Death and Transfiguration: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Tone poem by Richard Strauss}}

{{italic title}}

[[File:Der_junge_Richard_StraussDer junge Richard Strauss.JPG|thumb|Richard Strauss in 1888]]

'''''Death and Transfiguration''''' ('''''{{Lang|de|Tod und Verklärung}}'''''), [[Opus number|Op.]] 24, is a [[tone poem]] for large orchestra by [[Richard Strauss]]. Strauss began composition in the late summer of 1888 and completed the work on 18 November 1889. The work is dedicated to the composer's friend Friedrich Rosch.

'''''Death and Transfiguration''''' ('''''{{Langlangx|de|'''Tod und Verklärung}}'''''|link=no}}), [[Opus number|Op.]] 24, is a [[tone poem]] for large orchestra by [[Richard Strauss]]. Strauss began composition in the late summer of 1888 and completed the work on 18 November 1889. The work is dedicated to the composer's friend Friedrich Rosch.

The music depicts the death of an artist. At Strauss's request, this was described in a poem by the composer's friend [[Alexander Ritter]] as an interpretation of Death and Transfiguration, after it was composed.<ref>Gilliam, ''Grove''</ref> As the man lies dying, thoughts of his life pass through his head: his childhood innocence, the struggles of his manhood, the attainment of his worldly goals; and at the end, he receives the longed-for transfiguration "from the infinite reaches of heaven".

The music depicts the death of an artist. At Strauss's request, this was described in a poem by the composer'shis friend [[Alexander Ritter]] as an interpretation of Death and Transfiguration, after it was composed.<ref>Bryan Gilliam: "Richard Strauss", ''[[Grove Music Online]]'', ed. L. Macy (Accessed January 16, 2007), (subscription access)</ref> As the man lies dying, thoughts of his life pass through his head: his childhood innocence, the struggles of his manhood, the attainment of his worldly goals; and at the end, he receives the longed-for transfiguration "from the infinite reaches of heaven".

==Performance history==

Strauss conducted the premiere on 21 June 1890 at the [[Eisenach]] Festival (on the same programprogramme withas the premiere of his ''[[Burleske|Burleske in D minor]]'' for piano and orchestra). He also conducted this work for his first appearance in Englandthe United Kingdom, at the Wagner Concert with the Philharmonic Society on 15 June 1897 at the [[Queen's Hall]] in London.

==Critical reaction==

English music critic [[Ernest Newman]] described this as music to which one would not want to die or awaken. "It is too spectacular, too brilliantly lit, too full of pageantry of a crowd; whereas this is a journey one must make very quietly, and alone."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Newman |first1=Ernest |title=The Music of Death |journal=The Musical Times |date=1915 |volume=56 |page=399 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8yAlAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA399 |access-date=2 February 2022 |publisher=Novello |language=en}}</ref>{{rp|399}}

French critic [[Romain Rolland]] in his ''Musiciens d'aujourd'hui'' (1908) called the piece "one of the most moving works of Strauss, and that which is constructed with the noblest utility".<ref>Quoted in Mason, Daniel Gregory (1918), ''Contemporary Composers'', p. 84.</ref>

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A typical performance lasts about 25 minutes.

[[File:Orchesterwerke Romantik Themen.pdf|450px|page=858]]

<score vorbis="1"> \relative c { \clef bass \key ees \major \time 4/4 r4^"Transfiguration theme" f,-. bes( c | d d' c2) } </score>

<score vorbissound="1"> \relative c { \clef bass \key ees \major \time 4/4 r4^"Transfiguration theme" f,-. bes( c | d d' c2) } </score>

== Instrumentation ==

The work is scored for a large orchestra: 3 [[western concert flute|flute]]s, 2 [[oboe]]s, [[English horn]], 2 [[clarinet]]s in [[soprano clarinet|B-flat]], [[bass clarinet]], 2 [[bassoon]]s, [[contrabassoon]], 4 [[French horn|horn]]s in F, 3 [[trumpet]]s in F and C, 3 [[trombone]]s, [[tuba]], [[timpani]], [[tam-tam]], and [[string section|strings]]: 2 [[harp]]s, [[violin]]s i, ii, [[viola]]s, [[cello]]s, [[double bass]]es.

