R STRAUSS Don Quixote, Op. 35
Don Quixote, Op. 35, is a tone poem by Richard Strauss for cello, viola and large orchestra. Subtitled Phantastische Variationen über ein Thema ritterlichen Charakters (Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character), the work is based on the novel Don Quixote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. Strauss composed this work in Munich in 1897. The premiere took place in Cologne on 8 March 1898, with Friedrich Grützmacher as the cello soloist and Franz Wüllner as the conductor.The score is 45 minutes long and is written in theme and variations form, with the solo cello representing Don Quixote, and the solo viola, tenor tuba, and bass clarinet depicting the comic Sancho Panza. The second variation depicts an episode where Don Quixote encounters a herd of sheep and perceives them as an approaching army. Strauss uses dissonant flutter-tonguing in the brass to emulate the bleating of the sheep, an early instance of this extended technique. Strauss later quoted this passage in his music for Le bourgeois gentilhomme, at the moment a servant announces the dish of "leg of mutton in the Italian style". All of the "episodes" are taken directly from the Cervantes novel.
VIDEO: Performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Daniel Barenboim. This is a live performance from 1991
.
Popular Posts
-
William Boyce (baptised 11 September 1711 – d. 7 February 1779) was an English composer and organist. Boyce is known for his set of eight...
-
Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102, by Dmitri Shostakovich was composed in 1957 for his son Maxim's 19th birthday. Maxim pr...
-
The Waltz in D-flat major, Op. 64, No. 1, Valse du petit chien, popularly known as the Minute Waltz, is a piano waltz composed by Frédéric...
-
Mikhail Mikhailovich Ippolitov-Ivanov (Russian: Михаи́л Миха́йлович Ипполи́тов-Ива́нов; 19 November [O.S. 7 November] 1859 – 28 January ...
-
William Alwyn CBE, born William Alwyn Smith (7 November 1905 – 11 September 1985), was an English composer, conductor, and music teacher...
-
William Baines (26 March 1899 - 6 November 1922) was an English pianist and composer. He wrote more than 150 works for solo piano and ...
-
Irish composer John Field was born in 1782 and died in 1837. He was the grandson of an Irish organist and the son of a violinist. His piano...
-
Brahms, Johaness SelectedWorks Johannes Brahms (7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897), was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musi...
-
William Alwyn CBE, born William Alwyn Smith (7 November 1905 – 11 September 1985), was an English composer, conductor, and music teache...
-
The Symphony No. 7 in A-flat major by Arnold Bax was completed in 1939 and dedicated to "The People of America". The work receiv...