Richard Strauss: The symphonic poems

The symphonic poem is a musical form usually based in one single movement, whose background
is a non-musical element, such a story, a feeling, a sceneTherefore, it belongs to the so-called
programm music The creation of this form is attributed to Franz Liszta, after whom, composers
like Elgar, Debussy , Smetana, Rimsky-Korsakov, etc. started to use this form in their compositions.
The intention of this music, as in every program music, is to recall the non-musical ideas through
the music, using a big orchestration and many tricks, such as sound effects.
The period of success of the symphonic poems took place between 1840 and 1920. But, without a
doubt, its was Strauss the one who took the genre to its highest level and also the one who
contributed to the late development of the late German Romanticism after Richard Wagner.

1.Strauss Life:
Richard Strauss was born in Mnchen in 1864, in a family of musicians (his father was hornist, the
possible reason why the horn was one of his favourite instruments). He had a full musical
education and started soon to compose. His music had also a strong influence from Wagner's
music.
His most remarkable works were the operas (Elektra, Salome, Der Rosenkavalier), the Lieder (the
most known are the last four ones) and the symphonic poems. He had predilection for the soprano
register in his Lieder and important opera roles, and also for the horn, for which he composed 2
concertos.
Strauss became one of the most known conductors, recording many of his own works with the
best orchestras of the time.
He had good relationship with composers like Debussy and Arnold Schnberg, whom he helped to
develop in the early stages of his career. Although he always kept a distance with the vanguards of
the moment, considered frequently as the living classic.
During the Nazi regime, he tried to defend the music of composers like Mahler, Debussy,
Mendelssohn, etc. from the ban of the III Reich, without success, though. He always kept an
apolitical attitude, mainly to protect members of his family who were Jewish.
Do you believe I am ever, in any of my actions, guided by the thought that I am 'German'?
Do you suppose Mozart was consciously 'Aryan' when he composed? I recognise only two
types of people: those who have talent and those who have none

2. Symphonic poems First Cycle:

Aus Italien: It was his first tone poem, and was based in the trip that he did to Italy in the
summer of 1886. It marked the composer's first important step in the direction of this
musical form.
The main subject is the description of the environment, and not a narrative story. It's
divided in four movements, unlike the later ones, and it brings reminiscences to
Mendelssohn's 4th Symphony Italian.
Macbeth: Written in 1886, it was finished in 1890 (its second version). It's based on the
famous Shakespeare drama.
It didnt become very popular, in comparison with his other symphonic poems and Strauss
tried several times to alter the orchestration with no remarkable result.
Don Juan: Composed when he was only 24, it was Strauss first big international success.
It's based on the character created by Tirso de Molina around 1630, but more specifically
on the poem Don Juans Ende by Nikolaus Lenau.
It tells the story of Don Juan, a womanizer, who is determined to find the ideal woman, But
despairing of ever finding her, he ultimately surrenders to melancholy and meets his end at
the hands of the Commendattore, the father of a woman Don Juan seduced.
The story is rather easy to follow. Taking the more lyrical sections as representations of
various women, one after another, one hears the exuberant opening theme that occurs
between them and which opens the work, as Don Juan's own theme.
Tod und Verklrung: Composed in 1888, the music depicts the death of an artist. As the
man lies dying, thoughts of his life pass through his head: his childhood innocence, the
struggles of his manhood, the success of his worldly goals; and at the end, he receives the
longed-for transfiguration from the infinite reaches of heaven.

3. Symphonic poems, 2nd cycle:

Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche: One of Strauss' most popular poems. A single movement
tone poem. Strauss tell us the german tale of Till Eulenspiegel, a chronic prankster, whose
sense of humour continually lands him in trouble. Strauss represents the figure of Till
through a theme which starts with the horn and is repeated between the different sections
of the rondo form work.
Also Sprach Zarathustra: The work, worldwide known thanks to the usage of its
introduction in Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey, was one of the high points of

Strauss early career. It's based on Friedrich Nietzsche's Also Sprach Zarathustra and is
divided in 9 movements and like in most Strauss symphonic poems, uses massive
instrumental forces.
Don Quixote: Based on Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quijote de la Mancha, Srauss composed
this work in 1897.
In this piece, the cello represents Don Quixote and viola, bass clarinet and tenor tuba, his
fat squire,
Sancho Panza. The Don's Ideal Lady also has a theme, introduced by the
principal oboe.
For these piece, Strauss introduced some techniques to imitate scenes of the story like the
dissonant flutter-tonguing in the brass to imitate the bleating of the sheep and the wind
machine.
Ein Heldenleben: Composed in 1898, it's a heroic work in the mood of Beethoven's Eroica
Symphony. It describes all the steps of the hero's life. It's agreed to be autobiographical,
(despite Strauss' statements) since it contains more than thirty quotations from Strauss's
earlier works. The steps are the following ones: The Hero, The Hero's Adversaries, The
Hero's companion, The Hero at Battle, The Hero's Works of Peace, The Hero's Retirement
from this World and Consummation.
The work exceeded any of its predecessors in its orchestral demands.
Symphonia Domestica: This piece is a musical reflection of the domestic life, so valued by
the composer, and shows daily events and family life.
Eine Alpensinfonie: It was the last Symphonic Poem of Strauss, eleven years after The
Symphonia Domestica. At this time he had already become one of the period's greatest
operatic composers.
Considered by Strauss his most perfect work of orchestration, it took 100 days to be
composed. It lasts around 50 minutes, and recalls the succession of stages in the ascent and
descent of a mountain in the Alps, with a parallel metaphoric sense of attaining one's
purpose in life.
The orchestration is enormous, using a special thunder machine, a wind machine, and
another unusual effects as part of a 120-piece orchestra.