My Youth Orchestra conductor once told us some anecdotes about R. Strauss: 1. He once conducted his opera as fast as possible so he can go home earlier to play cards with friends. 2. He said "How come we still hear the singers???" during a rehearsal. 3. He said "The brass section, we don't even ignore them." (not sure if this one is true).
That was a joke about Strauss and him being so obsessed about earning. When he came home, his son asked him: " How much have you earned today, dad?". Then Strauss burst in tears, hugged his child and said : " Now I'm totally convinced that you are my son"
Really, really great. Thank you for the time you take to make these videos. Very informative and useful for discussion among myself and my fellow musician friends
Strauss pushed tonality to it's human endurance ... then retreated, to the ire of the intelligentsia, realizing music was created for man, and not the reverse. He truly was the greatest successor to Mozart - to create art and still please to masses.
Didn't really retreat, just integrated his more extreme moments into his pre-existing style, and used them when he felt they expressed what was needed, especially in the post WW1 operas, which almost all feature moments approaching Elektra-like disintegration but in a much more straightforwardly tonal context, for Strauss at least. I find Die Frau is the perfect example of this, and his best work for the stage, for me.
I've only just realised that the bottom offstage part is horns 6-12, not 6-10. Still, when I last played the offstage parts, we had a few extra players off stage, and a bump on stage, totalling about 25.
Thank you enormously. Through self- study I am trying to deepen my level of music appreciation. Your videos are so wonderful for that purpose - informative, clever and humorous as well. Simply grand!
I loved this lecture about Strauss. Very enlightening. I love Wagner and have never really liked Strauss very much. But I realize that he is a master of composition and orchestration. But I have never loved any of his melodies. I am trying to re-evaluate Strauss because he is a master. I loved this lecture. Excellent. I'm looking forward to listening to many of these videos. Thanks.
In 1959, when I was 10 years old, I heard Rudolf Kempe's brand new stereo recording of "Till Eulenspiegel's Lustige Streich" with the Berlin Philharmonic, one of the best performances of the piece ever recorded. I have been a Strauss fan ever since.
When one of you guys happens to come to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Strauss' home town, don't forget to have some coffee and cake at "Krönner's Café". Strauss was good friends with the Krönner family and loved their cakes. You will too!
Amazing video! I am just about to write an assignment on his "four last songs" and figured this will be a good way to get a general idea about this composer, but I ended up with a real appetite to listening to more of his works. Thanks!
there will always be some kind of religious undertone to human experience, we struggle to semantically separate religion and spiritual experience anyway. To me the Verklarung part is definitely about death, and probably about the almost religious experience of the release of all contradictory feelings regarding life that one holds while actually living it. It's about seeing life for the wonderful spectacle it really is, when you have no more stake in it. Just the same I struggle to see how Auf dem Gipfel is just about reaching a mountain top, the music is too, too powerful there. Or maybe I see meaning too easily Love your video man, it helps me navigate Strauss better
I remember reading a biography on Bela Bartok a while back. Apparently, he had a fascination for Strauss in his earlier career, but everyone around him didn't like Strauss. I don't know why, but I guess there are just always going to be haters somewhere.
Zarathustra and Heldenleben were among Bartok's earliest inspirations, yes. Early works like Kossuth and to some extent still The Wooden Prince show this. Strauss is my favorite of all time, but I actually think Bartok was better himself when he largely shook off the Strauss influence. It really didn't work for him, to my ear.
Die Frau ohne Schatten, Salome and Elektra are three of the greatest operas of the 20th century. Of course Ariadne auf Naxos, Arabella, Der Rosenkavalier, Capriccio and Intermezzo are justifiably all standard operatic repertoire. At this point even Daphne, Die Liebe der Danäe and Die Aegyptische Helena are moving toward standard repertoire, too...absolutely remarkable. Even second-rate Strauss is better than much of the other music of the time. (Examples: the tome poems MacBeth and Aus Italien).
