Some Centenary Reflections

Extract

It is now fifteen years since Richard Strauss, a legendary figure of 85 years of age, died a tired old man, though inconsequentially enough in the full flush of his third and last surge of fame and inspiration. In the course of a long life of virtually uninterrupted prestige and happiness he had enjoyed the rare experience of seeing the works of his earliest maturity become as much part of the standard orchestral repertoire as the symphonies of Beethoven and Brahms. Yet it is perhaps a little sad to think how shocked the adventurous young composer of the Burleske of 1885, and of the deliberately provocative Aus Italien two years later, would have been had anyone suggested to him that he would one day be content to usurp Brahms's reactionary position as the Last of the Classics.