Biography
Richard Strauss (1864-1949), born in Munich, bridged late Romanticism and twentieth-century modernism across a career spanning seventy years. His early tone poems Don Juan, Till Eulenspiegel, Also sprach Zarathustra, and Ein Heldenleben established him as the leading German instrumental composer of his generation. The operas Salome (1905) and Elektra (1909) shocked audiences with their radical chromaticism; Strauss then turned lyrical with Der Rosenkavalier (1911), his long collaboration with Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Later operas include Ariadne auf Naxos, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Arabella, and the elegiac final Capriccio. Strauss's relationship with the Nazi regime—including brief service as president of the Reichsmusikkammer—has remained controversial. He died at eighty-five in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, having composed the Vier letzte Lieder as his serene valediction.
On Stagelog
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