Product Description
Was Richard Strauss the most incandescent composer of the twentieth century or merely a bourgeoisie artist and Nazi sympathizer?For the fifty years since his death on September 8, 1949, Richard Strauss has remained dogmatically elusive in the wider body of musical and historical criticism.Lauded as nothing less than the "greatest musical figure" of his time by Canadian musician, Glenn Gould, in 1962, Strauss also has attracted his share of posthumous epithets: in summary, an artist who lived off his own fat during his later years.As recently as 1995, the English critic Rodney Milnes wrote, "the court of posterity is still reserving judgment." In Richard Strauss: Man, Musician, Enigma, biographer Michael Kennedy demonstrates that the many varying shades of criticism that have painted this figure in the past half century resemble the similar understandings and misunderstandings held by his contemporaries--perceptions that touched almost every aspect of Strauss' life and career. Introducing his detailed work more as a broad explication than a firm answer to the Straussian riddle, Kennedy's scope includes the exuberant, extroverted Strauss of young adulthood as well as the phlegmatic and aloof middle-aged man who resembled a "prosperous bank manager;" the arch-fiend of modernism and the composer who redefined the term; a man who professed to lack all spiritual curiosity and a musician who penned the touching ballet Der Kometentanz; an at times almost humble family man and an artist who claimed to be as interesting as Napoleon and Alexander the Great.Kennedy clearly elucidates his enigmatic subject by building his analysis around the few constants in Strauss' life: his profound admiration for German culture, his dependence on his own family for guidance, and his "Nietzschean total absorption in art."This frame offers everyone from Straussian scholars to general readers an insightful and easy-to-follow biographical narrative. Kennedy also deals at length with Strauss' problematic relationship with Nazi authorities, detailing his incompatible roles as the father-in-law of a Jewish woman and as one of the country's leading composers. Michael Kennedy is the chief music critic of the (London) Sunday Telegraph and the author of many books about music.Amazon.com Review
There are few composers whose critical stock has roller-coastered as dramatically as that of Richard Strauss, both during his lifetime and in the five decades since his death in 1949. Once considered a dangerous firebrand of the avant-garde--his early masterpiece Salome was given the equivalent of an X rating--Strauss remained an exceedingly prolific composer throughout his long career, yet lived to be "written off as an extinct volcano." The painful story of his involvement with the Third Reich further cast a pall over his final years. But in the past two decades, a gradual reassessment has been underway--along with a recuperation of his neglected later works--and the field is ripe for a critically insightful overview of Strauss's achievement.

Such is the goal of Michael Kennedy, a longtime advocate of Strauss, in his new biography, Richard Strauss: Man, Musician, Enigma. Kennedy, the Sunday Telegraph's music critic and author of several other musical biographies--including an earlier study of the composer as well as illuminating articles and CD booklets on his music--here undertakes to penetrate the contradictions and see the man whole. Through his impressive access to diaries, letters, and living relatives, he posits an underlying consistency of attitude that made "art the reality in [Strauss's] life." The central enigma about the composer that fascinates Kennedy is the "disparity between man and musician," the paradox that this fundamentally aloof and reserved person, dedicated to bourgeois stability, could produce music of such overpowering passion.

While steering clear of Freudian reductionism, Kennedy reveals the crucial significance of Strauss's mother's nervous instability--she was eventually committed to various sanatoriums--and the centrality of the work ethic inherited from his father. The result was to make music "Strauss's means of escape ... and in much of his music he wore a mask." Yet for all his aloofness, Strauss "let [the mask] slip"--another aspect of the enigma surrounding him--in such compositions as Don Quixote ("the most profound" of his orchestral works) or the pervasively autobiographical Sinfonia Domestica, Intermezzo, and Capriccio, which Kennedy counts as Strauss's greatest achievement for the lyrical stage.

Kennedy is particularly persuasive in his high estimation of the post-Rosenkavalier output and the undiminished quest for artistic innovation that they continued to exemplify--above all in Strauss's development of a fluently conversational style in his operas. Although commentary on individual works involves generally concise summations, many observations sparkle with insight, and Kennedy continually sheds light on neglected gems among Strauss's output. The rapport with Hofmannsthal and his other librettists is admirably clarified, and the remarkably well-read Strauss emerges as a more imposingly intellectual figure, steeped in literature and philosophy, than he is usually depicted. We learn of his obsession with the card game skat and of his disdainful attitude toward the new medium of film. Kennedy similarly demystifies much of the received opinion that has developed around the composer, particularly in his level-headed portrait of his wife, Pauline. The fundamental happiness of their lifelong relationship emerges as a context indispensable to Strauss's creative focus.

