Richard Strauss

Description

This revealing biography examines the life and works of the influential German composer Richard Strauss (1864–1949), whose evocative tone poems and beautifully crafted operas have been somewhat tainted in the public’s imagination following claims that the composer was a Nazi sympathizer. Strauss’s compositions also courted controversy, in particular his setting of Oscar Wilde’s outrageous play Salome. In this book Tim Ashley delves beneath Strauss’s public persona, in order to further understand the truth behind the myths, and the ways in which the composer’s personality and private life influenced his often sublime music.

Tim Ashley is a freelance writer and journalist. His work appears regularly in the Guardian Review and Opera. He lectures widely on nineteenth- and twentieth-century German music and literature, and is the author of several opera librettos.

‘Tim Ashley’s beautifully written, analytical but accessible introduction to Strauss in Phaidon’s excellent series.’ (The Sunday Times)

‘A clear-eared, clear-minded tribute to greatness, fluently written.’ (Guardian)

‘As a series, Phaidon’s 20th Century Composers has brought remarkable variety and a welter of information, both necessary and delightfully trivial. Intended both for the general reader and for the more enthusiatically musical…’ (The Scotsman)