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Shadow on Concrete Wall

Richard Strauss
1864 – 1949

German composer and conductor. As the son of a horn player, he began composing at the age of six. Before he was 20, he had premiered two symphonies and a violin concerto.

 

In 1885, the conductor of the Meiningen Orchestra, Hans von Bülow, made Strauss his successor. Strongly influenced by Richard Wagner's work, he began to write programmatic orchestral tone poems, including Don Juan (1889), Till Eulenspiegel's Funny Pranks (1894-95) and Also sprach Zarathustra (1896).

 

After 1900 he concentrated on operas; his third work, Salome (1903-05), was a succès de scandale. Elektra (1906-08) marked the beginning of a productive collaboration with the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal, with whom Strauss wrote his greatest operas, including Der Rosenkavalier (1909-10).

 

He stayed in Austria during World War II and held a musical post in the German government, but was later acquitted of misconduct related to the Nazi regime.

 

After many years of writing minor works, he produced several notable late pieces, including Metamorphoses (1945) and the Four Last Songs (1948).

SprachZarathustra Short
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Amor Strauss (2)
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