The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-26
RICHARD STRAUSS In LONDON.
FORKS or A GREAT INNOVATOR
nv MUSIC PRESENTED.

chance TO study the Evolution Sr Il
remarkable Composer - His New
and singular MnsIc-!The Emperor
a, Instru;nentalIsts and tho Great
est Of Musical Narrators-''D Don
Ou,xote" and Other Tone Poems.
Ever since Anton Ruhinstein uttered
Mis- famous and oft-quoted remark that the
music loving population Of England
amounted to nearly per cent. the inhabi-
,an,s Of the muggy isle have endeavorcd
10 prove the Russian composer wrong,
.Nessjsh worship still prevails; but it would
ornesr that the great pervading influences
81 Handel and Mendelssohn are slowly
subsiding Other composers are tolerated;
schumann is admired, Bach venerated.
and in the metropolis the name Of Richard
wagner known. More remarkable still,
London can boast Of enjoying Straussiad.
With Richard Strauss blazoned on her
musical banners she compels New York to
respectfll silence in the matter of musical
enterprise until next spring; and then,
with Strauss conducting, we shall have lis
tened 10 the music of the Bavarian COM
poser TOT eNdClly lWtllty years.
II was in 1884 Theodore Thomas per-
formed for tho first time anywhere the
r minor symphony. the work of young
student of music in Munich. 1t is marked
opus Y, and might have been written in the
pre- Lisztian days. so nafvely unconscious
il it of modern emotion, modern thought.
Strauss had not yet been invited to taste
the musical apples Of wisdom so sedu-
lousy grown by Berlioz and List. He
met Alexander Ritter at Weimar and a new
world was opened to his ardent gaze. Hence
forth the empty Juggling with classic forms
could no longer interest him. Aus Italien"
Ion. 49, was the first fruit of this intercourse,
and while it is divided into movements and
Ia more descriptive than reflective, its
trend is unmistakable. Henceforth Rich
ard Strauss was to be the standard bearer
OF the New in Music. Although his violin
sonata Top. 1877 came after the Italia" it
might have been written in 1880 or there
abouts so respectfully does it cling to
outmoded conventions of form. Of feeling.
Accordingly, it has been overpraised for
Its sanity-as II saneness and music had
much in common!
After Brahms, Wsgner's influence on
Sire uss was powerful. A glance at his
early efforts shows him to have pla yed the
'sedulous pc ITO the great Gle ssicsl ms sters;
10 have practised industriously the art OF
counterpoint: to have been close student
Of the panoforte and voice. His opus 4
a serena de for wind instruments, was ac-
cepted by Hs MS Won Bblow. then conductor
Of the renowned Meiningen Orchestra
Strauss was invited to play Mozc rt's {
minor concerto at one Of the Biilow Mem
ingen concerts and so favor; bly, did he
impress the RENE rkeble conductor thdt
later he succeeded the redoubtable Ha ms
as Capellmeister.
Born in 1854 Richa I'd Strauss he enjoyed
an uninterrupted career Of success. II in
his precocity-he began composing at the
age Of She me- tched the achievements o!
his predecessors, he HIS been more lucky
than any Of them With the exception OF
Meyerbeer snd Mendessohn. His f. thel
wasa well-known Munich horn player, his
mother member of 4 weaithy family OF
brewers, the Pschorrs. A thorough educa-
ton in technical schools and the university
endowed the composer with a culture
unknown to most musicians, and much
travel inbued him with n genuine cosmo-
politan spirit. His marriage to Pauline de
Alma, o soprano who hr S sung in Beyreuth
II o h ply one, nd with the rdded gifts OF
an orchestral conductor, the high position
Of conductorship at the Berlin opera END
acqlHinta nee with fame before rea ching
the ege OF 40, Richard Strauss can well
afford to love his life-temporary ill-hec ltl
has been the one shadow on oareer bril-
liant In prosperity and q astounding In artistic
production
The recent Strauss festival in London,
while it was attended by the usual draw.
backs incident to one-man affair. gave
the public an opportunity of studying
the legitimate evolution of this remarkable
composer. None of his early works, with
the exception of O few OF the songs, the
Burleske for piano-forte and orchestra
and the Macbeth" was given. for ex.
cellent reasons We were treated to music
In which the curve OF originality first dis.
played itself Italia" op. 10; don Juan,
op. 20; Macbeth" op. %; Till Eulen,
Spiegel," OF. %; "Tod ind Ferslarung,
op. 20; Also Sprach zarathustra," OPP
o.; Don Quixote," op. IS; Elm Tleitlen.
leben," op. 49, In addition there veTc
scenes from 4Guntram" and tho love scene
from "Feucrsnot" and also two songs fol
barytonc II will be seen that this list
e1hausts the gn alter compositions, some
Of which had moi been previously heard II
London: Macbeth" "Don Quixcte" nnc
several others Despite the repletior
naturally following upon such q rich in
teIiectual banquet, second sober thoughts
have not been notwithstanding. Strauss is
not composer to be compressed within @
formula; We do not dispose of him by call
ing him either cacophOnous or cerebral
h" is both, and something more. New
York has accepted him after hearing hin
merprotcd by such conductors as Theo'
dore Thomas, Frank Van der Stricken
Arthur Nikisch, Anton Seidl, Wilhelm
Gericke and Emil Paur he is no longer a
novelty to US, yet it is only by hearing him
IN ol0c that fair measurement OF the mar
and his achievements can be tsken. Ano
the man comes first; since Chopin there has
not been heard such intensely subjective
music Wagners not excepted
1t may be her late in the day to discuss
The possible meanings of this new anc
angular music, Sc well threshed out ha'
neen tho question of absolute music anc
music with rrouranme that oplv a,icI