The work
The sound of the horn is integral to the music of Richard Strauss. He more-or-less began his composing career with the First Horn Concerto, written for his father Franz in 1883, and signed off with the hear-trending horn solo in ‘Going to Sleep’ (Four Last Songs), completed over six decades later. Along the way, the horn is a constant presence in Strauss’s orchestrations, from his early tone poems Don Juan, Till Eulenspiegel and Ein Heldenleben to his late operas Daphne and Capriccio.
This devotion tochallenges. Strauss’s horn-playing father exerted enormous influence over the composer’s early musical development and the lessons he learned stayed with him throughout his life. This included a love of Mozart that led him to comment, ‘The most perfect melodic shapes are found in Mozart; he has the lightness of touch, which is the true objective.’
