The Cambridge Companion to Richard Strauss

by Charles Youmans

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521728157
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/18/2010
Series:	Cambridge Companions to Music
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	370
Product dimensions:	6.80(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Charles Youmans is Associate Professor of Music at Penn State University. He is the author of Richard Strauss and the German Intellectual Tradition (2005), and his articles and essays have appeared in Nineteenth-Century Music, The Musical Quarterly, the Journal of Musicology, and various edited collections.

Table of Contents

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.

Editorial Reviews

"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

From the Publisher