Death and Transfiguration
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Death and Transfiguration (Tod und Verklärung) is a tone poem for large orchestra by Richard Strauss. Strauss began composition in the late summer of 1888 and completed the work on November 18, 1889. The work is dedicated to the composer's friend Friedrich Rosch.
Unusual for a composer of 25 years of age, the music depicts the death of an artist. At Strauss's request, this was described in a poem by the composer's friend Alexander Ritter as an interpretation of Death and Transfiguration, after it was composed.[1] As the man lays dying, thoughts of his life pass through his head: his childhood innocence, the struggles of his manhood, the attainment of his worldly goals; and at the end, he receives the longed-for transfiguration "from the infinite reaches of heaven".
There are four parts (with Ritter's poetic thoughts condensed):
- I. Largo (The sick man, near death)
- II. Allegro molto agitato (The battle between life and death offers no respite to the man)
- III. Meno mosso (The dying man's life passes before him)
- IV. Moderato (The sought-after transfiguration)
English music critic Ernest Newman described this as music to which one would not want to die to or awaken. "It is too spectacular, too brilliantly lit, too full of pageantry of a crowd; whereas this is a journey one must make very quietly, and alone".
Strauss conducted the premiere on June 21, 1890 at the Eisenach Festival (on the same program with the premiere of his Burleske for piano and orchestra). He also conducted this work for his first appearance in England. This was at the Wagner Concert with the Philharmonic Society on June 15, 1897 at the Queen's Hall in London.
In one of Strauss' last compositions, "Im Abendrot" from the so-called "Four Last Songs," Strauss poignantly quotes the 'transfiguration' theme from his tone poem of 60 years earlier, during and after the soprano's final line, "Ist dies etwa der Tod?" (Could this then be death?).
Upon Strauss' own death, he remarked that his music was absolutely correct; his feelings mirrored those of the artist depicted within.[citation needed] Strauss said to his daughter-in-law as he lay on his deathbed in 1949: "It's a funny thing Alice, dying is just the way I composed it in Tod und Verklärung." (Derrick Puffett's comments on DG disc 447 762-2)
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[edit] Instrumentation
The work is scored for 3 flutes, 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets in B flat, bass clarinet in B flat, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns in F, 3 trumpets in F and C, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, tam-tam, 2 harps and strings.
[edit] Discography
| Conductor | Orchestra | Recorded |
|---|---|---|
| Albert Coates | London Symphony Orchestra | 1928 |
| Richard Strauss | Staatskapelle Berlin | 193? |
| Richard Strauss | Munich Radio Symphony Orchestra | 1937 |
| Victor de Sabata | Berliner Philharmoniker | 1939 |
| Willem Mengelberg | Concertgebouw Orchestra | 1942 |
| Arturo Toscanini | Philadelphia Orchestra | 1942 |
| Eugene Ormandy | Philadelphia Orchestra | 1945 |
| Fritz Reiner | Chicago Symphony Orchestra | 1950 |
| Arturo Toscanini | NBC Symphony Orchestra | 1952 |
| Wilhelm Furtwängler | Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra | 1953 |
| Victor de Sabata | Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra | 1953 |
| Jascha Horenstein | Bamberg Symphony Orchestra | 1954 |
| William Steinberg | Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra | 1954 |
| Karl Böhm | Concertgebouw Orchestra | 1955 |
| Hans Knappertsbusch | Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire | 1956 |
| Fritz Reiner | Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra | 1956 |
| Artur Rodzinsky | Philharmonia Orchestra | 1957 |
| George Szell | Cleveland Orchestra | 1957 |
| Antal Doráti | Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra | 1958 |
| Eugene Ormandy | Philadelphia Orchestra | 1959 |
| Herbert von Karajan | Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra | 1960 |
| Pierre Monteux | San Francisco Symphony Orchestra | 1960 |
| Otto Klemperer | Philharmonia Orchestra | 1961 |
| Erich Leinsdorf | Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra | 1961 |
| Jascha Horenstein | London Symphony Orchestra | 1970 |
| Rudolf Kempe | Staatskapelle Dresden | 1970 |
| Herbert von Karajan | Berliner Philharmoniker | 1972 |
| Eugene Ormandy | Philadelphia Orchestra | 1978 |
| Lorin Maazel | Cleveland Orchestra | 1979 |
| Antal Doráti | Detroit Symphony Orchestra | 1980 |
| Klaus Tennstedt | London Philharmonic Orchestra | 1980? |
| Claudio Abbado | London Symphony Orchestra | 1981 |
| Bernard Haitink | Concertgebouw Orchestra | 1981 |
| Eduardo Mata | Dallas Symphony Orchestra | 1981 |
| Kazuyoshi Akiyama | Vancouver Symphony Orchestra | 1982 |
| Sergiu Celibidache | SWR Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra | 1982 |
| Herbert von Karajan | Berliner Philharmoniker | 1982 |
| Michael Gielen | Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra | 1984 |
| André Previn | Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra | 1987 |
| Christoph von Dohnányi | Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra | 1989 |
| Neeme Järvi | Scottish National Orchestra | 1989 |
| Tolga Kashif | Philharmonia Orchestra | 1989 |
| Zdenek Kosler | Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra | 1989 |
| Yondani Butt | London Symphony Orchestra | 1990 |
| James Levine | Metropolitan Opera Orchestra | 1995 |
| Lorin Maazel | Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra | 1995 |
| Jesús López-Cobos | Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra | 1997 |
| Kurt Masur | New York Philharmonic | 1998 |
| David Zinman | Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra | 2001 |
| Lorin Maazel | New York Philharmonic | 2005 |
| Donald Runnicles | Atlanta Symphony Orchestra | 2006 |
[edit] References
- Bryan Gilliam: "Richard Strauss", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed January 16, 2007), (subscription access)
- Newman, Ernest. “The Music of Death” The Musical Times, July 1, 1915, pages 398-399.
- "Herr Richard Strauss" The Musical Times, February 1, 1903, page 115.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Gilliam, Grove
