Richard Strauss
Piano Quartet c minor op. 13
Completed on 1 January 1885, the Piano Quartet is, alongside the Cello Sonata op. 6 and the Violin Sonata op. 18, one of the most substantial chamber music works by the young Strauss. The four-movement, large-scale work is unmistakably influenced by his preoccupation with Brahms’s piano quartets. It initially experienced several very successful performances and was even awarded a prize in early 1886 by the Berlin Tonkünstlerverein, but later largely fell into oblivion, even though it had been available in print since July 1886. The Henle Urtext edition now makes possible the rediscovery of a work that unites youthful verve with sovereign technical mastery.
About the Composer
Richard Strauss
One of the most important opera composers of the twentieth century. His oeuvre comprises fifteen operas, nine symphonic poems, instrumental concerti, and a large number of songs. His stage works are marked by their great variety of genre and subject matter.
| 1864 | Born in Munich on June 11, the son of Franz Joseph Strauss, principal horn player in the court orchestra. Receives instruction in piano, violin, and composition. |
| 1885–86 | Conductor at the Meiningen Court Orchestra, initially under the tutelage of Hans von Bülow. |
| 1886 | Music director at the Munich Court Theatre. |
| 1887–1903 | He increasingly devotes himself to the symphonic poem, including “Tod und Verklärung” (“Death and Transfiguration”) in C minor, Op. 24; “Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche” (“Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks”) in F major, Op. 28; “Also sprach Zarathustra,” Op. 30; “Symphonia Domestica” in F major for large orchestra, Op. 53. |
| 1889–94 | Music director in Weimar. First Kapellmeister in Munich in 1894, in Berlin at the Royal Court Opera from 1898–1910. |
| 1905 | Breakthrough with the premiere of “Salome,” Op. 54. |
| 1906 | Beginning of his collaboration with Hugo von Hofmannsthal on the harmonically progressive opera “Elektra,” Op. 58, premiered in Dresden in 1909. |
| 1911 | Sensational premiere in Dresden of “Der Rosenkavalier,” Op. 59, which refers back to operatic tradition and makes him the leading German opera composer. He decides to dedicate himself primarily to operas: “Ariadne auf Naxos,” Op. 60 (1912); “Intermezzo” Op. 72 (1924); “Die ägyptische Helena,” Op. 75 (1928); “Arabella,” Op. 79 (1933); “Die schweigsame Frau,” Op. 80 (1935); “Friedenstag,” Op. 81, and “Daphne,” Op. 82 (1938); “Die Liebe der Danae,” Op. 83 (1944). |
| 1919 | Director of the Vienna State Opera. Premiere there of “Die Frau ohne Schatten,” Op. 65. |
| 1931 | Collaboration with Stefan Zweig. |
| from 1944 | Composition of his last works: Metamorphosen, for 23 solo strings, Oboe Concerto in D major, Four Last Songs. |
| 1949 | Death in Garmisch-Partenkirchen on September 8. |
About the Authors
Peter Jost (Editor)
Dr. Peter Jost, born in 1960 in Diefflen/Saar, read musicology, German and comparative studies at Saarland University in Saarbrücken. He did his PhD in 1988 with a thesis on Robert Schumann’s Waldszenen.
From November 1991 to April 2009 he was a research associate at the Richard Wagner Complete Edition in Munich, and since May 2009 has been an editor at G. Henle Publishers. His Urtext editions comprise predominantly French music of the 19th and 20th centuries, including works by Lalo, Saint-Saëns and Ravel.
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