Four Last Songs (Op. Posth.)
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Frühling (Spring); September; Beim Schlafengehen (Going to sleep); Im Abendrot (At dusk)
This final work by Strauss is held by many to be the most beautiful, expressive and moving composition within his entire oeuvre. It seems almost sacrilegious to discuss the music when the songs themselves are so much more eloquent than prose. Even so, an inkling of their background intensifies the sense of sad magic that the songs evoke.
Strauss has been described as ‘phlegmatic’ because he seemed to be almost aloof from the events surrounding him. Chief among these were two world wars, Strauss being on the losing side each time. In 1945 he moved to Switzerland because he was accused of collaborating with the Nazi regime before and during World War II. It is true that he had accepted a prestigious honorary position, but his main motivation was to use that leverage to protect his Jewish daughter-in-law and her child. In this he was successful but he could not save his daughter-in-law’s mother from the concentration camps. His diaries reveal deep contempt for the regime. When he rashly expressed his true sentiments in a letter which fell into the hands of the authorities, he was sacked ignominiously. It wasn’t long after the war had ended that his innocence was established and he could return to Germany for his remaining years.
Only when he got home did the enormity of the war’s effect sink in. Most tragic of all from Strauss’s point of view was the destruction of the opera houses in Munich, Berlin, Dresden and Vienna, in all of which he had enjoyed triumphs during his heyday. His comfort throughout this stressful time was the presence of his wife, Pauline de Ahna, a fine soprano with whom he had worked in a number of operas. Despite contrasting temperaments, the marriage was a 55-year success. She was noted for her eccentricity, snobbery, ill-temper and outspokenness but Strauss described her as ‘…very complex, very feminine, a little perverse, and a little coquettish…’ She inspired several of his compositions: Ein Heldenleben, Symphonia Domestica, the opera Capriccio, Four Last Songs and more. Despite such staunch support, he felt increasingly isolated from developments in music itself, with Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg and Paul Hindemith earning acclaim for compositions far removed from his nostalgic, romantic vein. Now, aged 84, he retreated into himself and waited for nature to claim its own.
Noticing his father’s low spirits, Strauss’s son Franz stepped in. ‘Come on Dad. Stop moping and write one last great piece of music.’ The Four Last Songs are the outcome of that exhortation. The words of the final song, Im Abendrot, speak of an elderly couple walking hand in hand, away from life and into ‘sleep’. Strauss altered the very last line from ‘Is that perhaps death?’ to ‘Is this perhaps death?’ After the soprano sings the word ‘death’ (Tod) so chillingly, we hear a strain from his tone poem of 1889, Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration). He died a year later; Pauline a few months after that.
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Frühling (Spring); September; Beim Schlafengehen (Going to sleep); Im Abendrot (At dusk)
This final work by Strauss is held by many to be the most beautiful, expressive and moving composition within his entire oeuvre. It seems almost sacrilegious to discuss the music when the songs themselves are so much more eloquent than prose. Even so, an inkling of their background intensifies the sense of sad magic that the songs evoke.
Strauss has been described as ‘phlegmatic’ because he seemed to be almost aloof from the events surrounding him. Chief among these were two world wars, Strauss being on the losing side each time. In 1945 he moved to Switzerland because he was accused of collaborating with the Nazi regime before and during World War II. It is true that he had accepted a prestigious honorary position, but his main motivation was to use that leverage to protect his Jewish daughter-in-law and her child. In this he was successful but he could not save his daughter-in-law’s mother from the concentration camps. His diaries reveal deep contempt for the regime. When he rashly expressed his true sentiments in a letter which fell into the hands of the authorities, he was sacked ignominiously. It wasn’t long after the war had ended that his innocence was established and he could return to Germany for his remaining years.
Only when he got home did the enormity of the war’s effect sink in. Most tragic of all from Strauss’s point of view was the destruction of the opera houses in Munich, Berlin, Dresden and Vienna, in all of which he had enjoyed triumphs during his heyday. His comfort throughout this stressful time was the presence of his wife, Pauline de Ahna, a fine soprano with whom he had worked in a number of operas. Despite contrasting temperaments, the marriage was a 55-year success. She was noted for her eccentricity, snobbery, ill-temper and outspokenness but Strauss described her as ‘…very complex, very feminine, a little perverse, and a little coquettish…’ She inspired several of his compositions: Ein Heldenleben, Symphonia Domestica, the opera Capriccio, Four Last Songs and more. Despite such staunch support, he felt increasingly isolated from developments in music itself, with Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg and Paul Hindemith earning acclaim for compositions far removed from his nostalgic, romantic vein. Now, aged 84, he retreated into himself and waited for nature to claim its own.
Noticing his father’s low spirits, Strauss’s son Franz stepped in. ‘Come on Dad. Stop moping and write one last great piece of music.’ The Four Last Songs are the outcome of that exhortation. The words of the final song, Im Abendrot, speak of an elderly couple walking hand in hand, away from life and into ‘sleep’. Strauss altered the very last line from ‘Is that perhaps death?’ to ‘Is this perhaps death?’ After the soprano sings the word ‘death’ (Tod) so chillingly, we hear a strain from his tone poem of 1889, Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration). He died a year later; Pauline a few months after that.