The empty/occupied temple analogy comparing Strauss and Mahler is apt. They were opposite personality types in that Mahler was an introvert who sought personal meaning in composing symphonies, whereas Strauss was an extrovert who commented on the world outside of himself through the telling of stories in his operas and tone poems. “Strauss and I tunnel from opposite sides of the mountain,” Mahler said. “One day we shall meet.” www.therestisnoise.com/2007/06/chapter-1-the-g.html
I don't think the dance started as a striptease. I believe Strauss said himself that the dance should be "thoroughly decent as if being done on a prayer mat". I think it just sort of evolved into something more suggestive and the striptease aspect just became the default interpretation. The libretto actually has very little direction for the dance.
@@adriand6883 The original sources and Wilde's play I believe involves a striptease. I think the censoriousness of opera stages of the day was behind the cleaning up of the scenario. The more explicit style is actually a return to the full form of the story
I don't know if I agree that Nietzsche wasn't a big influence on Mahler, he set a passage from Zarathustra to music in his 3rd symphony, arguably his unique view on Christianity in the Resurrection could have been influenced by Nietzsche's critiques of it, and personally I find his 5th symphony to be the greatest incaration of Nietzsche's eternal recurrence and the Gay Science as a whole in music. I would also say that his 3rd symphony is certainly atheistic, although still spiritual (the two are not mutually exclusive); this is seen by the resolution being not in the religious 5th mvmt but in the ode to love that is the 6th Good vid tho
i remember when i participated in a mahler festival and we sight read ein heldenleben! it was a lot of fun (and a lot of pain...) while im not a huge fan of the piece itself, it was great to experience just how much more i have to learn after graduating high school!
Thank you. Great analysis. I love Mahler and love Strauss, Wagner not so much. I am Jewish and as you said, an anti-Semite. That made him a no-no in my book. Hitler using Strauss for propaganda is very similar to Stalin using Shostakovich for the same purposee, he knew Shostakovich loathed the system but I suppose Dmitri had to survive being afraid for his family and his own life.
My thought also. “Der Rosenkavalier” isn’t mentioned by name, and its remarkable differences from “Elektra’, its immediate predecessor, are only vaguely alluded to. Plus, it would have been interesting to hear some commentary on “Ariadne auf Naxos” (its complex history in particular) and “Die Frau ohne Schatten”.
My Youth Orchestra conductor once told us some anecdotes about R. Strauss:
1. He once conducted his opera as fast as possible so he can go home earlier to play cards with friends.
2. He said "How come we still hear the singers???" during a rehearsal.
3. He said "The brass section, we don't even ignore them." (not sure if this one is true).
That was a joke about Strauss and him being so obsessed about earning. When he came home, his son asked him: " How much have you earned today, dad?". Then Strauss burst in tears, hugged his child and said : " Now I'm totally convinced that you are my son"
You're my new go-to guy for excellent information on the great composers. Thank you.
Really, really great. Thank you for the time you take to make these videos. Very informative and useful for discussion among myself and my fellow musician friends
Strauss pushed tonality to it's human endurance ... then retreated, to the ire of the intelligentsia, realizing music was created for man, and not the reverse. He truly was the greatest successor to Mozart - to create art and still please to masses.
Didn't really retreat, just integrated his more extreme moments into his pre-existing style, and used them when he felt they expressed what was needed, especially in the post WW1 operas, which almost all feature moments approaching Elektra-like disintegration but in a much more straightforwardly tonal context, for Strauss at least. I find Die Frau is the perfect example of this, and his best work for the stage, for me.
I've only just realised that the bottom offstage part is horns 6-12, not 6-10. Still, when I last played the offstage parts, we had a few extra players off stage, and a bump on stage, totalling about 25.
Thank you enormously. Through self- study I am trying to deepen my level of music appreciation. Your videos are so wonderful for that purpose - informative, clever and humorous as well. Simply grand!
Thanks
I loved this lecture about Strauss. Very enlightening. I love Wagner and have never really liked Strauss very much. But I realize that he is a master of composition and orchestration. But I have never loved any of his melodies. I am trying to re-evaluate Strauss because he is a master. I loved this lecture. Excellent. I'm looking forward to listening to many of these videos. Thanks.
