Strauss’s life history

He visited Berlin for the first time and met the famous conductor Hans von Bülow. Bülow was highly respected at the time and took a fancy to the young man, calling him "by far the most unique composer after Brahms". He asked him to write a suite in B flat major for the Mainen court orchestra, and Conducted the premiere in person.

His works during this period include the Horn Concerto in F major, the Symphony in F minor, the piano music and painting, the piano string quartet in C minor, nine art songs written for Green's poems, and a poem based on Goethe's " Vocal chorus suite written by "The Wanderer's Charge Song" and so on. These works have been performed in Germany. Bülow affectionately called him "Richard III", and Richard Strauss quickly became famous. Richard Strauss was appointed deputy conductor of the Mainen Court Orchestra and learned conducting under Bülow. Soon he went on stage to perform, conducting and performing his own Symphony in F minor and Mozart's Piano Concerto in C minor (K.491), and performing his own solo part. Brahms, the leader of the Leipzig School, commented after listening to the works of Richard Strauss in Maingen: "The music is very charming, but in many places the theme is off topic." Soon, Bülow resigned. Saxony──The Duke of Mainen will appoint Richard Strauss as the successor band leader and also reduce the number of band members. Richard Strauss was deeply dissatisfied, did not accept the position, and left Maingen. Later he signed a three-year contract as third conductor with the Munich Opera House.

While working in the Mainen Court Orchestra, Richard Strauss formed a deep friendship with Alex Ritter, the first violinist of the orchestra. Ritter's wife was a niece of Wagner. At the same time, Ritter was also a sincere follower of Wagner and Liszt's art. His artistic tendency influenced Richard Strauss. Ritter advised Richard Strauss to give up his classicist tendencies, read Wagner's literary theory, read Schopenhauer's books, and follow the romantic lines of Berlioz, Liszt, and Wagner. In Mainen, Richard Strauss completed the transformation of his artistic thoughts. He wrote: "New (artistic) concepts must have new (artistic) forms - this is the principle of Liszt's symphonic poetry. The real factor that determines creation is the idea of ??poetry - this became my guide for later writing symphonic poetry. Principle." (Quoted from Richard Strauss: (Memoirs).) What really marks the transformation of Richard Strauss's artistic thinking is the symphonic fantasy "Italy" he created during this period, which shows that He switched from composing untitled instrumental music to writing titled music, and his musical style changed from following Mendelssohn to following Liszt. Reviews of this turning point have been mixed. Perhaps, it will take some time for the public to become familiar with and adapt to this "new" Richard Strauss style.

During his three years at the Munich Opera House, Richard Strauss rarely had the opportunity to participate in the performance of important works except for conducting a few operas by Mozart and Verdi. In 1887, when he was a guest conductor in Leipzig, he met the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler and soon became a person who was passionate about Mahler's art. In the summer of this year, he began to compose the tone poems "Macbeth", "Don Juan" and "Death and Purification". He fell in love with the soprano Paulina de Anna. In the following years, he collaborated with Anna to perform several famous operas (including Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" and Mozart's "Cosù" - this is Richard Strauss's most famous opera. Two of my favorite dramas). In 1894, they finally got married. His wedding gift to her was four art songs (Op. 27), entitled "Morning", "Caesili", "Quiet, My Soul" and "Secret Request". Richard Strauss's conducting career reached its peak. He served as chief conductor of the Royal Opera House in Berlin. During the eight-month performance season, he conducted 71 concerts and 25 operas (including two complete performances of the four plays of "The Ring of the Nibelung"). In Weimar he discovered and performed Liszt's "Fatus" and other works, and in Berlin he performed works by Grieg, Mahler, Sibelius and Elgar.

Richard Strauss's talent and reputation as a conductor cannot be ignored. Together with Mahler and Weingartner, he influenced German and Austrian music performances from 1890 to 1910, and traveled and performed throughout Europe from time to time.

Richard Strauss was not discouraged by the failure of his first opera "Gunteran" and continued to explore writing new operas. In 1901, he completed the music composition of the opera "Fire". This is a comedy based on a medieval Flemish legend. It premiered in Dresden and was a huge success and remained a hit for a long time. This gave Richard Strauss a great encouragement. When Richard Strauss began writing a new opera, "La Silence", the National Socialist Party, headed by Hitler, came to power. As a musician, Richard Strauss had not been interested in politics for decades. He looked down on many politicians and only concentrated on art. But at this year's Bayrot Music Festival, the famous conductor Toscanini refused to participate in the performance because he protested the Nazis' persecution of the Jews. In order to save the festival and out of respect for Wagner's art, Richard Strauss replaced Toscanini and conducted this grand performance with the participation of Nazi party dignitaries. In view of Richard Strauss's reputation at the time, the Nazi Party was in great need of such a cultural figure to play a propaganda role. Therefore, they exaggerated Richard Strauss's move and regarded his conduct of the performance as evidence of supporting the Nazi party. In November of this year, when Propaganda Minister Goebbels established the Nazi "State Music Bureau", he appointed Richard Strauss as the director without his consent. In this way, Richard Strauss began his own disgraceful history. of one page.

Richard Strauss lacked political awareness, or in other words, he had the bad nature of a German mediocre. When he was the director of the National Music Bureau, he did not even discover that the librettist with whom he collaborated to create the opera was the Jewish Stephen Zweig, whom he had met a few years earlier. For this, the Nazis accused Richard Strauss in radio broadcasts. Zweig went to Zurich to seek refuge and recommended someone else to write a play for Richard Strauss. Richard Strauss was unwilling to face reality and insisted on writing Zweig's name, which had been removed, on posters and program notes. His request was fulfilled, but Hitler, Goebbels and others who had promised to attend the premiere of the opera "Silent Women" did not come. Four days later, the Nazis banned the opera and ordered Richard Strauss to resign as director of the National Music Bureau for health reasons. So, Richard Strauss compromised and wrote a humble letter to Hitler. Although he retained his position by doing this, the fascist leaders never gave him or his family any special favor. In the spring, "Transfiguration" written by Richard Strauss for 23 string instruments seemed to be a review of his half-century music career. After the war ended in 1945, Richard Strauss and his wife self-exiled to Switzerland. Because of his shameful history, his name was included on the list of the Inquisition for the Elimination of Nazis. During this period, he wrote an oboe concerto and other woodwind pieces. In 1947, the United Kingdom held a Richard Strauss Music Festival, inviting him to live in London for a month and conducting and performing his own works, thus informally and partially restoring his reputation. In 1948, the Tribunal for the Elimination of Nazis officially announced that he would be allowed to return to Germany. In May 1949, Richard Strauss dragged his illness back to China and underwent major surgery, taking with him the "Four Last Lieders" he had just completed. He caught up with the celebrations for his eighty-fifth birthday in June; in August, he suffered a heart attack. On September 8, 1949, he passed away without pain. Before he died, he murmured to his daughter-in-law: "This is what death is like, exactly like the "Death and Purification" I wrote..."