assembling material drawn from a wide variety of of Strauss's late . , his sources. The period covered—with a fair degree of penultimate dramatic work, was the last to be consistency—is from 1921 to Strauss's death in staged. It was completed in 1940, predating Capric- 1949. Indeed, the regularity of the exchanges cio (1941), which was premiered in October 1942. between 1937 and 1939 repairs an unfortunate Prompted by , Danae was (reluc- gap in the Strauss—Klauss correspondence, tantly) scheduled by Strauss for the 1944 Salzburg adding new insight to one's understanding of Festival, but owing to wartime conditions only the those politically critical years. The book is hand- Generalprobe took place, before an invited audience. somely produced. The letters are clearly num- That occasion is well documented and can be bered: 99 from Bohm; 141 from Strauss. The relived through Strauss's emotional letter to Willi total of 240 compares with 540 documents in Schuh of 25 September 1944 and Rudolf Hart- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ml/article/81/4/646/1300906 by guest on 27 September 2021 Brosche's Strauss-Krauss Briefwechsel, whose bulk mann's equally moving report to Schuh of 22 Jan- is accounted for by the late-flourishing Krauss— uary 1945. Strauss collaboration on . As a bonus, the It is certain that this had a particular Bohm—Strauss documents are supplemented by a significance for Strauss—he described the final small group of letters from Bohm to Franz and act to Heinz Tietjen as 'The last meeting of Alice Strauss, Strauss's son and daughter-in-law, German music with the Grecian spirit' (p. 213) the last of which is dated in 1955. The volume is and to Krauss as 'the final unforgettable farewell to impeccably indexed and includes a set of valuable my life as artist and musician' (p. 220). Small alphabetically-arranged mini-biographies detailing wonder that with so 'testamentaF a work—prac- the careers and importance of all personalities tical complexities apart—he saw no possibility of a appearing in the text. The notes, presented in a performance in the stringent immediate post-war separate 'chapter', are full, scholarly, thoroughly years, answering all requests for a Salzburg re- accurate and impeccably put together—Steiger staging with a 'klares Nein'. Krauss eventually rarely misses a trick. Nonetheless, the apparent conducted its official premiere in 1952, three isolation of this material is somewhat user- years after Strauss's death. Such a performance unfriendly. Precise signposting of the matter in was foreseen by Strauss, who commented in the notes back to the main text would have been November 1946: 'Perhaps the Opera more effective than the format actually employed. could reopen with it in five or ten years' time— There is a selection of relevant photographs; and Mercury can then deliver my telegram of congratu- an editorial resume, providing an overview of the lation in person', a fitting epitaph for an opera that correspondence, offering excerpts from reviews and the librettist, , called 'Strauss's last, filling in the general background, comes as a greatest farewell' (p. 121). welcome supplement to the main text. Dr Steiger's book divides naturally into four With this edition of the Strauss—Bohm letters parts. The mythological background is covered in Martina Steiger has performed an important ser- a short preliminary chapter in which she organizes vice to Strauss scholarship. The text is a valuable her material with enviable expertise. The second fund of information concerning Strauss's character section is a commentary on the origin of the opera. and later work. The letters chart the growth of a Here the author painstakingly collates all the relationship that grew warmer as the years went by crucial documents relevant to the genesis of a and as hardship and deprivation on both the work which passed through the hands of Gregor personal and the professional level were shared. It (as official librettist), Krauss and Lothar Wallen- is a human document as much as a tool of stein. The text was supervised at every stage by scholarship, and on both counts it is to be Strauss himself, whose literary and dramatic input, warmly recommended. the result of nearly 50 years of theatrical experi- KENNETH BIRKIN ence, was indeed significant. Steiger follows the development of the libretto from its very earliest stages, beginning with Die Liebe der Danae von : Mythos, detailed discussion of the original Hofmannsthal Libretto, Musik. By Martina Steiger. pp. 297. sketches for Danae oder Die Vemunftheirat (1919— (Schott, Mainz, 1999, DM78. ISBN 3-7957- 1920). It was these fragments, with their delicate 0353-0.) fantasy, naturally impossible of development and realization by anyone other than Hofmannsthal, In this attractively produced volume Martina that Strauss used as a stick with which to beat the Steiger offers a good, scholarly account of the unfortunate Gregor—'won't you once more least known, and undeservedly least performed, attempt to work a scenario directly from the

