Richard
STRAUSS (1864-1949)
Richard
Strauss was born in Munich in 1864, and like many great composers was clearly
gifted from a very early age. His father Franz Strauss was one of the foremost
horn players in his time. Richard's talents were also recognised and encouraged
by none other than Hans von Bulow (the first husband of Lizst's daughter Cosima,
who was later married to Wagner). Hector Berlioz and Johannes Brahms initially
inspired Strauss before he moved in the direction of the more uninhibited
romanticism of Franz Lizst and Richard Wagner. By his early twenties Strauss had
composed a considerable amount of music, but it was with his first tone poem Don
Juan in 1889 that his career was to take an upward turn. Having written
several tone poems to major acclaim, Strauss turned to writing operas, and then
to conducting, his longest lasting post being with the Berlin Philharmonic
Orchestra for 12 years. During this time his compositional output declined to
near zero, but then in later life a last spurt of creativity resulted in a
number of mature works seeming in part to return to a more classical form
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