In 1959, when I was 10 years old, I heard Rudolf Kempe's brand new stereo recording of "Till Eulenspiegel's Lustige Streich" with the Berlin Philharmonic, one of the best performances of the piece ever recorded. I have been a Strauss fan ever since.
I always learn so much by listening to your posts. Thanks for sharing. Keep up the good work.
Thank you so much for making these videos, these help so much. Keep up the fantastic work
"how are you going to top 20 horns?"
henry brant: "80 trombones"
I think I get it :)))
henry brant wrote a piece called orbits!
Another great biography. Please consider doing a video on Mozart.
This is the sixth request for Mozart, placing him next in the queue: www.lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html
Very good. One of the best lectures on R. Strauss I've seen.
I've watched and been affected by many of your invaluable videos, but this immediately stands out as a touching favorite.
When one of you guys happens to come to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Strauss' home town, don't forget to have some coffee and cake at "Krönner's Café". Strauss was good friends with the Krönner family and loved their cakes. You will too!
I also want some Hacker-Pschorr beer someday too!
Amazing video! I am just about to write an assignment on his "four last songs" and figured this will be a good way to get a general idea about this composer, but I ended up with a real appetite to listening to more of his works. Thanks!
I had to analyze "Frühling" from that set for class last year and ... wow, is there a lot going in in there!
There is a tremendous amount of fabulous music out there!
I keep going back to The Four Last Songs!
They never get old.
The third one is sublime
there will always be some kind of religious undertone to human experience, we struggle to semantically separate religion and spiritual experience anyway. To me the Verklarung part is definitely about death, and probably about the almost religious experience of the release of all contradictory feelings regarding life that one holds while actually living it. It's about seeing life for the wonderful spectacle it really is, when you have no more stake in it. Just the same I struggle to see how Auf dem Gipfel is just about reaching a mountain top, the music is too, too powerful there. Or maybe I see meaning too easily
Love your video man, it helps me navigate Strauss better
I remember reading a biography on Bela Bartok a while back. Apparently, he had a fascination for Strauss in his earlier career, but everyone around him didn't like Strauss. I don't know why, but I guess there are just always going to be haters somewhere.
As another great musician once said, haters gonna hate hate hate...
Zarathustra and Heldenleben were among Bartok's earliest inspirations, yes. Early works like Kossuth and to some extent still The Wooden Prince show this. Strauss is my favorite of all time, but I actually think Bartok was better himself when he largely shook off the Strauss influence. It really didn't work for him, to my ear.
How about a video on the great Danish composer Carl Nielsen ?
Excellent video
Twenty Horns.....Twenty Horns.....
Certainly a watershed moment in your productions. Delicious!
Happy birthday Strauss!
May i ask for a Borodin's biography? I don't know exactly how this works. And you really make good light videos (in the good sense of the word)
Duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html
Love your work!
Great Video!
(As always)
Die Frau ohne Schatten, Salome and Elektra are three of the greatest operas of the 20th century. Of course Ariadne auf Naxos, Arabella, Der Rosenkavalier, Capriccio and Intermezzo are justifiably all standard operatic repertoire. At this point even Daphne, Die Liebe der Danäe and Die Aegyptische Helena are moving toward standard repertoire, too...absolutely remarkable. Even second-rate Strauss is better than much of the other music of the time. (Examples: the tome poems MacBeth and Aus Italien).
Can you please do another Great composers on Max Bruch?
Ohh btw your video‘s are SO, SO, SO, SO GOOD! I really love them!
Bruch has been added to the request pool: www.lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html
I'm thinking that you need to do a biography on Hans Von Bulow. That guy was everywhere!
I can see the title now ... "Hans von Bülow: Music's Biggest Cuck" 😂
But yes, your request has been duly noted: lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html
Kind of like Quincy Jones... although he's def not a cuck...
CN. Would you consider making a video on the top 10 classical works most known in modern films?
The empty/occupied temple analogy comparing Strauss and Mahler is apt. They were opposite personality types in that Mahler was an introvert who sought personal meaning in composing symphonies, whereas Strauss was an extrovert who commented on the world outside of himself through the telling of stories in his operas and tone poems. “Strauss and I tunnel from opposite sides of the mountain,” Mahler said. “One day we shall meet.”
www.therestisnoise.com/2007/06/chapter-1-the-g.html
Well done, sir!