646 Hofmannsthal sketches: something light and grace- lems which beset the 1944 Salzburg Generalprobe ful?'. Steiger assembles all the Gregor/Strauss and the dialogue between Krauss and the com- preliminary sketches, the bulk of which are to be poser in the immediate post-war years can be found in the Archive. Most of followed in detail in the published Krauss/Strauss this material is published here for the first time. correspondence. Steiger augments that collection The author errs, however, in making that claim for with a fascinating account of subsequent wheelings Krauss's post-premiere letter to Gregor of August and dealings between Krauss and the Salzburg 1952, a facsimile of which Gregor included in his Festival directorate, who, following intervention Clemens Krauss: Eine musikalische Sendung of 1953. by the Strauss family, eventually, if reluctantly, Occasional oversights of this nature, of course pale agreed that Krauss should conduct the 1952 official into insignificance before the great merits of Stei- premiere. A good deal of the background corres- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/ml/article/81/4/646/1300906 by guest on 27 September 2021 ger's work in this area: by combining the above pondence relating to this event is published here, documents with the relevant correspondence— much of it (not all as Steiger claims) for the first Strauss/Gregor, Strauss/Zweig, Strauss/Krauss time. It is compulsive reading. and Zweig/Gregor—she provides a clear and Martina Steiger is to be congratulated on a job well-worked-out summary of the course of events, well done. The publication of such a book is the trials and tribulations, which led eventually to symptomatic of a revival of interest in the two the realization of the dramaturgy and the comple- seldom-performed late Strauss operas tion of the Danae text. and Die Liebe der Danae. It appears, usefully, at a The third section of the book deals with musical time when rumours of a recording—as a modern analysis. It focuses three elements: 'theme and supplement to that of the already available 1952 motif, 'tonal language' and 'form and structure'. premiere—are abroad, and in the wake of the Steiger examines Strauss's compositional proced- British revival at Garsington last year. Enthusiasts ure in terms of thematic and tonal association. Her for Strauss's late works will certainly want this thesis is intelligently argued, her conclusions are book on their shelves—it is a useful source of sound, and the text is well supported by quotations reference and contributes to a deeper understand- from the score. Indeed, the psychological implica- ing of this fascinating and hugely underrated tions of theme and tonality are of paramount opera. importance in all Strauss's dramatic works. Such KENNETH BIRKIN associative elements, inextricably woven into his scores, define character, psychology and situation. Developing hand in hand with the plot, they com- ment on and direct the action, and play a crucial A Descriptive Catalogue of the Music of Charles Ives. By part in the formal and musical structure of a work. James B. Sinclair, pp. xxxii + 752. (Yale Uni- As Steiger rightly points out, motivic associations versity Press, New Haven & London, 1999, £50. inform key-symbolism as a fundamentally con- ISBN 0-300-07601-0.) structional and interpretative element in Strauss's score'. 'I do hope that Mr Ives is not again re-writing Steiger also raises the interesting subject of the [Piano] Sonata [No. 2] by means of extensive thematic parallelism between Danae and other corrections. The plates absolutely will not stand Strauss works. She cites the opening of the Tristan any more and secondly, inasmuch as the original prelude, compares Danae's 'Gold' motif with ele- engraver is out of business, the re-engraving will ments from and Till Eulenspiegel, and not match too well . . . and thirdly this proof was points out tritonal links between the highly per- supposed to be a complete and final corrected sonalized god Jupiter and autobiographical ele- proof (p. 197). This letter from Godfrey Turner ments in and Capriccio. Given Strauss'sof Arrow Music Press to Mrs Harmony Ives, dated well-known penchant for self-quotation and self- 2 April 1947, offers a vivid picture of the problems identification, such instances do, perhaps, trans- caused to printers, editors and, eventually, music- cend what may also be regarded merely as stylistic ologists, by Charles Ives's capacity for regarding traits. Stieger develops her arguments with laud- his compositions as in a constant state of evolution. able sensitivity, quoting in support Strauss's com- He saw no point in dating drafts when they were ment to Gregor, 'In a posthumous work, indeed, likely to be superseded, and although paper- all may be forgiven' (p. 199). studies and other musicological techniques have While this is primarily a book for the scholar, made possible more accurate dating—at least, the general reader will find the final chapters, thanks to Gayle Sherwood, of the choral composi- forming Section 4, of absorbing interest. The prob- tions—the establishment of a tidy, work-by-work

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