Don Juan (Strauss)
Don Juan is a symphonic poem ( tone poem ) for large orchestra by Richard Strauss . It was written in 1888 and was the second tone poem (Op. 20) by the then 24-year-old composer. Don Juan was premiered in Weimar on November 11, 1889 , when Strauss was court conductor there.
For his tone poem, Strauss was inspired by Nikolaus Lenau 's dramatic poem Don Juan . The thoroughly composed work (playing time approx. 18 minutes) begins with an exuberant introduction in E major and a powerful woodwind theme for the title hero. This is followed by lyrical themes with solo violin and oboes , alternating with the hero theme, which underline the woman's wooing. After a surprising general pause , the work ends in “dying” E minor.
overview
For Strauss, a written source serves as the basis for his symphonic poetry. He chose the verse drama Don Juan by Nikolaus Lenau . The work was intended to be read, not performed. Strauss places a few lines in which Don Juan speaks in front of the score in order to give the interpreter a support for understanding. Strauss selected these passages from Lenau's work to illustrate Don Juan's psychological attitude. The text serves as an aid for the interpreter to understand the presented situations as Strauss intended. This piece is written entirely as a setting of an erotic theme.
The first part is about don Juan's longings and desires. He strives for pleasure and wants to conquer the hearts of women, achieve his satisfaction. Strauss sets this to music in the theme of Don Juan. The melody is rhythmically and melodically uninhibited and appears urgent and purposeful due to the many dots. In the second section chosen by Strauss, Don Juan manifests his attitudes and presents his opinion about lust and women. He fears weariness with a single woman, he strives for the diversity of many women; he desires a different one every day. "Yes! Passion is always just the new one, ”he exclaims, which is probably his reason. This should be expressed through the various themes of the loved one.
But there is also the other side of don Juan: The last section describes a depressed, dissatisfied don Juan. He is satisfied with the past, probably a past love scene, but now he falls into a hole of weakness and inner emptiness. "All wishing, all hoping is seemingly dead" for him, one could even suspect remorse. This is clearly shown after the carnival scene: All of a sudden, Strauss lets the strings play a broken diminished seventh chord quickly down from the fortissimo . Timpani and trombones as well as double basses and cellos emit a horrible, ominous sound compared to the previous radiant theme .
Erotic and heroic themes are also used to describe the character of Don Juan. These will be explained later in context.
Structure and design of the main topics
Don Juan has a classic structure: Strauss uses an extended sonata form . There is also the possibility of interpreting the shape as a rondo . Strauss did not treat both forms very carefully and they can be interpreted differently. The table gives an overview of the work and is based on an analysis by Wilhelm Mauke from 1905.
| Bars | sonata | rondo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leitmotiv and theme of Don Juan | 1-41 | Exposition, 1st subject | Ritornello |
| Flirtation and ensnaring | 41-90 | Reconciliation | Reconciliation |
| first love scene | 90-168 | 2nd subject | episode |
| Don Juan has adventures | 169-196 | execution | Ritornello |
| Ensnare | 197-231 | Reconciliation | Reconciliation |
| second love scene | 232-313 | Reconciliation | episode |
| Winner motif | 313-350 | Transition (can also be viewed as a 3rd topic) | Episode (can also be seen as a ritornello as a theme of Don Juan) |
| Masked ball | 351-421 | Reconciliation | episode |
| Sword fighting | 422-566 | Recapitulation | Ritornello |
| Knowledge and death | 567-606 | Coda | Coda |
Leitmotiv and theme of Don Juan
The piece begins with the first of Don Juan's themes (bars 1–4). This theme is used as a leitmotif throughout the piece and can always be recognized by the distinctive rhythmic movements. The sixteenth-note movements of the strings, the triplets and the dots create a strong memory effect, especially since this theme will still come up often. However, the following halves with tied quarters in E major are also essential, which clearly define the basic key, followed again by a cadence and a crescendo . This opening motif is a kind of short overture that briefly portrays the character Don Juan before the curtain falls on the tense audience. With a quick run of the woodwinds and strings you can hear the curtain fall. (Bars 5–7) The kettledrons strike, don Juan appears, in the form of his main theme.