Can you do a video on Delibes please?
When you described Salome with "teenage girl" and "striptease" in the same paragraph, you had me worried there. What was Dick tryna do?
I don't think the dance started as a striptease. I believe Strauss said himself that the dance should be "thoroughly decent as if being done on a prayer mat". I think it just sort of evolved into something more suggestive and the striptease aspect just became the default interpretation. The libretto actually has very little direction for the dance.
@@adriand6883 The original sources and Wilde's play I believe involves a striptease. I think the censoriousness of opera stages of the day was behind the cleaning up of the scenario. The more explicit style is actually a return to the full form of the story
1:18 just wanted to let you know that i appreciated the pun
Where do you purchase your beautiful shirts. What is the brand? Are they cotton ?
awesome video.
I don't know if I agree that Nietzsche wasn't a big influence on Mahler, he set a passage from Zarathustra to music in his 3rd symphony, arguably his unique view on Christianity in the Resurrection could have been influenced by Nietzsche's critiques of it, and personally I find his 5th symphony to be the greatest incaration of Nietzsche's eternal recurrence and the Gay Science as a whole in music. I would also say that his 3rd symphony is certainly atheistic, although still spiritual (the two are not mutually exclusive); this is seen by the resolution being not in the religious 5th mvmt but in the ode to love that is the 6th
Good vid tho
Could you do a video on David Maslanka?
You're the third to request Maslanka and he's moved up in the request pool: www.lentovivace.com/classicalnerd.html
have you done Vivaldi?
Misheard "Mahlerian" as "malarian" and it just seemed to make perfect sense in the "Death And Transfiguration" context!
"Mahleria" is a disease I wouldn't mind having
Thank you for pronouncing the name correctly. Although my name is spelt differently (Rigard) it's also pronounced like Richard Strauss' name.
7:20 the trumpet high C is difficult to nail indeed ;)
Yes I made many requests, but can I put two here: TV Music & Hoagy Carmichael?
As I have told you before, I cannot take any more requests from you until the number of your requests in the queue is reduced to 1.
Thank you
i remember when i participated in a mahler festival and we sight read ein heldenleben! it was a lot of fun (and a lot of pain...)
while im not a huge fan of the piece itself, it was great to experience just how much more i have to learn after graduating high school!
Amazing chanel👏👏👏👏
Awesome video! Please, please, PLEASE do Maurice Ravel!!!
Today has all the makings of your lucky day: ua-cam.com/video/JeILLKCI6hM/v-deo.html
Haha, thank you!! I realize now that you did do a video on him. Thanks again, though! I love your channel!
💪💪💪💪❤️
Hi, since you did Copeland, can you also do Virgil Thomson.
Thomson has moved up in the request pool.
Damn - too bad the Americans didn’t give Webern the same treatment they gave Strauss 😞
When you're just a student and still very into Nietzche. And then you hear that Strauss was also into Nietzche.
Mmmm, that feels good, lol.
richard " m o r e h o r n s " strauss
these jump cuts didn't age well
Rich-erd Strauss was brilliant.
Thank you. Great analysis. I love Mahler and love Strauss, Wagner not so much. I am Jewish and as you said, an anti-Semite. That made him a no-no in my book.
Hitler using Strauss for propaganda is very similar to Stalin using Shostakovich for the same purposee, he knew Shostakovich loathed the system but I suppose
Dmitri had to survive being afraid for his family and his own life.
Maby hes reffering to the transfiguration of values, a common nietzhean concept
Nice summary but you skimp on all those operas.
My thought also. “Der Rosenkavalier” isn’t mentioned by name, and its remarkable differences from “Elektra’, its immediate predecessor, are only vaguely alluded to. Plus, it would have been interesting to hear some commentary on “Ariadne auf Naxos” (its complex history in particular) and “Die Frau ohne Schatten”.
bravo!
Too much talk
Thanks