Happy Birthday Richard Strauss

Richard Strauss (11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor. He was known for operas, tone poems, concertos, songs, and two symphonies. He lived and worked in Germany even through World War II, leading some to believe he was a Nazi sympathizer. In fact, Strauss’ daughter-in-law was Jewish and he used his position as a celebrity (and head of the Reichsmusikkammer and principal conductor of the Bayreuth Festival) to save Alice and her children from the concentration camps. He also tried to save Alice’s family but was less successful, many of them dying in the camps.

Among his most famous operas were Elektra, Salome, Der Rosenkavalier, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Die Frau ohne Schatten. Elektra, the ancient Greek character seeking revenge for the murder of her father Agamemnon, and Salome, based on the play by Oscar Wilde, are both one-act operas. But what a punch in one act from each of them. Der Rosenkavalier is miles away from them both. A three-act comic opera, it is as light and frothy as the other two are dark and gut-wrenching. 

Tone poems were the other music form that no one did like Strauss. Whereas a symphony has four or more movements and is pure music, a tone poem is usually one continuous movement and is based on a picture or story or poem that is supposed to bring something visual to mind. His first tone poem was Don Juan. Others were Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Death and Transfiguration, Don Quixote, and Also sprach Zarathustra, the famous piece used in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Strauss also composed much lieder, and most of these were with his wife Pauline’s voice in mind. It is said, though, that he composed his Four Last Songs for the Norwegian opera singer Kirsten Flagstad and she premiered them in 1948.

I’ve picked two pieces for you today. The first is the opening to the tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra in a video from the opening of the MGM movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. If you can, listen to the rest of the composition, which is different from the beginning. (And, by the way, watch 2001: A Space Odyssey. A great movie.)

The second is the famous waltz from Der Rosenkavalier. This appears to be from one of Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts, a staple from my childhood. Bernstein was one of the best teachers of music for young or old. But that’s a story for another day. Enjoy!