Edition Eulenburg No. 441 R. STRAUSS MACBETH Tone Poem Tondichtung Op. 23 Eulenburg RICHARD STRAUSS MACBETH Tone Poem Tondichtung Op. 23 Ernst Eulenburg Ltd London · Mainz · Madrid · New York · Paris · Prague · Tokyo · Toronto · Zürich CONTENTS Preface . III Vorwort . IX Préface . XV Macbeth . 1 © 1890 by Josef Aibl Musikverlag © assigned 1932 to C.F.Peters Musikverlag Reprinted by permission of C.F.Peters Corporation, New York and Hinrichsen Edition Ltd, London Preface © 2013 Michael Kennedy Reprinted by permission Translations and all other matter © 2013 Ernst Eulenburg & Co GmbH, Mainz for Europe excluding the British Isles Ernst Eulenburg Ltd, London for all other countries All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher: Ernst Eulenburg Ltd 48 Great Marlborough Street London W1F 7BB PREFACE If we exclude the early ‘symphonic fantasy’ Beethoven’s ‘Pastoral’ Symphony (1808) and Aus Italien and the two large-scale orchestral Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique (1831), but works with ‘symphony’ in their title (Domestic the true ancestors of the Straussian tone poem and Alpine), Richard Strauss wrote seven tone were the more concise, one-movement works poems1 between 1886 and 1898, that is be- officially designated ‘over tures’ – Beethoven’s tween the age of 22 and 34. Six of these are in Egmont (1809), Coriolan (1807) and Leonore the regular repertoire of the world’s leading No. 3 (1806), Mendels sohn’s Hebrides (1830) symphony orchestras. The brilliance of their and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1826). scoring, the memorability of their melodies and Schumann’s concert overtures were in this line, the immediacy of their impact commend them emulated half a century later by Elgar in Frois- to audiences, performers and conductors alike. sart (1890), Cockaigne (1901) and In the South When they were new, they outraged conven- (1904). The chief developer of the genre, how- tional opinion. Today, when they are generally ever, was Liszt, who composed two pro- regarded as romantic classics, they still arouse gramme symphonies, the Faust and the Dante, controversy between those who rank Strauss as and a series of 12 one-movement symphonic a great composer and those who find him poems (his own term) while he was at Weimar flawed by spiritual and aesthetic deficiencies, between 1848 and 1861. Liszt’s symphonic a cynical manipulator of listeners (most of poems, which include Les Préludes (1848), whom are only too willing and happy to be ma- Mazeppa (1851), Die Ideale (1857) and Or- nipulated by such a master). pheus (1854), are less descriptive than The heyday of the symphonic poem lasted Strauss’s; his use of the epithet ‘symphonic’ is about 70 years, from 1850 to 1920. Briefly, the the clue to his aim to give a binding inner sym- symphonic poem is the most concentrated phonic logic and thematic development to his manifestation of programme music, that is, single-movement structures, however loosely music which tells a story or is deliberately de- episodic their outward form. scriptive. The symphonic poem chimed in per- Liszt’s example was followed more enthu- fectly with the Romantic’s wish for interrela- siastically in Bohemia, Russia and France than in tionship of all the arts and especially the inter- Germany, with outstanding contributions to the action of music and literature. Thus the drama repertoire by Smetana, Dvořák, Tchaikovsky, of the opera house was imported into the con- Saint-Saëns, Franck, Dukas, and Debussy, cert hall. In addition, the invention, develop- amongst others. In Germany, however, only a ment and improvement of instruments, and the handful of composers trod this Lisztian path consequent enlargement of the symphony or- and it did not include the giants Wagner and chestra, with the widening and intensifying of Brahms, nor Bruckner and Mahler. In 1885 its expressive capabilities, encouraged com- Hugo Wolf completed his Penthesilea; from posers to attain a more sophisticated and com- Schoenberg in 1899 there came Verklärte Nacht plex style. Not only could the sounds of nature and Pelleas und Melisande in 1902–3. The be imitated in music, but the characters of men minor figure Alexander Ritter (1833–96), who and women, their ideals and emotions, could married Wagner’s niece and worked with Liszt, be described. The two works which advanced wrote several Lisztian tone poems. Ritter was the range of programme music were an orchestral violinist, and it was while he was at Meiningen playing under his friend Hans 1 ‘Tone poem’ (Tondichtung) was the term Strauss himself von Bülow that he met the 21-year-old Richard coined and which he preferred to ‘symphonic poem’ IV Strauss who, in 1885, had been invited by Bülow fest, conducted by Strauss. Recording: Orchester to be his assistant conductor. Strauss was brought der Staatsoper Berlin (1926). up in a strictly classical tradition. His early works Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche, nach