. Richard Strauss: Metamorphosen
Composed in 1945, Strauss’s Metamorphosen, a work for 23 solo strings, contains Strauss's most sustained outpouring of tragic emotion. The work was written as a statement of mourning for Germany's destruction during the war, in particular the bombing of the Munich Opera House and the Goethehaus. According to Michael Kennedy's biography Richard Strauss: Man, Musician, Enigma (1999), one hostile early critic interpreted the composition as mourning Hitler and the Nazi regime. But Strauss had written the words "In Memoriam" over a quotation from Beethoven's Eroica Symphony as a way to symbolize the toll of war on the German culture and aesthetic in general. As he wrote in his diary:
"The most terrible period of human history (is at) an end, the twelve year reign of bestiality, ignorance and anti-culture under the greatest criminals, during which Germany's 2000 years of cultural evolution met its doom."
2014；the 150th birthday of RichardStrauss.
Richard Strauss
Wilhelm, Kurt
Published by Thames & Hudson, 1989
我記得近10年前，我讀過一夲北京人民音樂出版社翻譯自德文的
Richard Strauss。這本書Richard Strauss: An Intimate Portrait，在圖片等方面更好。
入門
入門
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Strauss
| Title | Richard Strauss: An Intimate Portrait Biographie; Photos; Notes; Chronologie; List of Works |
| Author | Kurt Wilhelm |
| Translated by | Mary Whittall |
| Edition | illustrated, reprint |
| Publisher | Thames and Hudson, 1989 |
Richard Strauss: An Intimate Portrait
Richard Strauss (1864-1949) always claimed that his music was a self-portrait, that he depicted himself, his nature, and his world in musical notes. From the charming autobiographical opera Intermezzo, based on a domestic misunderstanding, to the self-confident tone poem Ein Heldenleben, the composer's works relate to his personal experience as closely as those of any nineteenth-century Romantic. For the huge audience that enjoys the music of Strauss, Kurt Wilhelm's book has proved to be a cornucopia of information.
Many of the numerous illustration -- taken from the private archive of the Strauss family -- have never been published previously, and all are of immense historical interest. Skillfully woven around them is a detailed and revealing text, rich in anecdotes, quotations, and personal reminiscences by members of the Strauss family and contemporaries. The result is an intimate investigation of the private life, opinions, background, and works of Strauss that comes as close to the man as one is likely to get.