Premiered on 24 July 1938 at the National Theatre Munich, Friedenstag (Day of Peace) is arguably the least known of Strauss’ opera and in many respects the least characteristic. In fact, this serious, rather earnest treatment of war is certainly

A number of cello sonatas composed around the time of the Brahms sonatas reveal burgeoning cello writing. I’d like to feature two of my favorite romantic cello sonatas, which I heard my father play when I was growing up. The

The first public performance of Richard Strauss’ opera Die Liebe der Danae (The Love of Danae) took place as part of the Salzburg Festival on 14 August 1952. At that time, the composer had already been dead for three years.

Richard Georg Strauss was born on 11 June 1864 as the first of two children of Franz Strauss and Josephine Pschorr. Franz was the principle horn player at the Court Opera in Munich, and a professor at the Royal Music

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?” This most widely quoted statement originating with Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche first appeared in the 1882 publication Die fröhliche Wisssenschaft

In the last days of WWII, German composer Richard Strauss saw the world he knew in tatters around him. Germany was occupied by foreign powers, the great monuments of German culture had been destroyed – its opera houses and theatres,

The lure of Italy to those who live in cold Northern Europe cannot be understated. Composer after composer went south and brought back their musical memories of that country of sunshine and warmth, of folksong and dance, and of landscapes

In 1939, in the middle of writing his opera Die Liebe der Danae, Richard Strauss wrote a work that’s rarely performed but commemorates an event few countries can claim. His Japanische Festmusik was written for the 2,600th anniversary of the