Serenade for Wind in E flat, Op. 7
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Richard Strauss loved wind instruments and he loved the music of W.A. Mozart, in particular the Gran Partita, an hour-long serenade for 13 wind instruments. The instrumentation of Strauss’s nine-minute Serenade for Wind in E flat resembles that for the Partita, the addition of flutes instead of basset horns being the main difference.
Mozart’s work was premièred in 1784; Strauss’s Serenade appeared 97 years later, in 1881. Between those dates, the design and capabilities of instruments had become more sophisticated, and instrumental music had become increasingly dense as the 19th century progressed. The Serenade opens with a stately theme in sonorities akin to a cathedral organ. This is an inspired compositional device allowing the music almost to melt into a flowing melody that is mellow, warming, and spiced with countermelodies against a rocking accompaniment. The sobriety of the first theme makes the sensuousness of the second all the more delicious*. After exploring the musical possibilities of the material heard so far, Strauss reiterates the two themes, now more briefly, and ends the Serenade with a sigh of satisfaction, a thoughtful flute having the last comment.
Strauss was 17 years of age when he composed this piece. We have no record of its reception but, with the benefit of hindsight, we can detect signs of the mature composer at several points, the extravagant use of the horns in particular, also the lush, swirling harmony that was to make such an impact in tone poems like Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel. This view is reinforced by the American critic, John Mangum, who remarked that ‘…the work is much more than simply a deft imitation of Mozart and Mendelssohn; it represents the young Strauss filtering and distilling these influences into something remarkably original.’
* Footnote for musical anoraks: At this point, Strauss’s melody is rhythmically identical to that of the accompanying figures used by Mozart in the first Adagio of his Gran Partita. In the play and the film of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, the composer Antonio Salieri jealously describes the beauty of this movement and the genius of its composer while the Adagio plays alongside. Because of Strauss’s admiration for the Gran Partita, the resemblance may be a subtle gesture of homage rather than a coincidence.
Richard Strauss (1864-1949)
Richard Strauss loved wind instruments and he loved the music of W.A. Mozart, in particular the Gran Partita, an hour-long serenade for 13 wind instruments. The instrumentation of Strauss’s nine-minute Serenade for Wind in E flat resembles that for the Partita, the addition of flutes instead of basset horns being the main difference.
Mozart’s work was premièred in 1784; Strauss’s Serenade appeared 97 years later, in 1881. Between those dates, the design and capabilities of instruments had become more sophisticated, and instrumental music had become increasingly dense as the 19th century progressed. The Serenade opens with a stately theme in sonorities akin to a cathedral organ. This is an inspired compositional device allowing the music almost to melt into a flowing melody that is mellow, warming, and spiced with countermelodies against a rocking accompaniment. The sobriety of the first theme makes the sensuousness of the second all the more delicious*. After exploring the musical possibilities of the material heard so far, Strauss reiterates the two themes, now more briefly, and ends the Serenade with a sigh of satisfaction, a thoughtful flute having the last comment.
Strauss was 17 years of age when he composed this piece. We have no record of its reception but, with the benefit of hindsight, we can detect signs of the mature composer at several points, the extravagant use of the horns in particular, also the lush, swirling harmony that was to make such an impact in tone poems like Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel. This view is reinforced by the American critic, John Mangum, who remarked that ‘…the work is much more than simply a deft imitation of Mozart and Mendelssohn; it represents the young Strauss filtering and distilling these influences into something remarkably original.’
* Footnote for musical anoraks: At this point, Strauss’s melody is rhythmically identical to that of the accompanying figures used by Mozart in the first Adagio of his Gran Partita. In the play and the film of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus, the composer Antonio Salieri jealously describes the beauty of this movement and the genius of its composer while the Adagio plays alongside. Because of Strauss’s admiration for the Gran Partita, the resemblance may be a subtle gesture of homage rather than a coincidence.