An alpine symphony

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Eine Alpensinfonie op.64 is a symphonic poem by the composer Richard Strauss , which was premiered in 1915.

The work is based on the composer's concept of using musical means to climb an alpine summit and return to the valley in one day. An alpine symphony is a typical example of the musical category of program music .

program

The home garden from the Herzogstand , inspiration for the composition

The idea for the program goes back to an experience from Richard Strauss' childhood. In the summer of 1879 he got up in the Heimgarten in the Bavarian Prealps and got caught in a thunderstorm. He presented this event on the piano the next day. From this memory he developed the concept. The ascent of the mountain on which the symphonic poem is based, including the subsequent descent, begins with the introductory section Night , goes through the following stations and ends again in a section known as Night :

Night - sunrise - the ascent - entry into the forest - hike next to the brook - at the waterfall - appearance - on flowery meadows - on the alpine pasture - through thicket and undergrowth on wrong paths - on the glacier - dangerous moments - on the summit - vision - Mists rise - the sun gradually darkens - elegy - silence before the storm - thunderstorm and storm, descent - sunset - end - night.

But it was probably only partly the composer's intention to describe a mountain hike. The hiking trail described by Strauss, which leads from the night to the summit and back again, can be seen as a symphonic representation of a human life. In this regard, the composer was probably inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy , because sketches for the Alpine Symphony bear the title of Nietzsche's work The Antichrist . The Alpine Symphony is thus directly related to Strauss' tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra , which is also influenced by Nietzsche.

Another approach to interpreting the program is to connect the form of the Alpine symphony with the structure of the classical drama .

occupation

The composer stipulated the following scoring:

At least:

Behind the scene, "to be cast from the orchestra in an emergency":

  • 12 horns
  • 2 trumpets
  • 2 trumpets

In addition, in large orchestras from number 94 (at the end of the vision ) the 2 large flutes, the 2 oboes, the Eb and C clarinet are to be doubled.

According to Strauss, a total of at least 107 musicians are required. The composer's instructions to amplify some instruments beyond the minimum and to provide musicians for the long-distance orchestra behind the stage would result in an optimal line-up of 129 musicians or even more according to Strauss' ideas.

To implement the long ties of the winds, Strauss suggests the “ Aerophon ” invented by Bernhard Samuel , in which a foot-operated air pump with a rubber hose to the player's mouth supports the generation of the long-held tones.

The performance of the Alpine Symphony lasts around 45–50 minutes.

Appreciation

Memorial stone for Richard Strauss and the Alpine Symphony in Altaussee

It was the declared intention of the composer to enable the listener to experience the stations of a mountain hike as a sound painting . As many music critics believe, the work achieves this goal in an impressive manner. The effect is mainly due to the sophisticated orchestral line-up and nuanced instrumentation . The exciting juxtaposition of very subtle and rather banal effects (cowbells, thunder sheet) is also not without its charm.

It seems justified to view the work as a symphony . Nonetheless, it is not a question of a composition that meets the strict formal requirements of a symphony in the classical sense , although it also contains the composer's work on thematic material. Some themes and motifs from the “ascent phase” of the hike return later in a modified form (as a reversal ) during the “descent” . One can best do justice to the work if it is seen as the culmination and climax of the symphonic poems that preceded it in the second half of the 19th century .

Emergence

The first sketches for the Alpine Symphony date from 1900, the year Nietzsche died. Strauss planned a symphonic poem with the working title "Artists Tragedy", which was to depict the fate of the portrait painter Karl Stauffer-Bern , who came from the Swiss Emmental . He died mentally deranged in 1891. Stauffer-Bern was a passionate mountaineer. The musical representation of a mountain ascent was one of several planned sections in the presentation of Stauffer's biography. In 1902, Strauss expanded the concept into a four-movement symphony, the first movement of which was to contain the ascent of the mountain, the remaining movements were to contain further themes from Stauffer's vita. The working title was now “The Antichrist, an Alpine Symphony”. The title shows that Strauss identified the figure Stauffer with the person Nietzsche and his philosophy. The first movement was sketched quite broadly and contains, in essential parts, the shape of the final version. Nevertheless, the work remained. In 1910, while working on the Rosenkavalier , Strauss resumed work on the first movement. Around 1913 the decision was made to turn the first movement into an independent piece. The work was to be called “The Antichrist, an Alpine Symphony” right down to the very latest sketches. The final title can only be found in the fair copy of the score, which was completed after a hundred days of work on February 8, 1915.

The premiere with the Dresden court orchestra took place on October 28, 1915 in Berlin under the direction of the composer.

Discography

There are numerous recordings of the Alpine Symphony . Among the best known are those with conductors Karl Böhm , Rudolf Kempe , Herbert von Karajan , Bernard Haitink , André Previn , Christian Thielemann , Fabio Luisi and Antoni Wit . Some prefer to emphasize the ornamental, superficial aspect of the work, while other conductors believe they can also recognize metaphysical structures in it. There is also a recording with the composer himself at the conductor's desk (1941).

literature

  • Rainer Bayreuther: Richard Strauss' Alpensinfonie - Origin, Analysis and Interpretation. Hildesheim 1997, ISBN 3-487-10261-7 .
  • Mathias Hansen: Richard Strauss - The symphonic seals. Kassel 2003, ISBN 3-7618-1468-2 .
  • Jürgen May: Paths and aberrations in and around Richard Strauss' Alpine Symphony. A track reading. In: Claudia Heymann-Wentzel, Johannes Laas (Hrsg.): Music and biography. Festschrift for Rainer Cadenbach. Würzburg 2004, pp. 364-380.
  • Walter Panofsky: Richard Strauss - Score of a Life. Munich 1965
  • Jürgen Schaarwächter: Richard Strauss and the symphony. Cologne-Rheinkassel 1994, ISBN 3-925366-35-0 .
  • Walter Werbeck: The tone poems by Richard Strauss. Tutzing 1996.
  • Thomas Järmann: It's not a coincidence. The keys in the 'Alpine Symphony' op. 64 by Richard Strauss. In: The Tonkunst. No. 3, Vol. 3, Lübeck 2009, pp. 339-345.

documentary

  • Richard Strauss - the misunderstood visionary. An alpine symphony between tradition and modernity. Documentary, Germany, 2014, 50 min., Script and direction: Christoph Engel and Dietmar Klumm, production: 3sat , first broadcast: June 14, 2014 on 3sat, synopsis by ARD . I.a. with Stefan Mickisch , the Huberbuam , Manfred Trojahn , Marlis Petersen .

Web links

Commons : An Alpine Symphony  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rainer Bayreuther: Richard Strauss - Alpensinfonie . 1997, ISBN 9783487102610 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
  2. ^ Sketchbooks by Strauss, Richard-Strauss-Archiv Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Facsimiles of the sketches relevant to the piece in Rainer Bayreuther, Richard Strauss' Alpensinfonie. Origin, analysis and interpretation, Hildesheim 1997. ( Memento from July 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive )