Richard Strauss

Strauss’ Horn Concerto No. 1 In E Flat Major: Youthful Outdoor Adventures

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Composed in 1883, the Horn Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 11 is music of the young 19-year-old Richard Strauss. “We sense his young confidence,” says William Caballero, Principal horn player of the Pittsburgh Symphony. “We also hear the gentle, warm, reflective side of Strauss.” Even as a teenager, Strauss knew the horn intimately. His father, Franz Strauss, was the respected first horn player of the Munich Court Orchestra. Strauss inscribed …

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Remembering Samuel Magad

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Samuel Magad, long-serving concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, passed away on May 25 at his home in Buffalo Grove, Illinois. He was 94. A native of Chicago, Magad first appeared with the CSO in 1944 at age 11, performing the first movement of Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Music director Fritz Reiner appointed him to the violin section in in 1958, and in 1966 he was promoted to assistant concertmaster. In 1972, Georg …

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Remembering Felicity Lott

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English soprano Felicity Lott passed away on May 15 following a battle with cancer. She was 79. Born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Lott began singing lessons at age 12. While studying at the Royal Academy of Music she met pianist Graham Johnson who would become her lifelong accompanist. Her operatic debut came with the English National Opera in 1975 when she sang the role of Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Appearances at …

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Remembering Kazuyoshi Akiyama

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Kazuyoshi Akiyama, the renowned Japanese conductor, passed away last Sunday, January 26. He was 84. Akiyama made his debut with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra in 1964. The collaboration was so successful that, within two months, he was given the dual posts of music director and permanent conductor. He went on to serve as assistant conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (1968-1969), and music director of the American Symphony Orchestra (1973-1978). His reputation …

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Strauss’ “Metamorphosen”: In Memoriam

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When the Nazis rose to power in Germany in the 1930s, Richard Strauss was ambivalent at first. He only wanted to be left alone to compose the next opera. In a letter, Strauss observed, with grudging pragmatism, “I made music under the Kaiser…I’ll survive under this one as well.” For a while, Strauss placated the Nazis, attempting to use his position as a preeminent composer to protect his Jewish daughter-in-law and her …

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Strauss’ Four Symphonic Interludes from “Intermezzo”: A Portrait of Matrimony

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In a letter to his wife, Pauline, Richard Strauss listed the three areas which gave his life meaning: “nature, notes, and family.” (Bryan Gilliam) Musically, Strauss celebrated his stable family life with the autobiographical 1904 tone poem, Symphonia Domestica, Op. 53. When the work’s subject matter was criticized as trivial, Strauss responded, What could be more serious than married life? Marriage is the most profound event in life and the spiritual joy …

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Strauss’ “Capriccio”: Two Excerpts from “A Conversation Piece for Music”

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In a song or an opera, which is more important—the words or the music? Richard Strauss’ whimsical final opera, Capriccio, Op. 85, sets out to answer this age-old question. Subtitled “A Conversation Piece for Music,” it is a work of magical escapism, composed by the 78-year-old Strauss amid the horrors of Nazi Germany during the Second World War. (The premiere took place in Munich on October 28, 1942). The “opera within an …

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