Strauss designs the main theme (bars 9–17) according to his main character. It represents Don Juan entirely. The ever-increasing melody illustrates the hero's unbridled nature. This effect is reinforced by the eighth-note break and the interval jump from a peak down. Trumpets and trombones exacerbate this flare. From this high point a true fall seems to be taking place. But again it goes up to another climax. This makes the provocative and unstoppable side of Don Juan clear. The dots create an impression of driving forward, which also shows the main character's egoism.
This is followed by a bold development of the main theme and the opening figure, which quotes the main theme in the opposite key of C major (bars 18–39). The dissolution of the thematic material suddenly breaks off in a pause (bar 35ff.), Which builds up tension. This is discharged in a renewed effervescence of the now expanded leitmotif. The following intermediate section is Don Juan's first love scene (bars 40-62). You could call it "love affair" - it's very short. The subject of his subsequent meeting is briefly alluded to, but it breaks off again immediately. The chromatically sloping motif of the clarinet expresses "a feeling of saturation in Don Juan's heart" (bars 53ff.) Until he suddenly breaks away from her in fortissimo (bars 61f.). The hero turns away from his heroine (bars 63-66) and immediately sees a new beauty.
First love scene
The first great love scene begins with a trio of the solo violin, the glockenspiel and the harp . You can literally hear Don Juan ensnare his lover (solo violin) while she seems to want to submit to him completely (harp). The carillon expresses a kind of magic effect of the lover on the heroine.
After this transition, Strauss arrives at the second theme, traditionally in the dominant B major. The two-dimensional accompaniment of the winds has been replaced by a rhythm of quarters and quarter triplets, the harp also takes on accompanying functions, the glockenspiel stops and the violins (Vl. 1, Vl. 2 and solo Vl.) Take over the theme (sometimes together with individual winds ). It is being developed; the violins, through the canon-like inserts and the rising figures, illustrate the mutual embracing of lovers. Gradually the rhythm of the winds thicken and the arpeggios of the harp become faster; the lovers come to a climax. His leitmotif in the cellos now seems to wake Don Juan up again (bars 153ff.). His lover tries to keep him in his dream world with her, but he disappears and sets off on new adventures.
Don Juan has adventures
The following part can be described as an implementation: Until the next love topic, new experiences will be reported, Don Juan's topic will be frayed and developed again. (Bars 189–196)
Second love scene
Again the main character discovers a girl. He tries to win her over (bars 197-231). The cellos and violas adopt the motif of his attempts at seduction - through the syncope, his ensnaring appears impulsive and passionate. She doesn't seem to want to - the flutes whistle for the hero's attempts. But he does not give up: He makes a new attempt, this time even more urgently. The motif now appears in the violins as well. But in the end he can drive away their resistance: the flutes allow themselves to be "displaced" from the leitmotif by the horn blows with the dotted motif, the sound slowly lapses into a dream world.
This love scene is one of the best known and most intimate of all (bars 232-313). The strings take on accompanying functions, the warm sound of the oboe introduces the theme. Later the theme runs in the other woodwinds too, it is only rarely quoted by the horn . The theme is to be played »very calm and expressive«; that's how it's designed. Syncope expresses passion again, this passion is made clear by the warm ascending accompaniment of the cellos. Here, too, the melodies are finally entwined, expressing the embrace and eroticism of the scene.
Of course this night of love will also pass. Flutes and violins take over the theme and stop abruptly (bars 297ff.). The woodwinds and violins show how don Juan's thoughts become clear again. The strings imitate the previous motif of the cellos and increase the mood of the main character towards a new theme: Don Juan's heroic theme.
