The Cambridge Companion to Richard Strauss

Summarizing the recent resurgence of scholarly interest in Strauss, this volume focuses on genres, social context, and perennially controversial topics.

Charles Youmans (Edited by)

9780521728157, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 18 November 2010

370 pages, 3 b/w illus. 2 tables 70 music examples
24.7 x 17.5 x 1.7 cm, 0.73 kg

'The contributions are both up to date in their scholarship and eminently readable, while the copious notes to each chapter provide invaluable links to further research.' Music and Letters

Richard Strauss is a composer much loved among audiences throughout the world, both in the opera house and the concert hall. Despite this popularity, Strauss was for many years ignored by scholars, who considered his commercial 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. This Companion surveys the results, focusing on the principal genres, the social and historical context, and topics perennially controversial 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 Third 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.

Chronology of Strauss's life and career Charles Youmans
Part I. Background: 1. The musical world of Strauss's youth James Deaville
2. Strauss's compositional process Walter Werbeck
3. Maturity and indecision in the early works Wayne Heisler
Part II. Works: 4. The first cycle of tone poems David Larkin
5. The second cycle of tone poems James Hepokoski
6. Strauss's road to operatic success: Guntram, Feuersnot, and Salome Morten Kristiansen
7. The Strauss-Hofmannsthal operas Bryan Gilliam
8. Opera after Hofmannsthal Philip Graydon
9. 'Actually, I like my songs best': Strauss's Lieder Susan Youens
10. Last works Jürgen May
Part III. Perspectives: 11. Strauss's place in the twentieth century Alex Ross
12. Musical quotation and allusion in the works of Richard Strauss Günter Brosche
13. Strauss in the Third Reich Michael Walter
14. Strauss and the business of music Scott Warfield
15. Kapellmeister Strauss Raymond Holden
16. Strauss and the sexual body: the erotics of humor, philosophy, and ego-assertion Bryan Gilliam
17. Strauss and the nature of music Charles Youmans
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Opera [AVGC9], 20th century & contemporary classical music [AVGC6]