Eine Alpensinfonie

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Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony), Op. 64, is a large symphonic poem[1] composed by Richard Strauss between 1911 and 1915. A typical performance entails upwards of forty-five minutes of continuous music. It depicts a full-day excursion on a mountain in the Bavarian Alps, recalling in vivid orchestral expression the composer's own experiences hiking at age fourteen. Strauss dedicated the work to Count Nicolaus Seebach and the Royal Kapelle (Orchestra) in Dresden, the ensemble which gave the premiere in 1915.

Contents

[edit] Instrumentation

The Alpine Symphony is one of Strauss’ largest non-operatic conceptions, and the composer himself considered it his best-wrought work in terms of its orchestration. The instrumentation is as follows:

The stipulated forces (including the offstage brass) thus total 123 players. The composer further suggested that the harps and some woodwind instruments should be doubled if possible, and indicated that the stated number of string players should be regarded as a minimum.

The use of Samuel's Aerophone is prescribed in the orchestration notes along with the instrumentation. This device, invented by Belgian flautist Bernhard Samuel in 1912, is a bellows operated by a foot pedal with an air hose attached to the mouthpiece of woodwind instruments and aids the player to sustain long notes without interruption.

Such use of contemporary instrumentation combined with the vast resources needed for this work might better reflect Strauss' style of expanding the orchestra beyond the style more closely associated with the Romantic period and into the Modern period.

[edit] Program

Although performed as one continuous movement, the Alpine Symphony has a distinct program which describes each phase of the Alpine journey in chronological order. The score includes the following section titles (without numbers):

  1. Nacht (Night)
  2. Sonnenaufgang (Sunrise)
  3. Der Anstieg (the Ascent)
  4. Eintritt in den Wald (Entry into the Woods)
  5. Wanderung neben dem Bache (Walking along the Brook)
  6. Am Wasserfall (at the Waterfall)
  7. Erscheinung (a Visual Feature)
  8. Auf blumigen Wiesen (on Flowery Meadows)
  9. Auf der Alm (on the Pasture)
  10. Durch Dickicht und Gestrüpp auf Irrwegen (Wrong Path through the Thicket)
  11. Auf dem Gletscher (on the Glacier)
  12. Gefahrvolle Augenblicke (Moments of Danger)
  13. Auf dem Gipfel (at the Summit)
  14. Vision (Vision)
  15. Nebel steigen auf (the Fog Rises)
  16. Die Sonne verdüstert sich allmählich (the Sun is Gradually Obscured)
  17. Elegie (Elegy)
  18. Stille von dem Sturm (Calm before the Storm)
  19. Gewitter und Sturm, Abstieg (Thunder and storm, Descent)
  20. Sonnenuntergang (Sunset)
  21. Ausklang (the Journey Ends)
  22. Nacht (Night)

Eine Alpensinfonie represents a striking example of a program symphony, where each concept, idea, or experience is given a distinct Leitmotif. Additionally, the work uses vivid musical imagery to tell its story - especially during the thunderstorm sequence - and for this reason can be compared to Paul Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice or many of Richard Wagner's operas. Strauss makes use of distinctly Bavarian musical themes, yet he also employs the more modern technique of polytonality (for example, the introduction has the entire string section sustaining all seven notes of the B-flat minor scale simultaneously).

Although many critics have regarded the work as simply descriptive rather than "philosophical" in the manner of Also Sprach Zarathustra, Strauss himself seems to have viewed it otherwise; writing shortly after he learned of Mahler's death, he expressed the intent of calling it The Antichrist, for "in it there is: moral purification through one's own strength, liberation through work, and the worship of eternal, glorious nature."

[edit] Premieres

[edit] Discography

Conductor Orchestra Recorded
Richard Strauss Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra 1936
Karl Böhm Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra 1939
Richard Strauss Bavarian State Orchestra 1941
Franz Konwitschny Orchestra of the Munich State Opera 1952
Karl Böhm Staatskapelle Dresden 1957
Yevgeny Mravinsky Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra 1964
Zubin Mehta Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra 1975
Rudolf Kempe Royal Philharmonic Orchestra 1966
Rudolf Kempe Staatskapelle Dresden 1971
Georg Solti Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra 1979
Herbert von Karajan Berliner Philharmoniker 1980
Andrew Davis London Philharmonic Orchestra 1981
André Previn Philadelphia Orchestra 1983
Pierre Bartholomée Orchestre philharmonique de Liège 1983
Kurt Masur Gewandhausorchester Leipzig 1983
Bernard Haitink Concertgebouw Orchestra 1985
Neeme Järvi Scottish National Symphony 1986
Vladimir Ashkenazy Cleveland Orchestra 1988
Herbert Blomstedt San Francisco Symphony 1988
Horst Stein Bamberg Symphony Orchestra 1988
Edo de Waart Minnesota Orchestra 1989
André Previn Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra 1989
Zubin Mehta Berliner Philharmoniker 1989
Takashi Asahina NDR Symphony Orchestra 1990
Rafael Frübeck de Burgos London Symphony Orchestra 1990
Daniel Barenboim Chicago Symphony Orchestra 1992
Zdenek Kosler Czech Philharmonic Orchestra 1994
Seiji Ozawa Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra 1996
Takashi Asahina Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra 1997
Kazimierz Kord Warsaw Philharmonic 1998
Lorin Maazel Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra 1998
Vladimir Ashkenazy Czech Philharmonic Orchestra 1999
Hartmut Haenchen Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra 1999
Christian Thielemann Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra 2000
David Zinman Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra 2002
Gerard Schwarz Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra 2003
Franz Welser-Möst Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester 2005
Antoni Wit Staatskapelle Weimar 2005


[edit] Trivia

The symphony was the first ever work to be released on CD, recorded by Herbert von Karajan for Deutsche Grammophon

[edit] Note

↑  While not a symphony in the strict classical sense, the work does contain many important elements of symphonic form.

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