
first “Dance of the Seven Veils.” The opera required a huge orchestra and
presented a major challenge to the leading role that Strauss envisioned for “a
16-year-old princess with the voice of an Isolde.” The public outcry when
“Salome” opened at the Metropolitan Opera in New York led to a close after only
one performance. Other operas followed including “Elektra” and “Der Rosenkavalier.”
He next took over the conductor’s role with the Berlin Philharmonic, remaining
in that post for twelve years.
It’s reported that his
wife ruled Strauss’ household and allotted him only an allowance from his
considerable income. But there was some controversy in his personal life
because he worked in Germany under the Nazis. His daughter-in-law and
grandchildren (he had one son in Franz born in 1897) were Jewish and he used
his influence to protect them. But, when he wrote the opera “The Silent Woman”
with Jewish librettist Stefan Zweig, the Reich removed him from conducting,
although he did remain in Germany to the end of the war. You can read details
on his personal life at the Richard Strauss website.
References:
http://www.classicalcdreview.com/salome.html
http://people.famouswhy.com/richard_strauss/
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Richard_Strauss
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