No. 1989 Subscription (Program A)

Considered an invention by Franz Liszt, the tone (symphonic) poem is the genre that the Munich-born composer Strauss explored during the early stage of his long creative life. For this preeminent musical artisan who was all imagination, nothing was beyond his capacity to give a vivid musical description solely utilizing the orchestra.
His tone poem Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks) (1895) is the exact opposite in character of its predecessor Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration) (1889). One of the best-known European tricksters, Till is a German folk hero who teases people of every grade of society with his witty mischiefs. Upon creating a musical version of this old tale consisting of different happenings, Strauss had a stroke of genius choosing the rondo form where the recurrent principal theme (or the refrain) alternates with other motifs.
According to the verbal descriptions the composer left us, though unofficially, the work begins with the "Once upon a time, there lived a rogue" melody on violins. Then the horn solo introduces the principal theme stating "His name was Till Eulenspiegel" whose unusualness is reflected in the septuple time. The brief, laughter-like waggish secondary theme given by clarinet solo represents "who was an unruly imp!" After four mischievous adventures, Till gets the gallows for blasphemy before the silence suggests his end. The "Once upon a time" melody returns to open the epilogue which is concluded merrily by the laughter-like theme.

[Kumiko Nishi]

Strauss was a musical prodigy from a prosperous family and became a cultured man of versatile musical gifts, just like Mendelssohn. Son of a horn virtuoso father, Strauss began to take piano lessons at age 4, to compose at 6 and to play violin at 8. In 1885, the artist in his early twenties took up his first professional position as the assistant to Hans von Bülow at the Meiningen Court Orchestra. Under this top-ranked conductor-pianist-composer, Strauss devoted himself to conducting studies and he, after taking over the orchestra in December 1885, made even a pianist debut with his ensemble performing Mozart's 24th Piano Concerto in C minor.
It was during this period, from 1885 to 1886, that Strauss wrote the single-movement concerto named Scherzo, hoping von Bülow as pianist would premiere it. He turned it down on the grounds that it was unplayable (presumably because of his small hands). It was also beyond Strauss’ ability so it had to wait until 1890 for the first performance by the pianist Eugen d'Albert, a high-caliber disciple of Liszt, under the new title Burleske (burlesque, farce). The instrument taking a vital role in it – besides piano – is timpani which state the first theme alone at the beginning. After a while, the romantic second theme is given by pianist. Its warmth and lyricism are often associated with the writing of Brahms who greatly influenced the young Strauss. The piece is ended calmly by piano and timpani in dialogue.

[Kumiko Nishi]

Italia has always fascinated composers traveling from northern countries to stir their creativity. Even within the orchestral field, the examples are too numerous to mention, with Mendelssohn (Symphony Italian, 1833), Tchaikovsky (Capriccio Italien, 1880), Brahms (Piano Concerto No. 2, 1881) and Sibelius (Symphony No. 2, 1901) to name a few. Interestingly, many of those pieces seem to be inspired less by Italian opera than by the country’s climate, nature, folklore and history.
Aus Italien (From Italy) has a rightful place in the group. It is a “souvenir” from Strauss’ first trip to Italy in the spring of 1886: he visited Bologna, Florence, Rome, Naples (including the Mount Vesuvius), Capri, Amalfi and Sorrento but gave up stopping by Venice because of a cholera outbreak there. He started to sketch the work while still travelling, before completing it in Munich in September 1886.
Aus Italien, although named “symphonic fantasy” by Strauss and cast in four movements (on top of that, the last three ones are in sonata form), is regarded by experts as the young composer’s consequential first step into the genre of tone poem. In fact, this was his first programmatic music: each movement has the concrete, evocative title and thus can be heard as a tone poem. Written in the freest form of the whole work, the slow opening movement evokes some impressions Strauss had while viewing, from the Villa d’Este in Tivoli, the vast Roman Campagna bathed in sunlight. The next, In Romas Ruinen (In the Ruins of Rome), is subtitled “Fantastic images of vanished glory, feelings of melancholy and sorrow amid the brilliant sunshine of the present”. Following the third movement Am Strande von Sorrent (On the Beach at Sorrentonot far from Impressionist scorings, the final Neapolitanisches Volksleben (Neapolitan Folk Life) lets violas and cellos introduce the dotted, lively main theme. Strauss quoted this tune mistaking it for a Neapolitan traditional song. As it was actually from the song Funiculì, Funiculà recently written to promote the funicular railway on Mount Vesuvius, Strauss, sued by the author, had to pay him royalties.

[Kumiko Nishi]