Strauss’s final opera marked a belated return to form. He had suffered since the end of his collaboration with Hofmannsthal and jettisoned his original librettist, Joseph Gregor, in favour of the conductor Clemens Krauss. The conception was a simple but subtle one in which the characters in the piece decide to write an opera. Only at the end is ...
b. 1944 New Zealand soprano Having come to England to study at the London Opera Centre, Te Kanawa made her Covent Garden debut as the Countess (Mozart’s Figaro) in 1971. Appearances quickly followed at Glyndebourne, the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala and the Salzburg Festival. She became increasingly associated with the music of Richard Strauss, especially the roles ...
(Frants Shrek’-er) 1878–1934 Austrian composer A contemporary and friend of Schoenberg (he conducted the first performance of his Gurrelieder), Schreker never followed him into atonality. He was strongly influenced by Mahler (in his fine Chamber Symphony, by the chamber textures often found in late Mahler) and by Richard Strauss in his operas, of which Der ferne Klang (‘The Distant ...
(Hans Iz’-le) 1898–1962 German composer A pupil of Schoenberg, but also a committed Communist, Eisler appalled his teacher by writing political music in a popular style derived from cabaret and marches. A refugee in the US during World War II, he was investigated by Senator McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee, and spent the rest of his life ...
1909–2003 Austrian bass-baritone Hotter’s international career began in Mozart with the Vienna State Opera’s visit to Covent Garden in 1947. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1950 and first sang at Bayreuth in 1952. He was renowned for his Wotan, but he also sang other Wagnerian roles. He created roles in three Strauss operas, including Olivier in Capriccio. ...
1728–1804 German composer Hiller worked for most of his life in Leipzig, where he directed concerts, had charge of the music for various churches, founded choirs, a music school and a musical society, wrote criticism for an influential music periodical, published musical treatises and eventually became Kantor of St Thomas’s Church (the post once held ...
(Yo’-han A’-dolf Has’-se) 1699–1783 German composer and tenor Born just outside Hamburg, Hasse became the leading Italian opera composer of his time. He began his career as a tenor, went to Italy for training (under Alessandro Scarlatti, 1660–1725, and others), and had operas given in Naples; he married Faustina Bordoni (1700–81), a famous soprano who had sung for ...
exotic harmonies and modes – he was a master of orchestration. His orchestral brilliance conjures up magical and fantastic tableaux, particularly in descriptive works including three symphonies, the Capriccio Espagnol op. 34 (1887), Russian Easter Festival Overture (1888) and the suite Scheherazade (1888). His 15 operas on Russian subjects, including The Snow Maiden (1881), Ivan the Terrible (also ...
Other orchestral: Fantasy Overture, Romeo and Juliet (1869, revised 1870 and 1880); Fantasy Overture, Francesca da Rimini, op. 32 (1876); Marche Slave, op. 31 (1876); Capriccio Italien, op. 45 (1880); Serenade for Strings, op. 48 (1880); 1812 Overture, op. 49 (1880); Suite No. 3 in G, op. 55 (1884); Manfred Symphony, ...
, is perhaps the most inspired and certainly one of the best-known examples. Fittingly, Strauss concluded his operatic output with the monologue of the Countess at the end of Capriccio (1940–41), a gorgeous outpouring of meditative song about the relative value of words and music that sums up a lifetime’s experience of writing for voices. The Four Last Songs (1946–48) ...
relationship with Joseph Gregor, producing Freidenstag, Daphne and Die Liebe der Danae, but Strauss was never entirely happy. Gregor began work on Strauss’s final operatic project, Capriccio, but it was Strauss himself and Clemens Krauss who eventually completed it. The post-Hofmannsthal period was incredibly productive for Strauss, but it was also marred by difficulties on ...
authority, and that could best be done by the creation of new works. In some senses, the old had died and the new been born during the war. Capriccio, the last opera by Richard Strauss, had its premiere in Munich in 1942, with Allied air-raids a nightly threat. Meanwhile Benjamin Britten, who spent the duration ...
(Yan Dez’-mas Ze-leng’-ka) 1679–1745 Bohemian composer Zelenka was born near Prague but worked for most of his life in Dresden, where he was double bass player in the court orchestra. He studied with Fux in Vienna and Antonio Lotti (1667– 1740) in Venice. Although he wrote three oratorios and at least 20 Masses, and was eventually appointed vice-Kapellmeister of church ...
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