Kennedy devotes a significant portion of the book to the composer's position as president of the Reich Music Chamber and subsequent fall from grace both with the Nazis and in world opinion. Here the author aims to offer perspective by carefully detailing the facts and documentary evidence from the time. In his view, Strauss becomes a "tragic figure, symbolising the struggle to preserve beauty and style in Western European culture" against emerging barbarism. Yet, as throughout the book, Kennedy's abiding sympathy with Strauss at times veers close to a kind of special pleading that invites skepticism. For all that, his style is admirably lucid, and his biography largely succeeds in pointing to a greatness that "has not yet been fully understood and discovered." --Thomas May ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

A VERY WORTHWHILE BIOGRAPHY OF A PUZZLING COMPOSER
Michael Kennedy has written a very useful and insightful biography of a controversial composer, along with an ingtelligent analysis of his music.Strauss summarized his approach to "program music" (of which he was a foremost developer) by saying, "I am a musician first and last, for whom all 'programs' are merely the stimulus to the creation of new forms, and nothing more."

Kennedy observes that "Religion played no part in his upbringing."By 1892, "he had read Nietzsche's works and had been particularly attracted by 'his polemic against Christianity.'"As Strauss's character Guntram said, "My God speaks to me through myself."It is not surprising, therefore, that Strauss would attempt to set Nietzsche's "Thus Sprach Zarathustra" to music.

Controversial not only for writing operas such as "Salome," "(T)he German press denounced him for conducting two afternoon concerts in a New York department store (in 1904) ... Such conduct was 'a prostitution of art.'Strauss replied that the concerts had been given in artistic conditions and, anyway, it was no disgrace to earn money."Kennedy notes that "Strauss's output, large though it was, diminished between 1916 and about 1940 ... No wonder the world of music regarded him by then as almost a fossil."

Of course, Strauss's most controversial actions concern with the Nazi Party came to power.For example, in 1933 Joseph Goebbels appointed Strauss to the post of President of the State Music Bureau.Kennedy explains this thusly: "It was not only that Strauss believed nothing was more important than art: he simply did not recognize the conflict, a symptom of a blinkered mentality as a court composer.He kept his nose in the score and ignored the raised voices in the next room." But Strauss was not by any stretch an anti-Semite: "He acknowledged the help and inspiration he had received from Jews, adding that his own most malicious enemies had been Aryans."

Kennedy gives a summation: "If his music lacks mystical and spiritual depth---and it does, except for one late work---it has worldly, human rapture and insight, realism, and humor."Kennedy's fine biography is well-worth reading for anyone who wants to know more about the man or his music.

For Strauss enthusiasts
It is an excellent biography of Richard Strauss, well written and employing up-to-date scholarship on the great composer. It portrays not only Strauss' life and historical milieu, but also addresses inaccurate views of his political situation during Hitler's Third Reich, which have unfairly colored his reputation. The book would be an essential tool in fully understanding and appreciating this musical genius.

An eye and ear opener - why did it take this long?
I have grown up reading Michael Kennedy's biographies of such great English composers as Vaughan-Williams and Edward Elgar. So I eagerly picked-up his latest biography of Richard Strauss partly because of what I deemed to be Kennedy's objective approach to his subjects, and also because Strauss seemed to be a deeply held secret not meant to be shared with us ordinary listeners (in other words, there wasn't much else available).

Kennedy seems to have slightly more passion for Strauss it turns out than for RVW or Elgar, or at least enough moxy to blow the cover off some well established sacred cows. I know that I was not expecting to read exactly what I read.

If you are even vaguely interested in the music of Strauss or even if you are simply intereted in the history of Germany from 1900 to 1950, then this is a very interesting read.

Very well done!

