Evening star., 1949-09-08
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die "Der Rosenkavalier," for such
tone poems as Elm Heldenleben,"
"Til Eulenspiegel," Don Juan"
Don Quixote" and Thus Spake
Zarathustra."
Because of his e-eminence in
the musical world, he Jared better
than many of his colleagues in
Nazi Germany but even he finally
ran afoul of the Nazi regime. And
the war left him without funds.
Conducted in London in 1947.
His rich library of musical works
earned a great deal of money in
royalties, but the revenue was tied
up by custodianS OF enemy alien
property and at 83 Strauss went
to London to conduct concerts OF
his Strauss music.
But his last days found him liv-
ing among his family and friends
in his Bavarian mountain home
at Observation-Disclosures. Last
June II, he celebrated his 85th
birthday by playing skat, the Ger
man card game, with three old
friends, and attending a big din
ner with his family. For Bavaria.
his birthday signaled the start of
Richard Strauss Festival Week"
In return, he presented the city
of Munich with the score of a
waltz he composed in its honor.
A year previous, in June. 1948.
he was officially cleared of Nazism
by a disqualification court.
Son of Franz Strauss, who
played the French horn in the
Munich Court Opera, and jose
phine Pschorr Strauss of a family
of musically inclined brewers,
Richard Strauss started playing
the piano and violin at the, age of
four.
Wrote Notes Before Alphabet.
He wrote musical notes before he
knew the letters of the alphabet.
Opus /, "Festmarsch." was pub
lished when he was IL and some
of his works were played while he
was still in school.
Although his father was vio-
lently anti-Wagnerian, the young
er Strauss was encouraged to wor-
ship Wagner by Hans Won Bulow,
who gave Strauss his first chance
to conduct. At 81, Strauss became
Won Bulow's assistant at the Mein-
ingen Ducal Orchestra and when
Won Bulow resigned, his protege
remained as sole conductor.
Other orchestral engagements
followed and by 1889, Strauss, as
the most famous conductor of the
time, was engaged by the Royal
Opera in Berlin.
Almost from the beginning,
Strauss works were greeted with
amazement and controversy. much
of which he encouraged himself.
His idea of musical realism, his
dissonances and uses of sound
effects raised critical storms. AS
the composer said himself, mo
one has ever become great artist
who was not held by thousands to
be crazy"
Strauss wrote his first opera,
"Guntram" in 1892. Frankly
Wagnerian in theme and treat
ment, the opera was unsuccessful
but the girl who sang the heroine's
role became Frau Strauss.
Work Displeased Kaiser.
The operas "Salome" and
"Elektra,' performed for the first
time IN 1905 and 1909 respectively,
put Strauss into the headlines.
"Salome," based on a text after
Oscar Wilde, displeased straight
laced Kaiser Wilhelm II and was
widely censored and censured, but
it's score brought the composer the
cross of the French Legion of
Honor. "Elektra" was described
by one American critic as lone
long .frenetic screech." Both
operas, however, are now stand
ard in the operatic repertoire.
Strauss made two trips to
America-in, 1904, when he came
for the world premiere of his
"Sinfonica .Domestica," and in
1921, when he was given an Off
cial reception al New York's City
Hall and ended a two-month tour
$50,000 richer.
When Hitler's National Social
lists came to power. Strauss was
the country's foremost composer.
He took the change in the ma
tion's politics calmly and agreed
to accept the Craftsmanship Of the
new state music Office. He. re-.
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