Barenboim Conducts Strauss; No. 2; Ein Heldenleben

<v Symphony Member>Are you ready? Are you ready? <v Symphony Member>We are ready. <v Symphony Member>Are you ready? [music plays] <v Daniel Barenboim>In 1958, I heard for the first time in my life the Chicago Symphony, <v Daniel Barenboim>and for the first time in my life, Ein Heldenleben. <v Daniel Barenboim>And to this day, I remember this sense of physical shock <v Daniel Barenboim>after hearing this music and hearing this orchestra. <v Daniel Barenboim>[music plays] <v Narrator>Ein Heldenleben, a Hero's Life, is the last in a series of 19th century <v Narrator>masterpieces by Richard Strauss, the last of what Strauss called his tone poems. <v Narrator>[music plays] <v Narrator>Tonight, Daniel Barenboim, music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, <v Narrator>returns to Ein Heldenleben. [music plays]

<v Narrator>At the turn of the century, the tone poems of Ricard Strauss for a favorite topic of <v Narrator>discussion among music lovers. <v Narrator>Like his hero Richard Wagner, the musical giant of the 19th century, Strauss <v Narrator>discarded the music of the past and broke from his conservative upbringing. <v Narrator>From the age of 25, he astonished audiences with the exciting new sounds <v Narrator>in his tone poems. <v Daniel Barenboim>Strauss brought the orchestra to a level of <v Daniel Barenboim>brilliance and richness unknown <v Daniel Barenboim>until his time and he developed the form of the tone <v Daniel Barenboim>poem, absolutely to perfection, in fact, there has really been <v Daniel Barenboim>no possible addition to the development of the

<v Daniel Barenboim>tone for him since Strauss. <v Narrator>Strauss's tone poems were like operas without words. <v Narrator>He told stories and described characters Don Juan, <v Narrator>Don Quixote, MacBeth and the Prankster Till Eulenspiegel using <v Narrator>only the instruments in the orchestra. <v Narrator>Throughout the 1890s, Strauss wrote one tone poem after another. <v Narrator>Then, in 1898, before moving on to a long career writing operas, <v Narrator>he composed a tone poem that surpassed all the others in size, scope <v Narrator>and subject. He called it A Hero's Life, Ein Heldenleben. <v Daniel Barenboim>Strauss lived at a time in history where there was <v Daniel Barenboim>a great longing for the great hero figure. <v Daniel Barenboim>Hero in politics, hero in art, <v Daniel Barenboim>hero in every possible way, <v Daniel Barenboim>in every possible human activity.

<v Narrator>Critics speculated that Strauss had made himself the hero and that his wife, <v Narrator>Paulina de Ahna, was the inspiration for the brilliant violin solo that <v Narrator>dominates the heart of the piece. [music plays] <v Daniel Barenboim>The violin has been used very often by composers <v Daniel Barenboim>as a symbol of femininity. <v Daniel Barenboim>I think that it was only natural that <v Daniel Barenboim>Strauss would resort to the violin to <v Daniel Barenboim>describe or present us his way of <v Daniel Barenboim>seeing his wife with all the capriciousness and <v Daniel Barenboim>willfulness of the character which she must have had. <v Daniel Barenboim>If Heldenleben is a true description of her. <v Daniel Barenboim> <v Richard Strauss>[speaking German] There is a line actually part of his autobiography.

<v Richard Strauss>"I have a tendency to diddle around. <v Richard Strauss>I need her. She is the spice that keeps me going." [music plays] <v Narrator>Strauss would credit his wife with inspiration in Ein Heldenleben. <v Narrator>But throughout his life, he refused to explain any of his tone poems line by line. <v Narrator>He didn't want his audience distracted by the story. <v Narrator>Strauss did give Ein Heldenleben 6 chapter headings to describe the music <v Narrator>as the hero faces life's trials and challenges, falls in love, searches <v Narrator>for and finds internal peace. <v Kurt Wilhelm>[speaking German] Ein Heldenleben is he himself and all other men. <v Kurt Wilhelm>It is not a hero's life in the sense that it is like Siegfried or another great fighter. <v Kurt Wilhelm>It could be called a life of any man. <v Kurt Wilhelm>That would probably hit the mark better.

<v Kurt Wilhelm>It is not heroic. <v Daniel Barenboim>Heldenleben's face for its own <v Daniel Barenboim>time was maybe the story. <v Daniel Barenboim>Heldenleben's value for us today is the <v Daniel Barenboim>richness of the musical idiom, the great variety <v Daniel Barenboim>of tonal color, and this huge line <v Daniel Barenboim>that goes from the first to the last note. <v Daniel Barenboim>And when you hear the last chord, you should be able to recollect <v Daniel Barenboim>the piece from the beginning. [audience applauses]