Strauss, R.: 4 Last Songs / 6 Lieder / Ariadne Auf Naxos (Excerpts)

Featuring

Michael Halász
Ricarda Merbeth
Staatskapelle Weimar
Richard Strauss

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Performer Biography

Richard Strauss himself worked with the Staatskapelle Weimar for five years as second conductor, directing the world premieres of his first opera Guntram and Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel.

Composition History

Strauss's final years were overshadowed by accusations of collaboration with the musical policies of the Third Reich, causing him to withdraw to Switzerland after 1945.

Composer Biography

Richard Strauss, a German composer and conductor, was the son of a distinguished horn player and a member of a rich brewing family.

Performer Biography

Ricarda Merbeth, the soprano on this recording, was a member of the Vienna State Opera from 1999 to 2005 and has made regular guest appearances at the Bayreuth Festival since 2000.

Composition History

The Brentano-Lieder, settings of poems by Clemens Brentano (a leading romantic poet), were composed in 1918, after a break of some years from writing songs.

Composition History

The Four Last Songs, written in 1948, were inspired by poems of Nobel Prize winner Hermann Hesse, who had been black-listed in Germany in 1943 for his pacifist views.