The best compact introduction to Richard Strauss
Studies of Richard Strauss have a tendency to hover between enthusiasm and mealy-mouthed criticism. Or else they are so voluminous (multiple volumes) that only the most serious scholar or eager enthusiast can imagine plowing through them.Michael Kennedy's volume has two great strengths that place it at the top of the class when it comes to finding a good introduction to Strauss: It is compact, yet invitingly enthusiastic. Kennedy has the knack of highlighting precisely the unique strengths of each different work. Perhaps this is not so rare when he speaks of the leading masterpieces that others praise as well. But it is his special gift that he makes the reader want to listen to those works that have not been blessed with extreme popularity. All of them offer something that sounds interesting and inviting to the music-lover.Not only is it a superb guide to Richard Strauss; I think this book is a veritable model for the way that the non-technical music lover should be introduced to an important composer. ... Read more

Product Description
Special advisor to the edition: Evelyn Lear, renowned Strauss interpreter. A newly researched, edited and engraved edition of this major, standard art song literature. There are historical notes included for each song describing pertinent circumstances of composition and first performances. Line by line literal translations are given at the head of each song. This is the best, most informative edition of Strauss songs ever assembled. Contents: Ach Lieb, ich muss nun scheiden! * Ach weh mir ungluckhaftem Mann * All mein Gedanken * Allerseelen * Amor * Befreit * Breit' uber mein Haupt * Cacille * Der Pokal * Die Georgine * Die Nacht * Die Zeitlose * Du meines Herzens Kronelein * Einerlei * Fruhllngsgedrange * Fur funfzehn Pfennige * Gluckes genug * Heimkehr * Heimliche Aufforderung * Herr Lenz * Ich Trage Meine Minne * Ich schwebe * Ich wollt ein Strausslein binden * Kling! * Leises Lied * Mein Herz ist stumm * Meinem Kinde * Morgen * Nachtgang * Nichts * Ruhe, Meine Seele! * Schlagende Herzen * Schlechtes Wetter * Schon sind, doch kalt * Seitdem dein Aug' * Standchen (Strauss) * Traum durch die Dammerung * Wie sollten wir gehelm sie halten * Wiegenlied * Zueignung. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Strauss 40 songs
This book has many great Strauss songs. Unfortunately the quality of the printing is second rate. While not as bad as many Schirmer editions, it still looks as if it is a poor-quality photocopy rather than a laser sharp image. ... Read more

Product Description
Richard Strauss remains one of the most controversial figures in the history of music. Though he is now accepted as one of the finest of all orchestral composers, his reputation remains dogged by charges of career opportunism, sensationalism, and Nazi collaboration. This book places Strauss's life in the context of German history, revealing the paradoxes that lay beneath his public persona, and discussing his work in the light of personal, artistic and literary influences. This text is part of the 20th-century composers series, examining composers in a biographical context, and offering a comprehensive study of key figures in the creation of 20th-century music. None of the books in the series presume a knowledge of specialized terms or musical notation. Each book in the series features a list of works, a bibliography, and a discography. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Balanced & well worth reading
This is a fascinating, impressively researched, balanced biography of Richard Strauss. The author clearly appreciates Strauss's music, but refuses to either gloss over or demonize Strauss's personal flaws, anti-Semitism, or involvement with the Nazis.(Strauss was not a party member; his involvement with the Nazis was in part because of career pragmatism, in part because of his interest in composers' rights, and, well, in part because he agreed with their cultural agenda.)He was a great composer and an outstanding conductor, but hardly a hero.

Until reading this, my knowledge of Strauss was limited mostly to various album notes and a few encyclopedia articles.I'd heard that some biographies trash him, and some are basically a whitewash.I'm glad I chose this one.It gives a comprehensive view of his influences and his life.Other composers had spectacular flaws; Strauss's reputation has probably suffered disproportionately.

Be warned:this is a thesis.You will experience the horror of endnotes.I don't know why Northeastern University Press didn't turn these into footnotes; perhaps some editor there has a fetish for turning back and forth between pages.Given that some chapters have over 50 endnotes, you're forced to either ignore them, read them all at once out of context, or place a post-it on the appropriate endnotes page and flip back and forth.Pointlessly annoying.

Although this is not always a fast read, especially because of the endnotes, toward the end it does become a page-turner.The epilogue, with the author's conclusions, is impressive.

If you love Strauss's music and want to know more, this is worth buying.

