Richard Strauss(1864-1949)
- Music Department
- Writer
- Composer
Richard Strauss was a German composer best known for symphonic poem
'Also sprach Zarathustra' (Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 1896) used as the
music score in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by director Stanley Kubrick.
He was born Richard Georg Strauss on June 11, 1864, in Munich, Bavaria
(now Germany). His father, named Franz Strauss, was the principal horn
player at the Royal Opera in Munich. Young Strauss was taught music by
his father. He wrote his first composition at the age of 6. From the
age of 10 he studied music theory and orchestration with an assistant
conductor of the Munich Court Orchestra. He was also attending
orchestral rehearsals. In 1874 Strauss heard operas by
Richard Wagner, but his father
did not share his son's interest and forbade him to study Wagner's
music until the age of 16.
Strauss studied philosophy and art history at Munich University, then
at Berlin University. In 1885 he replaced Hans von Bulow as the
principal conductor of the Munich Orchestra. Strauss emerged from under
his father's influence when he met Alexander Ritter, a composer, and
the husband of one of the nieces of
Richard Wagner. He abandoned his
father's conservative style and began writing symphonic tone poems. In
1894, Strauss married soprano singer Pauline Maria de Ahna. She was
famous for being dominant and ill-tempered, but she was also a source
of inspiration to Strauss, resulting in the preferred use of the
soprano voice in his compositions.
The image of Richard Strauss and his music was abused by the Nazi
propaganda machine, to a point of damaging the composer's posthumous
reputation. Richard Strauss was trapped in Nazi Germany just as the
Russian intellectuals were under Stalin in the Soviet regime. Strauss'
name and music was used by the Propaganda Minister
Joseph Goebbels, who appointed Strauss,
without his consent, to the State Music Bureau, as a mask on the ugly
regime. Strauss was commissioned to write the Olympic Hymn for the 1936
Olympics in Berlin. His cautious apolitical position was the only way
to survive and to protect his daughter-in-law Alice, who was Jewish.
In 1935 Strauss was fired from his job at the State Music Bureau. He
refused to remove from the playbill the name of his friend and opera
librettist, the writer Stefan Zweig, who
was Jewish. Later Gestapo intercepted a letter from Strauss to Zweig,
where Strauss condemned the Nazis. Strauss' daughter-in-law Alice was
placed under the house arrest in 1938. In 1942 Strauss managed to move
his Jewish relatives to Vienna. There Alice and Strauss's son were
later again arrested and imprisoned for two nights. Only Strauss'
personal effort saved them. They were returned under house arrest until
the end of the Second World War.
Richard Strauss died on September 8, 1949, in Garmish-Partenkirchen,
Germany at the age of 85. Strauss' symphonic poem 'Also sprach
Zarathustra' (Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 1896) was recorded under the
baton of Herbert von Karajan and was
used as the music score in '2001: A Space Odyssey' by director Stanley
Kubrik, as well as in many other films.
'Also sprach Zarathustra' (Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 1896) used as the
music score in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) by director Stanley Kubrick.
He was born Richard Georg Strauss on June 11, 1864, in Munich, Bavaria
(now Germany). His father, named Franz Strauss, was the principal horn
player at the Royal Opera in Munich. Young Strauss was taught music by
his father. He wrote his first composition at the age of 6. From the
age of 10 he studied music theory and orchestration with an assistant
conductor of the Munich Court Orchestra. He was also attending
orchestral rehearsals. In 1874 Strauss heard operas by
Richard Wagner, but his father
did not share his son's interest and forbade him to study Wagner's
music until the age of 16.
Strauss studied philosophy and art history at Munich University, then
at Berlin University. In 1885 he replaced Hans von Bulow as the
principal conductor of the Munich Orchestra. Strauss emerged from under
his father's influence when he met Alexander Ritter, a composer, and
the husband of one of the nieces of
Richard Wagner. He abandoned his
father's conservative style and began writing symphonic tone poems. In
1894, Strauss married soprano singer Pauline Maria de Ahna. She was
famous for being dominant and ill-tempered, but she was also a source
of inspiration to Strauss, resulting in the preferred use of the
soprano voice in his compositions.
The image of Richard Strauss and his music was abused by the Nazi
propaganda machine, to a point of damaging the composer's posthumous
reputation. Richard Strauss was trapped in Nazi Germany just as the
Russian intellectuals were under Stalin in the Soviet regime. Strauss'
name and music was used by the Propaganda Minister
Joseph Goebbels, who appointed Strauss,
without his consent, to the State Music Bureau, as a mask on the ugly
regime. Strauss was commissioned to write the Olympic Hymn for the 1936
Olympics in Berlin. His cautious apolitical position was the only way
to survive and to protect his daughter-in-law Alice, who was Jewish.
In 1935 Strauss was fired from his job at the State Music Bureau. He
refused to remove from the playbill the name of his friend and opera
librettist, the writer Stefan Zweig, who
was Jewish. Later Gestapo intercepted a letter from Strauss to Zweig,
where Strauss condemned the Nazis. Strauss' daughter-in-law Alice was
placed under the house arrest in 1938. In 1942 Strauss managed to move
his Jewish relatives to Vienna. There Alice and Strauss's son were
later again arrested and imprisoned for two nights. Only Strauss'
personal effort saved them. They were returned under house arrest until
the end of the Second World War.
Richard Strauss died on September 8, 1949, in Garmish-Partenkirchen,
Germany at the age of 85. Strauss' symphonic poem 'Also sprach
Zarathustra' (Thus Spoke Zarathustra, 1896) was recorded under the
baton of Herbert von Karajan and was
used as the music score in '2001: A Space Odyssey' by director Stanley
Kubrik, as well as in many other films.