ABSTRACT
Richard Strauss's development is a singularly interesting study. In his second symphony in F minor and the other works which he wrote in the early eighties, such as the serenade for wind instruments, the Burleske for piano and orchestra, and the "Wanderers Sturmlied," the influence of Brahms is all-powerful. These youthful efforts of Strauss's are brilliant pieces of student work. The mastery of form and material displayed in them is irreproachable. In "Don Juan" Strauss took up the mantle worn for a moment by Beethoven in his "Coriolan" overture, with which Liszt had striven to clothe a personality too weak to carry its giant folds. "Don Juan" is an exercise in musical psychology, a piece of musical character-drawing. It is hardly programme music, save in the sense that all music built upon a poetic basis is programme music. Strauss's last work, the "Symphonia Domestica," has won him more friends than anything he ever wrote.
