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Doubtless many of you have heard Richard Strauss famous tone poem "Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche". As you probably know, having heard it, it portrays the whimsical adventures of the prankster Till Eulenspiegel as he travels throughout the countryside causing mayhem, mocking his elders and being smacked upside the head by irate women. I would like to ask what you think of it? Strauss himself declined when asked for a comprehensive analysis of the piece, instead inviting the listener to make up his own details based on the music and a fairly vague idea of what the piece was about. What do you think is going on in this piece? What do the little musical tidbits represent? What is your analysis of this wonderful piece?

I seem to recall that the old Philharmonia miniature scores of Strauss works contained a musical analysis of the piece [i.e. a formal musical analysis in terms of musical structure, not programmatic content]. The Philharmonia scores are in the PD and would be useful additions to IMSLP, provided the introductory material isn't omitted, as is unfortunately the usual practice here. I further recall that Leonard Bernstein's "Humor in Music" LP also contained a great analysis of Till, and especially concerning the contribution of the horn section. I don't think it has been reissued on CD, but I would love to be proven wrong. It might be available as part of the Young Person's Concerts series that is on DVD.

--Sixtus

http://www.google.com/search?client=saf ... 8&oe=UTF-8

http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/box ... e=02092008
By Janet E. Bedell

RICHARD STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Op. 28
Born June 11, 1964, in Munich; died September 8, 1949, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Composed in 1894–95, Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks was first performed in Cologne on November 5 of that year with the Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne conducted by Franz Wüllner; it received its Carnegie Hall premiere on December 14, 1899, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Wilhelm Gericke.

Scoring: 4 flutes, piccolo, 4 oboes, English horn, 4 clarinets, bass clarinet, D clarinet, 4 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani and other percussion, and strings.

In 1894–95, a legendary anti-hero seized Richard Strauss’s imagination: the peasant rogue Till Eulenspiegel. The real Till lived in 14th-century Brunswick, Germany, and died in his bed, some say of the Black Fever. Many stories sprang up about him in the following centuries; Strauss had read the Belgian Charles de Coster’s 1865 version and had seen a recent opera on the subject. Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, After the Old Rogue’s Tale, Set in Rondo Form for Large Orchestra—to give the composer’s unwieldy full title—premiered in Cologne on November 5, 1895 and has been celebrated ever since for its exuberant character delineation and orchestral wizardry.

Till is a true folk hero: a crafty, quick-witted peasant who delights in making fools of the rich, learned, and powerful. Strauss gave his career a new ending: death on the gallows. But that was not because he loved the character less; he simply loved a dramatic ending more.

After a “once-upon-a-time” string opening, Till’s major theme is introduced: a mocking horn theme, repeated by other woodwind instruments. Till’s own instrument, the small, squeaky-toned clarinet in D, soon enters with the shorthand version of his theme: a quick down-and-up flip. Till rides pell-mell through the marketplace on a (presumably stolen) horse, masquerades as a priest with an unctuously pious viola tune, has a little love scene (solo violin), and other adventures; the music graphically portrays his narrow escapes and cackling laughter. But at the height of his deviltry, with his themes running riot in the orchestra, the law closes in. With an ominous drum roll and heavy blasts of horns and trombones, his judges pronounce the death sentence, while the Till clarinet squeaks his defense. Till’s body soars upward on the gallows. But Strauss provides a happy epilogue: a reprise of the once-upon-a-time opening music and a last laugh from Till’s irrepressible spirit.