M. Brian Kelly

snore and a half
This book is a snore and a half because it does not depict the composers life in a realistic view. The auther must have read an encyclopedia exert and then thought he knew enough about him to write a book, because the book can be summerized into 1 scentance and that scentance would be Richard Struass was a great composer. All in all I am very disappointed in this book.

A balanced biography of Strauss
In a fairly straightforward biography emphasizing the composition and production of Strauss's music, this book also looks unblinkingly at his anti-Semitism (which diminished after the birth of his two adoredhalf-Jewish grandsons) and at his confused and confusing involvement withHitler's Third Reich. The music is lovingly and skilfully described. Thisis the portrait of a man who is utterly devoted to his art and his family,and who is all too human when confronted with the political pressuresbearing on them. ... Read more

Product Description
Three important orchestral works, including very popular Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, reproduced in full score from original editions. This volume and its companion volume make available for the first time in convenient, inexpensive editions all the important Strauss tone poems. Study score.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Perfect dover edition
I should firstly state that i am merely a 20 year old autodidact "musician", or better said "music-logyst", since i don'tmaster any instrument. my wisdom is only intuitive.

- REGARDING THE EDITION: dover edition is perfect, flawless.
- ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA: I believe it the best in the lot, although i do not enjoy it all. Straus intention was an homenage to Nietzshe's genius, an homenage he achieved only in: "of the backworldsmen", which i believe is the culmination, the highest piece of that kind of harmony wagner introduced in his "tristan und isolde" prelude.It starts with the "crescendo" of the cellos and violins creating a melodic armony, an aparent armony; and as the crescendo goes on and on the melodic-armony begins to be in danger by it, and so is evident to the spectator that if the crescendo continues,at some point, necessarily, the armony will blow up, vanish. The maximum of the string crescendo is power-full.
Reading clearly the symbols of music gives you the aptitude of recreating it, and this dover editions should become classics of shining representation.

Three Great Tone Poems
Richard Strauss was in many ways the epitome of the late romatic composer, and perhaps the only true musical descendant of Richard Wagner.His tone poems, like any great piece of music, are like a whole seperate world.

The tone poems in this volume are three of his most popular. The escapades of Til Eulenspiegel, the familiar opening of Also Sprach Zarathustra (and the less familiar final bars that can't make up their mind what key to close in), and the 'heroic' Ein Heldenleben reveal Strauss at his most complex, lyrical, bombastic and egotistical.True masterworks worth repeated hearings.

The complexity of these scores is astounding.But with a little patience and experience, following along with the score can reveal many inner beauties of this music that is well worth the effort.

No complaints with Dover's edition.Large format, clearly printed, and economical.How does Dover do it?Recommended!

Just as great as Tone Poems Series I
Another superb score from Dover.It's large (9 3/8 x 12 1/4), lays easily on a stand or table, very readable, durable, and generally free of errors (notation-wise, it's perfect).

Excellent again
Richard Strauss' tone poems for orchestra are among the finest pieces of the music History, and we have to thank Dover Pubs. for reprinting and putting together all the music in this inexpensive edition. All the tonepoems are impressive demostrations of orchestral force and virtuosism(specially Zarathustra), and with this book you can fully appreciate thegenius of the author. The layout is very clear and easy readable, which isexcellent to follow the music and enjoy it completely. At this price, it isa must for anyone willing to study the pieces or just to have a good timewith Strauss' music. Definitely recommended, as well as the other volume(Series I). ... Read more

Product Description
Three of the most often performed and recorded works in entire orchestral repertoire, reproduced in full score from original editions. Study score.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The Tone Poems Of Richard Strauss
No music truly exists in a book.The composer puts his directions on paper, and the musician tries his best to do what the composer has directed to do.Play this note high, this note low, this note long, this note short, etc.Music is an art that really doesn't exist until it comes to life through the time it takes to perform it.Like a seed, the score of an orchestral work lies dormant until the musician(s) plant it, nurture it through performance.

For the few that can read a score like the rest of us read a newspaper, the music can come alive in the imagination of their inner ear.For the rest of us mortals, following the score while the music plays can help us 'see' the tree come to life with our ears and revel in all of the life and vitality it contains.

