RICHARD STRAUSS: The Life of a Non-Hero

by George R. Marek ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 24, 1967

George Marek has been writing for years of men and moments musical (Puccins, etc.). Here he proposes to present ""a paradoxical man in the round,"" emphasizing the man more than the music. He follows Richard Strauss from his birth into a bourgeois musical family (father Franz was a professional musician) to his death in 1949, when he was considered a ""classic,"" He considers why Strauss, after brilliant early work, went into a thirty-year decline, then pulled himself up to proffer a clutch of classics in his last years, most notably the Four Last Songs (""The most consciously and most beautifully delivered 'Abschied' in all music""--Neville Cadus): attributes it to the German cultural weather, overcast by two wars and tyranny. Mr. Marek's view, despite his claim to represent the man, is not intimate, yet it maintains an effective perspective of respectful distance in observation throughout and does contain such items as Strauss' letter to Frau von Hofmannsthal at the time of his collaborator's death, and his letter to Hitler (""the nadir of Strauss' morality"") over his enforced resignation as president of the Reichsmusik-kammer in 1935. Of Naziism, the best and probably truest thing that can be said is that ""he was one of those who let it happen""--he was otherwise occupied. (When the Americans occupied Germany in 1945, he opened the door to an officer and said, ""I am Richard Strauss, the composer of Der Rosenkanalier."") An intelligent, cohesive reading of the Strauss score, that does not neglect the music.

Pub Date: March 24, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION