The Cambridge companion to Richard Strauss

368 Pages·2010·9.051 MB·English

by  Youmans, Charles Dowell (ed.)

Th e Cambridge Companion to Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss is a composer much loved among audiences throughout the
world, in both the opera house and the concert hall. Despite this popularity,
Strauss was for many years ignored by scholars, who considered his commer-
cial success and his continued reliance on the tonal system to be liabilities.
However, the past two decades have seen a resurgence of scholarly interest in
the composer. Th is Companion surveys the results, focussing on the principal
genres, the social and historical context, and topics perennially controver-
sial over the last century. Chapters cover Strauss’s immense operatic output,
the electrifying modernism of his tone poems, and his ever-popular lieder.
Controversial topics are explored, including Strauss’s relationship to the Th ird
Reich and the sexual dimension of his works. Reintroducing the composer
and his music in light of recent research, the volume shows Strauss’s artistic
personality to be richer and much more complicated than has been previously
acknowledged.
Charles Youmans is Associate Professor of Music at Penn State University. He
is the author of R ichard Strauss and the German Intellectual Tradition (2005),
and his articles and essays have appeared in 19th-Century Music , Th e Musical
Quarterly , the J ournal of Musicology , and various edited collections.
Cambridge Companions to Music
Topics
Th e Cambridge Companion to Ballet Th e Cambridge Companion to Medieval Music
Edited by Marion Kant Edited by Mark Everist
Th e Cambridge Companion to Blues and Th e Cambridge Companion to the Musical,
Gospel Music second edition
Edited by Allan Moore Edited by William Everett and Paul Laird
Th e Cambridge Companion to the Concerto Th e Cambridge Companion to the Orchestra
Edited by Simon P. Keefe Edited by Colin Lawson
Th e Cambridge Companion to Conducting Th e Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock
Edited by José Antonio Bowen Edited by Simon Frith , Will Straw , and John
Th e Cambridge Companion to Eighteenth- Street
Century Music Th e Cambridge Companion to Recorded
Edited by Anthony R. DelDonna , and Pierpaolo Music
Polzonetti Edited by Eric Clarke , Nicholas Cook , Daniel
Th e Cambridge Companion to Electronic Music Leech-Wilkinson , and John Rink
Edited by Nick Collins and Julio D’Escriván Th e Cambridge Companion to the String
Th e Cambridge Companion to Grand Opera Quartet
Edited by David Charlton Edited by Robin Stowell
Th e Cambridge Companion to Jazz Th e Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-
Edited by Mervyn Cooke and David Horn Century Opera
Th e Cambridge Companion to the Lied Edited by Mervyn Cooke
Edited by James Parsons
Composers
Th e Cambridge Companion to Bach Th e Cambridge Companion to Elgar
Edited by John Butt Edited by Daniel M. Grimley and Julian Rushton
Th e Cambridge Companion to Bartók Th e Cambridge Companion to Gilbert and
Edited by Amanda Bayley Sullivan
Th e Cambridge Companion to the Beatles Edited by David Eden and Meinhard Saremba
Edited by Kenneth Womack Th e Cambridge Companion to Handel
Th e Cambridge Companion to Beethoven Edited by Donald Burrows
Edited by Glenn Stanley Th e Cambridge Companion to Haydn
Th e Cambridge Companion to Berg Edited by Caryl Clark
Edited by Anthony Pople Th e Cambridge Companion to Liszt
Th e Cambridge Companion to Berlioz Edited by Kenneth Hamilton
Edited by Peter Bloom Th e Cambridge Companion to Mahler
Th e Cambridge Companion to Benjamin Edited by Jeremy Barham
Britten Th e Cambridge Companion to Mendelssohn
Edited by Mervyn Cooke Edited by Peter Mercer-Taylor
Th e Cambridge Companion to Brahms Th e Cambridge Companion to Monteverdi
Edited by Michael Musgrave Edited by John Whenham and Richard
Th e Cambridge Companion to Bruckner Wistreich
Edited by John Williamson Th e Cambridge Companion to Mozart
Th e Cambridge Companion to John Cage Edited by Simon P. Keefe
Edited by David Nicholls Th e Cambridge Companion to Ravel
Th e Cambridge Companion to Chopin Edited by Deborah Mawer
Edited by Jim Samson Th e Cambridge Companion to Rossini
Th e Cambridge Companion to Debussy Edited by Emanuele Senici
Edited by Simon Trezise
Th e Cambridge Companion to Schoenberg Th e Cambridge Companion to Sibelius
Edited by Jennifer Shaw and Joseph Auner Edited by Daniel M. Grimley
Th e Cambridge Companion to Schubert Th e Cambridge Companion to Richard Strauss
Edited by Christopher Gibbs Edited by Charles Youmans
Th e Cambridge Companion to Schumann Th e Cambridge Companion to Verdi
Edited by Beate Perrey Edited by Scott L. Balthazar
Th e Cambridge Companion to Shostakovich
Edited by Pauline Fairclough and David
Fanning
Instruments
Th e Cambridge Companion to Brass Th e Cambridge Companion to the Piano
Instruments Edited by David Rowland
Edited by Trevor Herbert and John Wallace Th e Cambridge Companion to the Recorder
Th e Cambridge Companion to the Cello Edited by John Mansfi eld Th omson
Edited by Robin Stowell Th e Cambridge Companion to the Saxophone
Th e Cambridge Companion to the Clarinet Edited by Richard Ingham
Edited by Colin Lawson Th e Cambridge Companion to Singing
Th e Cambridge Companion to the Guitar Edited by John Potter
Edited by Victor Coelho Th e Cambridge Companion to the Violin
Th e Cambridge Companion to the Organ Edited by Robin Stowell
Edited by Nicholas Th istlethwaite and Geoff rey
Webber
Th e Cambridge Companion to
RICHARD
STRAUSS
edited by
Charles Youmans
Penn State University
cambridge university press
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore,
São Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo, Mexico City
Cambridge University Press
Th e Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521728157
© Cambridge University Press 2010
Th is publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without the written
permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published 2010
Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data
Th e Cambridge companion to Richard Strauss / [edited by] Charles Youmans.
p. cm. – (Cambridge companions to music)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-521-89930-7 (hardback) – ISBN 978-0-521-72815-7 (pbk.)
1. Strauss, Richard, 1864–1949–Criticism and interpretation. I. Youmans, Charles Dowell,
1964– II. Title. III. Series.
ML410.S93C36 2010
780.92–dc22
2010028672
ISBN 978-0-521-89930-7 hardback
ISBN 978-0-521-72815-7 paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or
accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in
this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is,
or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
For my parents