Don Juan's winning theme
Don Juan is no longer portrayed boldly and impetuously, but as a victor (bars 313-350). His new theme begins with the same motif as that of his last love scene: the octave announces Don Juan as a hero, continued by the repeated lead with play around. The break also creates a tension build-up. The only motif of the theme that ends clearly in the tonic in C major is sequenced three times , the last time being developed and linked to the first motif. The victory celebration ends with a development of the opening motif of the work; due to the triplets , the delayed eighth notes and the end on the dominant third, the theme seems to have been decided and thus irrevocable. Don Juan's lover protests " agitato " against her hero's evasions from their love, but the latter cannot be stopped and goes on his way again impetuously (leitmotif, bars 337ff.).
Mardi Gras scene
Now he throws himself into a wild festival (bars 351–421), represented by the Scherzo figure and the performance designation »giocoso«. His heroism is made somewhat laughable insofar as the winning theme is initially quoted from the glockenspiel (bars 358 ff.). A kind of barrier seems to have been broken when, after a tutti run, the leitmotif is developed and the victory theme and the joke theme are, so to speak, vying for each other.
Ultimately, this struggle becomes unbearably dramatic. As if through some significant insight, the hero suddenly falls into a deep hole of depression and self-doubt. The knowledge is brought to sound by a diminished seventh chord , which leads into the psychological hole after a falling arpeggio , terribly represented by timpani, trombones and low strings (bars 424ff.). Doubts are presented in the form of different chord progressions and timbres, his three lovers float past his mind's eye one after the other (themes from Don Juan's love affairs are cited). The hero becomes even more insecure.
Second violins and violas play "sul ponticello" (the right hand plucks the bridge) together with the harp in a tremolo-like chord (notated in idlers); a motif of doubt is sequenced above it in the woodwinds.
A short H7 chord in the “staccato” or “pizzicato” resolves the doubts and announces the challenge of the nobleman’s son, Don Pedro, to a fight to the death. Strauss creates tension with great sensitivity by developing the opening theme over an organ point on the dominant (bars 458–473). Don Juan can be heard drawing strength for the upcoming duel until the fight breaks out in the recapitulation .
Sword fight with Don Pedro
The fight is depicted in the most splendid colors, Don Juan's themes cheer and shine in the tonic in E major. After a moment of general pause, don Juan wins the battle (bars 474-566). The repeated dominant chord (B major, bars 577-584) is increased immeasurably - until it suddenly breaks off. Don Juan seems to have realized that victory is worthless and gives himself up to his opponent's dagger. This is depicted by a pale A minor chord (i.e. the minor subdominant) in which the trumpet stabs a sounding F, i.e. a dissonance , as the death stitch of the opponent's dagger (bars 586ff.). The strings formulate the hero's demise through their trills. The symphonic poem ends in a cadenza in E minor (i.e. the minor tonic) that sounds empty, especially after the fantastic passage : Don Juan has won, but achieved nothing.
The premiere
The first performance with the Weimar court orchestra under the direction of the young composer was a great success and laid the foundation for his later fame as an outstanding representative of late romanticism . Even today the work is played a lot in symphony concerts. There are recordings on CD with almost all well-known orchestras and conductors.
occupation
The composer requires a large orchestra with the following scoring: 3 flutes (3rd also piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, harp, timpani, triangle , Cymbals, glockenspiel, strings
literature
- Mathias Hansen (Ed.): Richard Strauss. The symphonic seals (paperback) . Bärenreiter, 2003, ISBN 978-3-7618-1468-0
Individual evidence
- ↑ Zeno: Full text of "Don Juan". Retrieved May 28, 2020 .
- ↑ Harold B. Lee Library: Richard Strauss: Symphonies and tone poems: Richard Strauss' life and creators . Berlin: Schlesinger'sche Buch- und Musikhandlung, 1905 ( archive.org [accessed on May 28, 2020]).