Strauss, Richard 1864-1949
German composer

Richard Strauss was born in Munich, the son of Franz Strauss, first horn player in the court opera. He began to compose at the age of six, and his first publications date from 1875. In 1882 he entered Munich University, but began musical studies in Berlin the following year, and shortly afterwards became assistant conductor to Hans von B�low at Meiningen. There he was converted from the school of Brahms, under whose influence his early compositions had been written, to that of Wagner and Liszt, composing his first symphonic poems and succeeding von B�low at Meiningen in 1885. In 1894 he married the soprano Pauline de Ahna, for whom he wrote many of his songs.

After a period (1886-89) as assistant conductor at the Munich opera he moved to Weimar, and was invited by Wagner's wife Cosima to conduct at Bayreuth in 1891. His symphonic poems include Don Juan (1889), Tod und Verkl�rung (1889, 'Death and Transfiguration'), Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (1895, 'Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks'), Also sprach Zarathustra, (1895-96, 'Thus Spake Zarathustra'), Don Quixote (1897) and Ein Heldenleben (1898, 'A Hero's Life').

The first of his operas, Guntram, was produced at Weimar in 1894 and in the same year he became conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. His operas Salome (1905), based on a German translation of Oscar Wilde's play, and Elektra (1909), the first of his collaborations with the dramatic poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal, caused sensations by their erotic treatment of biblical and classical subjects. With Hofmannsthal he went on to compose the popular Der Rosenkavalier (1911) and Ariadne auf Naxos (1912, revised 1916).

His work with Stefan Zweig on Die schweigsame Frau (1935, 'The Silent Woman') led him into difficulties with the Nazi government, which had previously appointed him president of the Reichsmusikkammer. He resigned the post, but his commanding position at the head of German musical life protected him from serious political reprisal. Indeed, he went on to produce three operas with Josef Gregor, Friedenstag (1938, 'Day of Peace'), Daphne (1938) and Die Liebe der Danae (1938-40, 'The Love of Danae'). After the completion of his last opera, Capriccio (to a lib-retto by Clemens Krauss, 1942), he turned to instrumental work and song: in 1943 he wrote Metamorphosen, an extended piece for 23 strings inspired by the wartime destruction of German cities, and finally a series of small-scale concerto and orchestral works and the valedictory Vier letzte Lieder (1948, 'Four Last Songs').

Bibliography: Strauss's own reminiscences are to be found in Recollections and Reflections (Eng trans, 1953). See also M Kennedy, Richard Strauss (rev edn, 1995); Willi Schuh, Richard Strauss: A Chronicle of the Early Years, 1864-1898 (vol 1, 1982); Alan Jefferson, The Life of Richard Strauss (1973); Ernst Krause, Richard Strauss: The Man and His Work (1964); Norman Del Mar, Richard Strauss: A Critical Commentary on His Life and Works (3 vols, 1962-72).