Principles and methods

Richard Strauss was a composer who, like any other member of his profession, made a living from the sale and performance of his works. With the printing of his music he offered it to the public, and with performances he saw to the unfolding of its public life. Whatever preceded the completion of the scores was, according to Strauss, inconsequential. Granted, the genesis of his works was not just a private matter – many other people were involved, including friends, colleagues, librettists, publishers, proofreaders, copyists, and translators – but he did not believe it of interest to the general public.

On the other hand, Strauss was a composer who, like his great model Richard Wagner, wanted his audiences to understand his music. When working on tone poems, he did not shy from offering progress reports to newspapers, nor from arranging publications in which musicians or journalists explained the programmatic content. (To be sure, Strauss was much more taciturn with his operas. Fearing that other composers might preempt him, he never divulged the subject matter of his operas while working on them.) As his success increased, Strauss found himself confronted, again and again, with questions pertaining not only to the content of his music – the poetic ideas of the works – but also to his method of composition. Surprisingly, he never refused to answer such questions, but readily responded to them.