The tone poems of Richard Strauss are like vast, sprawling trees.There is no need to follow a score to admire the beauty of the trees.If that were so, symphony orchestras would pass out copies of the score to the audience and keep the lights on.But following the score is like climbing right up into the tree.You can see the diversity, the details, and even look down at the ground and realize where you are.

So to be able to appreciate these masterpieces on a different level, following the score can be a revelation.Dover's edition of these tone poems is inexpensive, of good quality, and I especially like the large format.If you try to follow a miniature score of these works, you best have really great eyes or a magnifying glass.These are vast, romantic works, and Strauss uses a very large orchestra. So the large format is much easier to read and follow.

So if you ever have the urge to get closer to these masterpieces, then by all means let the Dover edition of the scores be your guide.Your efforts to climb the tree will be well rewarded!

I love this score
A great score, with no errors and very large, readable print.Great companion for listeners, music students, and conductors alike.

The score is very large (9 3/8 x 12 1/4) and lays flat on a stand or table.Highly reccommended!

Superb is the word!
Richard Strauss knew how to make symphonic music with great drama as well as humour. The three grand symphonic masterpieces of this edition just has it all. Dare I say that some of the music in Tod Und Verklarung is some ofthe most beautiful and heartbreaking music ever written? And how about thegreat humor revealed in Don Quixote? Richard Strauss truly is a master ofthe orchestra. If you don't believe me, have a look yourself. It justhardly get any better than this. Thank you Dover for this excellent book! ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Great operatic masterpiece reprinted complete and unabridged from rare, limited and numbered full-score edition (for solo voice, chorus and orchestra), approved by Strauss. Published by Adolph Fürstner, Paris and Berlin, 1910. First inexpensive, high-quality edition.
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Customer Reviews (5)

Outstanding in all regards for all Rosenkavalier lovers and musicians generally!
Not only is this edition a cheap one:it also has the stamp of authenticity associated with it by being the definitive one issued around the time of its première by Strauss's main publisher, Adolf Fürstner of Berlin, and approved personally by the composer himself.[That original edition is a rare, limited and numbered one - the reprinted copy bears the number 36 in fact.]Barring a very few potential little things, there's every reason to believe it as the authentic edition, so how can one go wrong with it?

This is particularly so given the reproduction size, which allows one not only to easily follow it in one's lap while listening in an armchair (not to mention at a table!);it's easy to conduct therefrom (unless one's visually impaired).Others have written already about its virtues;I can only underscore what's already posted here.A score most certainly deserving to be in every musician's library (and every Rosenkavalier-fan, even if he's not the most fluent in reading music)!

Der Rosenkavalier Vocal Score
Just what I wanted.The Dover scores are excellent and at a very good price.

Strauss' most Popular
Der Rosenkavelier represented a new type of music drama for Richard Strauss. Prior to this time, his operas were quite hard edged: Salome, the story of a young woman whose erotic dancing skills cost John the Baptisthis head, and Elektra, the story of a young woman who avenges her father'smurder on her mother and her mother's lover. Der Rosenkavelier is, bycontrast, rather tranquil. It tells the story of an older woman who,despite her love for a young man (played by a young woman), assists thatyoung man in winning the love of a young woman. It's drama is small,Chekhovian even, and comparisons have often been made to Mozart's Marriageof Figaro. Dover reprinted a numbered copy, number 36 to be precise, of alimited first printing edited and published in 1910 by Strauss' publisherand friend, Adolf Furstner. This volume is, perhaps, the best buy among allDover's opera scores, especially for Strauss lovers. This volume containsan English translation of all frontismatter and a glossary of Germanmusical terms. The score is large and legible enough to conduct from, andthe rehearsal markers correspond with those of the parts. And, as always,the price is a baseline bargain. If you love this opera, buy this score.

A Boon for Strauss Singers
At last, a Rosenkavelier piano/vocal score that's not only affordable, but a real bargain. This score is a reprint of the Furstner piano reduction that costs three to four times less than the original. Like the full score,this piano/vocal reduction was first edited by Strauss' friend andpublisher, Adolf Furstner, in the early 20th century. The score has noEnglish translation, but that's no real problem. The volume is well made,as always, and is easy to read. No Opera singer's library is completewithout a copy of the piano/vocal score to Der Rosenkavelier. Now, this isthe one to buy.