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

;[[Woodwind]]s

:3 [[western concert flute|flutes]]

:2 [[oboe]]s

:1 [[English horn]]

:2 [[clarinet]]s in B{{music|flat}}

:1 [[bass clarinet]]

:2 [[bassoon]]s

:1 [[contrabassoon]]

;[[Brass instrument|Brass]]

:4 [[French horn|horns]] in F

:3 [[trumpet]]s in F and C

:3 [[trombone]]s

:1 [[tuba]]

{{col-2}}

;[[Percussion]]

:[[timpani]]

:[[tam-tam]]

;[[String instrument|Strings]]

:[[violin]]s I, II

:[[viola]]s

:[[Cello|celli]]

:[[double bass]]es

:2 [[harp]]s

{{col-2}}

{{col-end}}

==Quoted==

In one of Strauss'shis last compositions, "Im Abendrot" from the ''[[Four Last Songs]]'', Strauss poignantly quotes the "transfiguration theme" from his tone poem of 60 years earlier, during and after the soprano's final line, "Ist dies etwa der Tod?" (Is this perhaps death?).

<score vorbissound="1"> { \new PianoStaff << \new Staff \relative c { \clef bass \key ees \major \time 4/4 \partial 2*1 s2 | r4 a( d2~ | d4 e fis fis') | s1 | s1 | s1 | s1 } \new Staff \relative c' { \clef treble \key ees \major \time 4/4 fis2 | fis r | r a | a r | r bes | ces1~ | ces2 } \addlyrics { ist dies et- wa der Tod? } >> } </score>

Just before his own death, he remarked that his music was absolutely correct;, his feelings mirroredmirroring those of the artist depicted within; Strauss said to his daughter-in-law as he lay on his deathbed in 1949: "It's a funny thing, Alice, dying is just the way I composed it in ''Tod und Verklärung''."<ref>Derrick Puffett's comments on DG disc 447 762-2</ref>

== Discography ==

{{more citations needed section|date=October 2021}}

{| class="wikitable"

|-

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! Recorded

|-

| [[BrunoRichard WalterStrauss]]

| [[Staatskapelle Berlin]]

| [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]]

| 19241926

|-

| [[Albert Coates (musician)|Albert Coates]]

| [[London Symphony Orchestra]]

| 1928

|-

| [[Richard Strauss]]

| [[Staatskapelle Berlin]]

| 193?

|-

| [[Leopold Stokowski]]

| [[Philadelphia Orchestra]]

| 1934

|-

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| [[Fritz Reiner]]

| Vienna Philharmonic

| 4/6 Sep 1956

|-

| [[Artur Rodziński]]

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| [[Herbert von Karajan]]

| Berlin Philharmonic

| 1972<ref>[http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=1445 Strauss: ''Four Last Songs'', etc] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917013759/http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=1445 |date=2016-09-17 }}, arkivmusic.com</ref>

|-

| [[Eugene Ormandy]]

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| [[Klaus Tennstedt]]

| [[London Philharmonic Orchestra]]

| 1980?1982

|-

| [[Claudio Abbado]]

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| [[Yondani Butt]]

| London Symphony Orchestra

| 1990

|-

| [[Vladimir Ashkenazy]]

| Cleveland Orchestra

| 1990

|-

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| New York Philharmonic

| 1998

|-

| [[Vladimir Ashkenazy]]

| [[RoyalCzech Philharmonic Orchestra]]

| 1999

|-

| [[David Zinman]]

| [[Tonhalle -Orchester Zürich]]

| 2001

|-

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| [[Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra]]

| 2013

|-

| [[Mariss Jansons]]

| [[Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra]]

| 2014

|-

| [[Kent Nagano]]

| [[Göteborgs Symfoniker]]

| 2016

|-

| [[Robin Ticciati]]

| [[Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin]]

| 2020

|}

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{{Reflist}}

==ReferencesFurther reading==

* Bryan Gilliam: "Richard Strauss", ''[[Grove Music Online]]'', ed. L. Macy (Accessed January 16, 2007), (subscription access)

* [[Ernest Newman|Newman, Ernest.]] "The Music of Death" ''[[The Musical Times]]'', July 1, 1915, pp.&nbsp;398–399.

* "Herr Richard Strauss" ''[[The Musical Times]]'', February 1, 1903, p.&nbsp;115.

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==External links==

*{{YouTube|mu2M67IQ68Q}}, Symphony Orchestra of Flanders, conducted by [[Jan Latham-Koenig]]

*{{IMSLP|cname=Tod und Verklärung|work=Tod und Verklärung, Op.24 (Strauss, Richard)}}

{{Strauss Tone Poems}}

{{Richard Strauss|state=collapsed}}

{{Death and mortality in art}}

{{Portal bar|Classical music}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Tone poems by Richard Strauss]]

[[Category:1889 compositions]]

[[Category:Death in music]]

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