Richard Strauss

Richard Georg Strauss (b. Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, 11 Jun. 1864 - Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, 8 Sep. 1949) was a German composer and conductor.

Works

He is known for the orchestral tone poems that fill his early years, a number of operas, many of which are still regularly performed, and lieder (songs).

Frequently heard tone poems include:

• Don Juan (1889)
• Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration) (1888–89)
• Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks) (1895)
• Also sprach Zarathustra (1896) Its introduction was used in the opening scene of "2001, a Space Odyssey"
• Don Quixote (1898) (For cello and orchestra)
• Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life)(1899)
• Symphonia Domestica (Domestic Symphony), Op. 53 (1904)
• Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony), (1915) (His largest orchestral work - a musical interpretation of a day-trip up a mountain, beginning with a superb dawn).

His operas (many of which are famous vehicles for the female voice) include:

• Salome (1905) (from the play by Oscar Wilde)
• Elektra (1909)
• Der Rosenkavalier, (The Knight of the Rose) (1910) (The closest he came to writing a "Viennese" style opera like his (unrelated) namesakes - waltz and all)
• Ariadne auf Naxos, (1912)
• Die Frau ohne Schatten, (The Woman without a Shadow) (1918)
• Intermezzo (1923)
• Arabella (1932)
• Capriccio (1941)

He wrote more than 200 songs, many with orchestra and mostly for soprano, the most appreciated of which are:

• "Morgan!" (Morning)
• "Zueignung" (Dedication)
• "Frühling", "September", "Beim Schlafengehen" and "Im Abendrot", which make up "Vier letzte Lieder", or "Four Last Songs".

Other works: He wrote two horn concertos (his father was a horn player) and an oboe concerto, which are still in the repertoir. Other works are rarely heard.

See also

• Franz Liszt
• Georges Bizet
• Charles Gounod
• Music

External links

• Richard Strauss - an overview of the classical composer
• Der Rosenkavalier, Op. 59