Richard Strauss

What Dominique Pagani says

Dominique Pagani places Richard Strauss among the post-Wagnerians and considers him the most popular of them in Germany1. He repeatedly distinguishes him from Johann Strauss, the composer of The Blue Danube and of waltzes, and sees in him a summit of German music23. He describes him as a "post-Wagnerian Handel" of protean vigour4, always swept along by the "philharmonic gust", with operas scored for gigantic orchestras5. He reads Don Juan, Till Eulenspiegel and Ein Heldenleben from the angle of the symphonic poem, and therefore of programme music. In his view, the programme in these works is not binding: it gives a general tone or a literary idea so that the music does not get lost in the indefinite6. He presents Capriccio as a pocket opera that raises the question of whether words or music should come first. He sees Parsifal as foreshadowing Strauss's most expressionist works, such as Salome. He also notes that after the war Strauss was rejected, like Bruckner and Mahler. Finally, he mentions Ariadne auf Naxos in connection with the Cretan cycle.

1. 1Wagner et ses interprètes, L'accès à Clouscard, Marx = Thésée? • Q&A Philosophique • Pagani31 Mar 2021 · 43:23
2. 2Musicosophie 10. Les deux Klemperer et Bruno Walter dans Wagner18 Jan 2021 · 26:18
3. 3Nietzsche ou le Grand Nigaud - Lectures sur le vif7 Feb 2023 · 6:12
4. 4Musicosophie 5. Bonheur contre pulsion de mort en musique11 Dec 2020 · 33:36
5. 510#4 De Lascaux aux musiques modernes, la permanence de l'enjeu politique dans l'esthétique3 Nov 2021 · 2:01:43
6. 6Musicosophie 16. Musique à programme / Musique pure10 Mar 2021 · 45:39

Summary produced automatically from 14 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.