alter Schelmen- are in line of descent from Schumann and weise in Rondeauform für grosses Orchester ge- Mendelssohn. His father, principal horn player setzt (Till Eulenspiegel’s merry pranks, after an old rogue’s tale, set in rondo form for large or- in the Munich Court Orchestra for 42 years chestra), Op. 28, 1894–5. First performance: from 1847–89, detested Wagner as man and Cologne, Gürzenich concert, 5 November 1895, musician and hoped his son would do likewise. Cologne Gürzenich City Orchestra, conducted When Strauss went to Meiningen he was in the by Franz Wüllner. Recording: Orchester der full flush of Brahms-worship. But Ritter changed Staatsoper Berlin (1929). all that. He urged Strauss to follow Berlioz, Liszt Also sprach Zarathustra (Thus spake Zarathustra), and Wagner in developing the expressive ele- Op. 30, tone poem freely after Nietzsche, 1894–6. ment in music. Under Ritter’s influence he was First performance: Frankfurt, 27 November 1896, introduced to Wagner’s writings and to the phi- Frankfurt Museum City Orchestra, conducted by losophy of Schopenhauer. To quote Strauss on Strauss. this period of his development: Don Quixote, introduzione, tema con variazioni, finale. Fantastische Variationen über ein Thema ritter- New ideas must seek out new forms for themselves: lichen Charakters (Fantastic Variations on a the basic principle adopted by Liszt in his sym- theme of Knightly Character), Op. 35, 1896–7. phonic works, in which the poetic idea really did act First performance: Cologne, Gürzenich concert, simultaneously as the structural element, became 8 March 1898, Cologne Gürzenich City Orche- from then onwards the guideline for my own sym- stra, conducted by Franz Wüllner (solo cellist phonic works.2 Friedrich Grützmacher). Recording: Orchester der Staatsoper Berlin, with Enrico Mainardi Strauss’s tone poems (whether or not they are (cello), Karl Reits (viola) (1933). so described on their respective title-pages) Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), Op. 40, tone poem, may be usefully listed here in chronological 1897–8. First performance: Frankfurt, 3 March order and with details of first performances, 1899, Frankfurt Museum City Orchestra, con- and subsequent recordings conducted by the ducted by Strauss. Recording: Bayerisches Staats - composer: orchester (1941). Symphonia Domestica (Domestic Symphony), Op. 53, Macbeth, Op. 23, tone poem (after Shakespeare). First 1902–3. First performance: New York (Carnegie version (unpublished) 1886–8; second version Hall), 21 March 1904, Wetzler Orchestra, con- 1889–91. First performance (revised version): ducted by Strauss. Recording: Wiener Philhar- Weimar, 13 October 1890, Weimar Court Orches- moniker (1944). tra, conducted by Strauss; first performance of Eine Alpensinfonie (An Alpine Symphony), Op. 64, rescored revised version: Berlin, 29 February 1911–5. First performance: Berlin, 28 October 1892, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted 1915, Dresden Court Orchestra, conducted by by Strauss. Strauss. Recording: Wiener Philharmoniker Don Juan, Op. 20, tone poem, 1888. First performance: (1944). Weimar, 11 November 1889, Weimar Court Orchestra, conducted by Strauss. Recording: Orchester der Staatsoper Berlin (1929). Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration), Op. 24, tone poem, 1888–9. First performance: Eisenach, 21 June 1890 (meeting of Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein), Eisenach Tonkünstler- 2 Richard Strauss, ‘Recollections of My Youth and Years of Apprenticeship’ in Recollections and Reflections (Zürich, 1949) V Macbeth heim orchestra that year. But no public per- formance was given until 1890, at Weimar. Despite its opus number, Macbeth is the first Strauss was still dissatisfied, not with the struc- of Strauss’s tone poems, although it had its first ture but with the scoring. For five months, until performance after both Don Juan and Tod und 4 March 1891, he reworked the instrumenta- Verklärung. This was because the work was put tion. The second performance – in effect the aside after completion and later revised. Strauss first of the work as we know it today – was probably began to sketch it in the spring of given in Berlin on 29 February 1892, when the 1887. It was completed early in 1888 and sent piece had a tremendous reception. Bülow, now to Hans von Bülow, who criticised the ending converted to the work’s worth, described its (a triumphal march for Macduff), saying: sound as ‘overwhelming. The composer has never had a reception like this in Berlin be- It is quite in order for an Egmont overture to end 6 with a march celebrating the triumph of Egmont, but fore.’ Strauss himself thought it ‘fabulous [...] a symphonic poem called Macbeth cannot end with there’s no longer a single theme that doesn’t the triumph of Macduff.3 “stand out”’.7 Strauss cast Macbeth in sonata form, but in Strauss took the point. He was by now at work his own adaptation of it for his poetic purposes.