Composer of the Month 6/2014: Richard Strauss
(selected by Peter van Dessel / Belgium)
Berlin 18.9.1954
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The German composer Richard Georg Strauss was born on born June 11, 1864 in Munich.
Under the guidance of his father he created own compositions at an early age. The first public
performance of a work took place in 1883. 1885 Strauss became Ducal court conductor in Meiningen.
Thereafter he served as Kapellmeister in Munich, Weimar, Berlin and Vienna. As a conductor he undertook
numerous concert tours throughout Europe.
In cooperation with the Austrian poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Richard Strauss produced numerous operas. In 1917 Strauss, along with Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Max Reinhardt and Franz Schalk, was a co-founder of the Salzburg Festival. Already as a young composer, Strauss began to fight for the improvement of copyright. In 1898 he organized the "Association of German Composers" and in 1908 he became chairman of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein. In 1933 he was president of the Reichsmusikkammer but laid down the position in 1934 because he did not agree with the actions of the Nazis against Jewish artists. Richard Strauss is considered as the most important German composer in the first half of the 20th century. With his symphonic poems, songs and operas, he is the perfector of the Late Romanticism as well as a founder of modern music. Richard Strauss died on September 8, 1949 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. In June 2014, the music world is celebrating his 150th birthday. More composer can be found in the members only section |