Richard Strauss – Biography of Richard Strauss

by

The German composer Richard Georg Strauss He was born in Munich on June 11, 1864. His father Franz was first horn in the Munich Court orchestra, while his mother Josephine belonged to one of the richest families in the city, the Pschorr, famous for their long history of brewers.

Thanks to his father, the young man Strauss He developed his passion for music and began composing at the age of seven.
Later he received composition classes with the teacher Friedrich Wilhelm Meyer. Under his guidance his first concert pieces were born, a great sonata, a string quartet, two symphonies and a serenade for winds. In 1822 Strauss began his university studies, but soon abandoned them.

In 1883 he traveled the country, making contact with Hans von Bülow, conductor of the Meininger Hofkapelle orchestra. Two years later Bülow took over Strauss as Master of the Chapel of the Meininger Hof, where he met Johannes Brahms. Shortly afterwards Bülow left his post; Strauss it would be his successor until the end of the 1885/1886 season.

Until that moment, Strauss he had composed in a style similar to that of Brahms or Robert Schumann; After meeting Alexander Ritter, a violinist and husband of Richard Wagner’s niece, her musical orientation changed. Ritter convinced Strauss to pay attention to the music of Wagner, but not before practicing in the Wagnerian style through the symphonic poems of Franz Liszt.

The new style of composition can already be seen in the fantasy for orchestral in four movements “Aus Italien“; and it becomes evident in the last works for orchestras, composed by a single movement, called by Strauss”Tondichtungen“(generally translated as”symphonic poems“).

After some initial hesitation, Strauss found his unique style with “Don Juan“(1888-1889) and”Tod und Verklärung“(1888-1890), works that quickly made him famous. A few years later, he would make a second series of symphonic poems, including”Also sprach Zarathustra“(1896), theme made famous by the movie” 2001: A Space Odyssey “(1967, Stanley Kubrick).

In 1887, Strauss began the work of “Guntram“, his first opera completed in 1894 but underrepresented.”Feuersnot“(1901) would have a greater success. The great triumph and international fame came to him with the operas”Salome” Y “Elektra“, performed for the first time in Dresden in 1909.

Until 1930 Strauss He wrote many works, however, he showed a certain flattening of style; his great work “Die Frau ohne Schatten“somehow marked the end of a dramatic and experimental stage in his production. In the following years, works such as”Whim” Y “Daphne“, of less sophisticated construction characterized by a more classicist style.

The paper of Strauss at the time of Nazism it continues being controversial: some opinions emphasize its complete alienation to the regime; others raise their objections as to Strauss chaired the Reich Chamber of Music from 1933 to 1935. Many biographical rumors report that the grandchildren of Strauss they would have had Jewish ancestry, and that this fact would have limited the composer from being publicly exposed. According to other hypotheses, Strauss he would have used his eminent office to protect his Jewish friends and colleagues.

In 1948 Strauss completed his best known vocal work, “Four last songs“, a work for female voice and orchestra (originally for piano) performed in 1950, after her death. The artist’s latest compositions include”Besinnung“, an incomplete work on a text by Hermann Hesse. His last complete composition was”Malven“, the score of which was discovered after his death in 1982.

Richard Strauss He died on September 8, 1949 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.