Excellent full size score of this popular opera
This publisher offers full orchestral scores of several of Strauss' operas in full size for moderate prices, because they are copies from old editions.
The printing of this score of Der Rosenkavalier, certainlyhis most popular opera, is excellent, the edition is reliable.
Meanwhile there may be one or two other cheap editions of this score,but not at this size. ... Read more

Product Description
Richard Strauss (1864 -1949) always claimed that his music was a self-portrait, that he depicted himself, his nature, and his world in musical notes. From the charming autobiographical opera Intermezzo, based on a domestic misunderstanding, to the self-confident tone poem Ein Heldenleben, the composer's works relate to his personal experience as closely as those of any nineteenth-century Romantic. For the huge audience that enjoys the music of Strauss, Kurt Wilhelm's book has proved to be a cornucopia of information. Many of the numerous illustrations--taken from the private archive of the Strauss family--have never been published previously, and all are of immense historical interest. Skillfully woven around them is a detailed and revealing text, rich in anecdotes, quotations, and personal reminiscences by members of the Strauss family and contemporaries. The result is an intimate investigation of the private life, opinions, background, and works of Strauss that comes as close to the man as one is likely to get. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

The Richard Strauss enigma...
Many biographies of the most famous German composer of the 20th century have been written, and much time has been spent discussing his political and social opinions since he chose to remain in Germany throughout the Nazi years.This biography is readable, includes many personal little anecdotes not included in other books, and also some of the political discussion, together with excerpts of letters from and to Strauss.It has excellent photos which make the subject more accessible, together with family photos and locales.It covers his life, compositions, anecdotes, and some discussions of his politics, all in one easy to read book.I have read several biographies of Strauss, and found this one to be very personal, entertaining, and informative.It is recommended to any student of German history, musical history, or Strauss in particular.

Best English-language guide to Strauss the man
You can derive pleasure and profit from other books on Richard Strauss, notably Michael Kennedy's (my review of Kennedy's latest Strauss tome is already on Amazon.com) and Norman Del Mar's; but nobody can claim to know Strauss the human being who has not read Kurt Wilhelm's magisterial account. Wilhelm brings the day-to-day behavior of Strauss and his family to life, in a way that no previous biographer -- however diligent -- has managed to do. You finish this production feeling as if you have met the man.

Wilhelm appears to have been given the run of Strauss-related archives at Garmisch, Bavaria, which earlier chroniclers either couldn't or simply didn't use. Old enough to have corresponded with Strauss in person, Wilhelm (who spent part of the Nazi period in jail) is neither oppressively autobiographical nor mindlessly sycophantic: just quizzical, fair-minded, and courageous in his judgements. I don't imagine Strauss himself would have wanted any other sort of tribute.

The pity is that for this English translation (which itself reads very fluently), the original German text has been considerably cut. It remains a splendid book anyhow; but one wonders why any of it had to be omitted. Do English-speaking readers, even in the brave new world of LITTLE BRITAIN, deserve to be treated as morons? ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Elektra in english
An excellent reference. You must have this to totally enjoy this high flying soprano opera. Makes it so much more fun. ... Read more

Product Description
Richard Strauss' successful conducting and composing career spanned one of the most fascinating stretches of modern German history, from oil lamps to atomic energy, from a young empire to a divided Germany. This biography covers Strauss' early musical development, his emergence as a tone poet in the late nineteenth century, his turn to the stage at the beginning of the twentieth century, the successes and misfires of the post-World War I era, the turbulent 1930s, and the period of the Second World War and its aftermath. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Wonderful read!
I had to purchase this book for an independant study in modern operas for my senior year as an undergrad.My professor is a friend of Gilliam, and I must say his writing and research is very well done.I knew nothing of Strauss, and after I was done reading the few Chapters that I had to read, I was pretty much satisfied.It was easy to follow and just a delight to read! ... Read more

Product Description
Norman Del Mar (1919-1994) was universally recognised as a leading authority on the music of Richard Strauss, and his masterly three-volume study of his life and works remains a classic.Volume II spans the years 1912 to 1933 (the premiere of Arabella), taking in the Ariadne versions, Die Frau ohne Schatten, the ballets and much incidental music.'Deploying a well-nigh encyclopaedic knowledge, Mr Del Mar acquits himself brilliantly of his task of disentangling and reassembling the numerous strands that make up the backcloth of poetry and philosophy which Strauss, while not always understanding every intricacy, yet needed as a constant reference map for his composing. The three volumes of this magnificent book should be studied by all lovers of the late-romantic music, amateurs and professionals alike ... a monumental achievement.' Times Literary Supplement'A brilliant and copiously analytical study ... a constant fascination.' Guardian ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A complete guide for listening to the music of R. Strauss
Del Mar was a man who accepted a very challenging task: to show the world the importance and genius of Richard Strauss at a time when it was the fashion to dismiss the relative importance of this exceptionalcomposer.