Contents
List of illustrations [ page ix]
List of music examples [x]
List of tables [ xii]
Notes on contributors [ xiii]
Preface and acknowledgments [ xvii]
Chronology of Strauss’s life and career [ xxi]
List of abbreviations [ xxvii]
Part I ● Background [1]
1 Th e musical world of Strauss’s youth
James Deaville [ 3]
2 Strauss’s compositional process
Walter Werbeck [ 22]
3 Maturity and indecision in the early works
Wayne Heisler, Jr. [ 42]
Part II ● Works [57]
4 Th e fi rst cycle of tone poems
David Larkin [ 59]
5 Th e second cycle of tone poems
James Hepokoski [ 78]
6 Strauss’s road to operatic success: G untram ,
Feuersnot , and S alome
Morten Kristiansen [ 105]
7 Th e Strauss–Hofmannsthal operas
Bryan Gilliam [ 119]
8 Opera aft er Hofmannsthal
Philip Graydon [ 136]
9 “Actually, I like my songs best”: Strauss’s lieder
Susan Youens [ 151]
10 Last works
Jürgen May [ 178]
Part III ● Perspectives [193]
11 Strauss’s place in the twentieth century
Alex Ross [ 195]
[vii]
viii Contents
12 Musical quotations and allusions in the works of Richard Strauss
Günter Brosche [213]
13 Strauss in the Th ird Reich
Michael Walter [226]
14 Strauss and the business of music
Scott Warfi eld [242]
15 Kapellmeister Strauss
Raymond Holden [257]
16 Strauss and the sexual body: the erotics of humor,
philosophy, and ego-assertion
Bryan Gilliam [269]
17 Strauss and the nature of music
Charles Youmans [280]
Notes [294]
Select bibliography [ 326]
Index [332 ]