Del Mar's approach to this challenge helped create the greatthree volume work we have here, but also created a text that impairs thereaders to truly put Strauss' accomplishments into perspective. Del Mar wasclearly a Strauss fan, who felt Strauss was under appreciated. To best hidehis impartiality, much like a father coaching a son in little-leaguebaseball, he gave Strauss no special treatment, and at times even goesoverboard to try and prove to the readers that he is a fair judge.

Thisapproach has allowed this work to become a valued base line for studyingStrauss the Composer, but also furthered the lack of credit given toStrauss in the Academic world. One gets the feeling that Strauss neverentered the ranks of the other master composers such as Wagner, Beethoven,and Mahler.

Most importantly these books serve as an invaluable resourcefor any serious Strauss listening - all tone poems and major works arecovered in great detail, with plenty of musical examples and figures. DelMar did a very, very thorough job. The reading is fun, passionate and neverdry.

Not Strauss the man, but his music as seen by a conductor.

As a horn player who became a conductor, Norman Del Mar wrote a three-volume study of Richard Strauss that appears to be, essentially, the notes of a conductor preparing to confront Strauss's music on the podium.It is thus excellent in understanding musical structure, the roles of motifs, the orchestration, and the literary background of the works.

At the same time, Del Mar did not in the end achieve a biography of Richard Strauss the man, as the author himself admits.I personally am still looking for a biography that would take seriously Strauss's conducting career, his career as a performer along with his wife, his income and investments, his professional associations, the fates of his wife and son, his card playing, and all the rest of the personal side.

Regarding the music itself, while Del Mar of course admires Richard Strauss greatly, he does not shy away from making judgments.When he doesn't especially admire something, he says so, says why, and lets the reader know what others have said about it as well.

Del Mar fairly consistently praises Strauss's "classical" or light-handed works.For example, the praise he gives to the music for "Le bourgeois gentilhomme" is perhaps somewhat out of proportion to that work's place in Strauss's opus.

This is not to say that Del Mar does not appreciate the romance and even the sexuality that Strauss frequently projected.On the contrary, the author plunges you into the mood of some of these moments, without ever losing perspective.

I'm afraid that he does give short shrift to one extremely important moment in Strauss's music -- the Presentation of the Rose at the beginning of Act 2 of "Der Rosenkavalier."Somehow the thunderstruck feeling of first love that Strauss's music communicates at this moment does not penetrate Del Mar.Thus, he faults Strauss (and Hofmannsthal) for not explaining how, in the second half of Act 2, Octavian and Sofie can so easily fall into complicity over dissolving the engagement with Ochs, and for not explaining why Octavian turns away from the Marschallin at the end of Act 3.

I wonder whether Del Mar may have gone out for popcorn at the start of Act 2, because when you hear the music of the two young people together at the moment of the Presentation of the Rose, you know that the Marschallin is history.

In any case, Del Mar's book is a tremendous achievement of musicianship, scholarship, and understanding.It is indispensable for studying the work of one of the greatest artists of our culture.

Be warned that non-musicians may find these three volumes tough reading! ... Read more

Product Description
Featuring ten new essays on different aspects of the compositions, artistic influences, and persona of Richard Strauss, The Strauss Companion explores the composer's relationship to his own work and to that of his noted contemporaries. Guided by not only musical interests but literary, political, and philosophical ones as well, Strauss is an ideal candidate for this sort of treatment. Following this discussion of his influences, the volume moves to a discussion of the works themselves, including operas, tone poems, and stage works; these compositions are explored analytically and also in terms of their critical reception. The final chapter investigates for the first time Strauss's much-neglected choral works, revealing their rich musical and vocal capacities, while a select bibliography and complete works-list round out the volume. ... Read more